Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 15 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (§§ 15-1-101 — 15-76-324) › Subtitle 2 - LAND AND WATER RESOURCES GENERALLY (§§ 15-20-101 — 15-24-109) › Chapter 22 - WATER RESOURCES (§§ 15-22-201 — 15-22-1313) › Subchapter 12 - SPARTA AQUIFER CRITICAL GROUNDWATER COUNTIES' REMEDIATION ACT (§§ 15-22-1201 — 15-22-1218) › Section 15-22-1203 - Definitions

As used in this subchapter:
(1)
"Acquire" means to acquire by purchase, lease, devise, gift, or other mode of acquisition and by any method selected by a Sparta Aquifer critical groundwater county conservation board;
(2)
"Aquifer water" means water removed from the Sparta Aquifer;
(3)
"Commission" means the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission;
(4)
"Conservation fee" means any fee fixed pursuant to this subchapter and levied upon any registered water user or significant water user;
(5)
"Construct" means to construct, equip, install, or to otherwise develop by any means selected by a board;
(6)
"County" means any Arkansas county:
(A)
In which at least ninety percent (90%) of the reported groundwater usage from the Sparta Aquifer is for municipal and industrial purposes as of July 1, 2005; and
(B)
Which has been or is found and determined by the commission to be within a critical groundwater area prior to July 1, 2005, within the meaning of the Arkansas Groundwater Protection and Management Act, §
15-22-901
et seq.;
(7)
"Improvement plan" means a plan to carry out the construction and acquisition of water facilities or to provide for the conservation of aquifer water, or both;
(8)
"Major water user" means any person that during any month of the year, averages withdrawal from the Sparta Aquifer of one million (1,000,000) or more gallons of aquifer water per day;
(9)
"Person" means any natural person, firm, association, corporation, trust, partnership, governmental agency, state or political subdivision, county, municipality, or other legal entity;
(10)
(A)
"Registered water user" means any person that, whether as an owner, lessee, operator, or otherwise, including a board, operates one (1) or more wells with a minimum potential flow rate of fifty thousand gallons (50,000 gals.) or more of aquifer water per day and is required to register with the commission under §
15-22-302
.
(B)
The withdrawal of aquifer water which is expected to be returned to an aquifer by the user does not cause a person to be a registered water user;
(11)
"Revenues" means revenues derived from any source, including, without limitation, the wholesale or retail sale of water and the conservation fees;
(12)
"Significant water user" means any person that, whether as owner, lessee, operator, or otherwise, including a board, operates one (1) or more wells with a maximum flow rate of less than fifty thousand gallons (50,000 gals.) of aquifer water per day and is determined by the board to be using aquifer water for other than domestic purposes;
(13)
"Sparta Aquifer critical groundwater county conservation board" or "board" means any board established pursuant to this subchapter; and
(14)
"Water facilities" means any facilities for the withdrawal, storage, transportation, treatment, or distribution of water, together with any properties, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, related or appropriate thereto.
Acts 1999, No. 1050, § 3; 2005, No. 1774, § 2.