49-104

49-104. Powers and duties of the department and
director

A. The department shall:

1. Formulate policies, plans and programs to implement this title to protect the
environment.

2. Stimulate and encourage all local, state, regional and federal governmental
agencies and all private persons and enterprises that have similar and related objectives
and purposes, cooperate with those agencies, persons and enterprises and correlate
department plans, programs and operations with those of the agencies, persons and
enterprises.

3. Conduct research on its own initiative or at the request of the governor, the
legislature or state or local agencies pertaining to any department objectives.

4. Provide information and advice on request of any local, state or federal
agencies and private persons and business enterprises on matters within the scope of the
department.

5. Consult with and make recommendations to the governor and the legislature on all
matters concerning department objectives.

6. Promote and coordinate the management of air resources to assure their
protection, enhancement and balanced utilization consistent with the environmental policy
of this state.

7. Promote and coordinate the protection and enhancement of the quality of water
resources consistent with the environmental policy of this state.

8. Encourage industrial, commercial, residential and community development that
maximizes environmental benefits and minimizes the effects of less desirable
environmental conditions.

9. Assure the preservation and enhancement of natural beauty and man-made scenic
qualities.

10. Provide for the prevention and abatement of all water and air pollution
including that related to particulates, gases, dust, vapors, noise, radiation, odor,
nutrients and heated liquids in accordance with article 3 of this chapter and chapters 2
and 3 of this title.

11. Promote and recommend methods for the recovery, recycling and reuse or, if
recycling is not possible, the disposal of solid wastes consistent with sound health,
scenic and environmental quality policies.

12. Prevent pollution through the regulation of the storage, handling and
transportation of solids, liquids and gases that may cause or contribute to pollution.

13. Promote the restoration and reclamation of degraded or despoiled areas and
natural resources.

14. Assist the department of health services in recruiting and training state, local
and district health department personnel.

15. Participate in the state civil defense program and develop the necessary
organization and facilities to meet wartime or other disasters.

16. Cooperate with the Arizona-Mexico commission in the governor's office and with
researchers at universities in this state to collect data and conduct projects in the
United States and Mexico on issues that are within the scope of the department's duties
and that relate to quality of life, trade and economic development in this state in a
manner that will help the Arizona-Mexico commission to assess and enhance the economic
competitiveness of this state and of the Arizona-Mexico region.

17. Unless specifically authorized by the legislature, ensure that state laws,
rules, standards, permits, variances and orders are adopted and construed to be
consistent with and no more stringent than the corresponding federal law that addresses
the same subject matter. This provision shall not be construed to adversely affect
standards adopted by an Indian tribe under federal law.

B. The department, through the director, shall:

1. Contract for the services of outside advisers, consultants and aides reasonably
necessary or desirable to enable the department to adequately perform its duties.

2. Contract and incur obligations reasonably necessary or desirable within the
general scope of department activities and operations to enable the department to
adequately perform its duties.

3. Utilize any medium of communication, publication and exhibition when
disseminating information, advertising and publicity in any field of its purposes,
objectives or duties.

4. Adopt procedural rules that are necessary to implement the authority granted
under this title, but that are not inconsistent with other provisions of this title.

5. Contract with other agencies, including laboratories, in furthering any
department program.

6. Use monies, facilities or services to provide matching contributions under
federal or other programs that further the objectives and programs of the department.

7. Accept gifts, grants, matching monies or direct payments from public or private
agencies or private persons and enterprises for department services and publications and
to conduct programs that are consistent with the general purposes and objectives of this
chapter. Monies received pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in the department
fund corresponding to the service, publication or program provided.

8. Provide for the examination of any premises if the director has reasonable cause
to believe that a violation of any environmental law or rule exists or is being committed
on the premises. The director shall give the owner or operator the opportunity for its
representative to accompany the director on an examination of those premises. Within
forty-five days after the date of the examination, the department shall provide to the
owner or operator a copy of any report produced as a result of any examination of the
premises.

9. Supervise sanitary engineering facilities and projects in this state, authority
for which is vested in the department, and own or lease land on which sanitary
engineering facilities are located, and operate the facilities, if the director
determines that owning, leasing or operating is necessary for the public health, safety
or welfare.

