GA Code § 12-5-22 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 12 - Conservation and Natural Resources|Chapter 5 - Water Resources|Article 2 - Control of Water Pollution and Surface-Water Use|§ 12-5-22. Definitions

 As used in this article, the term:    "Director" means the director of the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.   "Division" means the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.   "Effluent limitation" means any restriction or prohibition established under this article on quantities, rates, or concentrations, or a combination thereof, of chemical, physical, biological, or other constituents which are discharged from point sources into the water of the state, including, but not limited to, schedules of compliance.   "Industrial wastes" means any liquid, solid, or gaseous substance, or combination thereof, resulting from a process of industry, manufacture, or business or from the development of any natural resources.   "Nonpoint source" means any source which discharges pollutants into the waters of the state other than a point source.   "Other wastes" means liquid, gaseous, or solid substances, except industrial wastes and sewage, which may cause or tend to cause pollution of any waters of the state.   "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, or other unincorporated association. This term may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate.   "Point source" means any discernible, confined, or discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.   "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial wastes, municipal waste, and agricultural waste discharged into the waters of the state. It does not mean (A) sewage from vessels or (B) water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil or gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well, used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes, is approved by the appropriate authorities of this state, and if such authorities determine that such injection or disposal will not result in degradation of ground-water or surface-water resources.   "Pollution" means the manmade or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.   "Sewage" means the water carried waste products or discharges from human beings or from the rendering of animal products, or chemicals or other wastes from residences, public or private buildings, or industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, or storm water as may be present.   "Sewage system" means sewage treatment works, pipelines or conduits, pumping stations, and force mains, and all other constructions, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto, used for conducting sewage or industrial wastes or other wastes to the point of ultimate disposal.   "Waters" or "waters of the state" means any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and all other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the state which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single individual, partnership, or corporation.    (Ga. L. 1957, p. 629, § 3; Ga. L. 1964, p. 416, § 3; Ga. L. 1974, p. 599, §§ 1-5; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 12.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1988, a comma was inserted following "partnership" in the first sentence of paragraph (7), former designations (1) and (2) were redesignated as present designations (A) and (B) in paragraph (9), and a hyphen was deleted from "water carried" in paragraph (11).   Law reviews.   - For note, "Regulation of Artificial Lakes and Recreational Subdivisions in Georgia," recommending methods for future regulation, see 8 Ga. St. B.J. 580 (1972).   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Cited in Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Fund, Inc. v. City of Atlanta, 986 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D. Ga. 1997); Coastal Marshlands Prot. Comm. v. Ctr. for a Sustainable Coast, 286 Ga. App. 518, 649 S.E.2d 619 (2007).   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Control of pollution practices authorized.   - State Water Quality Control Board (now Department of Natural Resources) has the authority to control the pollution practices of corporations who have been granted dredging permits or leases by the state. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-342.    Treatment and disposition of sewage in the ground by means of a sprinkling system, and not in the waters of the state, is, nevertheless, subject to the provisions of Ga. L. 1964, p. 416 (see O.C.G.A. § 12-5-20 et seq.); it is particularly subject to Ga. L. 1964, p. 416, §§ 3, 5, 10, and 24 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 12-5-22,12-5-23, and12-5-29), although control is not necessarily limited to these sections. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-13.    Second exclusion of paragraph (9) of this section, pertaining to use of oil and gas wells, is legally inapplicable in this state. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U80-24 (see O.C.G.A. § 12-5-22).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   24B Am. Jur. Pleading and Practice Forms, Waters, § 3.   ALR.   - What are "navigable waters" subject to Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 USCA § 1251 et seq.), 160 A.L.R. Fed. 585.