(A) Owners or operators of existing drycleaning facilities shall install dikes or other containment structures around each machine or item of equipment in which drycleaning solvent is used and around an area in which solvents or waste containing solvents are stored. Owners or operators of new drycleaning facilities shall install containment structures before the commencement of operations and before delivery of any drycleaning solvent to the drycleaning facility. Owners or operators of operating drycleaning facilities shall maintain all containment structures while the drycleaning facility remains in operation and shall certify every five years, that the conditions at their drycleaning facility meet the requirements of subsection (A) by completing a certification form as required by the department. The containment must meet the following criteria:

(1) dikes or containment structures around machines:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 44-56-480

  • Department: means the Department of Health and Environmental Control. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Drycleaning facility: includes laundry facilities that are using or have used drycleaning solvent as part of their cleaning process but does not include textile mills, uniform rental and linen supply facilities, or drycleaning facilities owned or operated by a local, state, or federal government. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
  • Drycleaning solvent: includes solvent that has been recycled for use at a drycleaning facility and applies only to those solvents used at a drycleaning facility or handled by a wholesale supply facility. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
  • Fund: means Drycleaning Facility Restoration Trust Fund. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
  • Property owner: means a person who is vested with ownership, dominion, or legal or rightful title to the real property or who has a ground lease interest in the real property on which a drycleaning or wholesale supply facility is or has ever been located. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410
  • Storage: means the actual or intended containment of wastes, either on a temporary basis or for a period of years, in such manner as not to constitute disposal of such hazardous wastes. See South Carolina Code 44-56-20
  • Wholesale supply facility: means a commercial establishment that supplies drycleaning solvent to drycleaning facilities. See South Carolina Code 44-56-410

(a) for existing drycleaning facilities the dikes or containment structures must be capable of containing one-third of the total tank capacity of each machine that does not have a rigid and impermeable containment vessel capable of containing one hundred percent of the volume of the largest single tank in the machine or piece of equipment or one-third of the total tank capacity of each machine, whichever is greater;

(b) for new drycleaning facilities, the owners or operators shall install beneath each machine or item of equipment in which drycleaning solvent is used a rigid and impermeable containment vessel capable of containing one hundred percent of the volume of the largest single tank in the machine or piece of equipment or one-third of the total tank capacity of each machine, whichever is greater;

(2) dikes or containment structures around areas used for storage of solvents or waste containing solvents must be capable of containing one hundred percent of the volume of the largest container stored or retained in the containment structure;

(3) all diked containment areas must be sealed or otherwise made impervious to the drycleaning solvent in use at the drycleaning facility, including floor surfaces, floor drains, floor joints, and inner dike walls;

(4) to the extent practicable, an owner or operator of a drycleaning facility or property owner shall seal or otherwise render impervious those portions of all floor surfaces upon which any drycleaning solvent may leak, spill, or otherwise be released;

(5) containment devices must provide for the temporary containment of accidental spills or leaks until appropriate response actions are taken by the owner/operator to abate the source of the spill and remove the product from all areas on which the product has accumulated; and

(6) materials used in constructing the containment structure or sealing the floors must be capable of withstanding permeation by drycleaning solvent in use at the drycleaning facility for not less than seventy-two hours.

(B) The property owner or the owner or operator of a drycleaning facility or wholesale supply facility at which there is a spill of more than the federally mandated reportable quantity of drycleaning solvent outside of a containment structure, after July 1, 1995, shall report the spill to the department immediately upon the discovery of the spill and comply with existing emergency response regulations.

(C) Effective January 1, 2010, all halogenated solvents must be delivered by a closed-loop delivery system.

(D) Failure to comply with the requirements of this section constitutes gross negligence that may permanently bar the drycleaning facility from receiving monies from the fund, and the moratorium provided for in § 44-56-420(B) does not apply to this drycleaning facility.