10. Adopt and enforce rules relating to approving design documents for constructing,
improving and operating sanitary engineering and other facilities for disposing of solid,
liquid or gaseous deleterious matter.

11. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary rules regarding the water supply,
sewage disposal and garbage collection and disposal for subdivisions. The rules shall:

(a) Provide for minimum sanitary facilities to be installed in the subdivision and
may require that water systems plan for future needs and be of adequate size and capacity
to deliver specified minimum quantities of drinking water and to treat all sewage.

(b) Provide that the design documents showing or describing the water supply,
sewage disposal and garbage collection facilities be submitted with a fee to the
department for review and that no lots in any subdivision be offered for sale before
compliance with the standards and rules has been demonstrated by approval of the design
documents by the department.

12. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures to prevent pollution of water used in
public or semipublic swimming pools and bathing places and to prevent deleterious
conditions at such places. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the design of
and for sanitary conditions at any public or semipublic swimming pool or bathing place
and provide for abatement as public nuisances of premises and facilities that do not
comply with the minimum standards. The rules shall be developed in cooperation with the
director of the department of health services and shall be consistent with the rules
adopted by the director of the department of health services pursuant to section 36-136,
subsection H, paragraph 10.

13. Prescribe reasonable rules regarding sewage collection, treatment, disposal and
reclamation systems to prevent the transmission of sewage borne or insect borne
diseases. The rules shall:

(a) Prescribe minimum standards for the design of sewage collection systems and
treatment, disposal and reclamation systems and for operating the systems.

(b) Provide for inspecting the premises, systems and installations and for abating
as a public nuisance any collection system, process, treatment plant, disposal system or
reclamation system that does not comply with the minimum standards.

(c) Require that design documents for all sewage collection systems, sewage
collection system extensions, treatment plants, processes, devices, equipment, disposal
systems, on-site wastewater treatment facilities and reclamation systems be submitted
with a fee for review to the department and may require that the design documents
anticipate and provide for future sewage treatment needs.

(d) Require that construction, reconstruction, installation or initiation of any
sewage collection system, sewage collection system extension, treatment plant, process,
device, equipment, disposal system, on-site wastewater treatment facility or reclamation
system conform with applicable requirements.

14. Prescribe reasonably necessary rules regarding excreta storage, handling,
treatment, transportation and disposal. The rules shall:

(a) Prescribe minimum standards for human excreta storage, handling, treatment,
transportation and disposal and shall provide for inspection of premises, processes and
vehicles and for abating as public nuisances any premises, processes or vehicles that do
not comply with the minimum standards.

(b) Provide that vehicles transporting human excreta from privies, septic tanks,
cesspools and other treatment processes shall be licensed by the department subject to
compliance with the rules.

15. Perform the responsibilities of implementing and maintaining a data automation
management system to support the reporting requirements of title III of the superfund
amendments and reauthorization act of 1986 (P.L. 99-499) and title 26, chapter 2, article
3.

16. Approve remediation levels pursuant to article 4 of this chapter.

C. The department may:

1. Charge fees to cover the costs of all permits and inspections it performs to
ensure compliance with rules adopted under section 49-203, except that state agencies are
exempt from paying the fees. Monies collected pursuant to this subsection shall be
deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, in the water quality fee fund
established by section 49-210.

2. Contract with private consultants for the purposes of assisting the department
in reviewing applications for licenses, permits or other authorizations to determine
whether an applicant meets the criteria for issuance of the license, permit or other
authorization. If the department contracts with a consultant under this paragraph, an
applicant may request that the department expedite the application review by requesting
that the department use the services of the consultant and by agreeing to pay the
department the costs of the consultant's services. Notwithstanding any other law, monies
paid by applicants for expedited reviews pursuant to this paragraph are appropriated to
the department for use in paying consultants for services.

D. The director may:

1. If the director has reasonable cause to believe that a violation of any
environmental law or rule exists or is being committed, inspect any person or property in
transit through this state and any vehicle in which the person or property is being
transported and detain or disinfect the person, property or vehicle as reasonably
necessary to protect the environment if a violation exists.

2. Authorize in writing any qualified officer or employee in the department to
perform any act that the director is authorized or required to do by law.