2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title L - Water Management and Protection › Chapter 485-C - Groundwater Protection Act › Section 485-C:2 - Definitions.

485-C:2 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "Ambient groundwater quality standards" means maximum concentration levels for regulated contaminants in groundwater which result from human operations or activities, as delineated in RSA 485-C:6.
II. "Best management practice" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the risk of contamination of groundwater.
III. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the department of environmental services.
IV. "Contributing area" means the land above a class of groundwater, which is the vertical projection of the defined class on the land surface.
V. "Department" means the department of environmental services.
VI. "Director" means the director of the division of water supply and pollution control, department of environmental services.
VII. "Division" means the division of water supply and pollution control, department of environmental services.
VIII. "Groundwater" means subsurface water that occurs beneath the water table in soils and geologic formations.
IX. "Groundwater discharge permit" means a permit issued under RSA 485-A:13 for disposal of sewage or waste to the groundwater.
IX-a. "Large groundwater withdrawal" means any withdrawal from groundwater of 57,600 gallons or more of water in any 24-hour period at a single property or place of business except withdrawals associated with short-term use.
X. "Local entity" means a town or city, acting through a planning board, conservation commission, water department, health officer, or other duly constituted municipal unit; a village district established under RSA 52 or its predecessor statutes; an entity established by intergovernmental agreement under RSA 53-A; or a supplier of water for wellhead protection areas tributary to wells owned by the public water system.
XI. "Person" means any individual, partnership, company, public or private corporation, political subdivision or agency of the state, department, agency or instrumentality of the United States, or any other legal entity.
XII. "Public water system" means a public water system as defined in RSA 485:1-a, XV.
XIII. "Regulated contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, radiological substance or other matter, other than naturally occurring substances at naturally occurring levels, in water which adversely affects human health or the environment.
XIII-a. "Replacement well" means a new well installed to replace or back-up an existing well that operates and impacts water users and water resources in substantially the same manner as the well that is being replaced.
XIII-b. "Short-term use" means the temporary, non-routine withdrawal of groundwater at a specific geographical location over a period of one year or less, and withdrawal of groundwater for contaminated site remediation where the duration of the withdrawal may exceed one year and corresponds with the objectives of the remediation.
XIV. "Stratified drift aquifer" means a geologic formation of predominantly well-sorted sediment deposited by or in bodies of glacial meltwater, including gravel, sand, silt, or clay, which contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield significant quantities of water to wells.
XV. "Supplier of water" means a supplier of water as defined in RSA 485:1-a, XVI.
XVI. "Transmissivity" means the rate at which water is transmitted through a unit width of a water-bearing formation under a unit hydraulic gradient. It is equal to the hydraulic conductivity times the thickness of the formation, and is given in units of distance squared per unit time.
XVI-a. "Water balance" means the difference between the system input volume and authorized metered consumption. System input volume means the volume of water input to the water supply system corrected for known errors, which is equal to the volume of water derived from the water system's own sources, minus water consumed by treatment processes, plus water imported or purchased, plus or minus the net change in water storage where applicable. Authorized metered consumption means billed metered water plus unbilled metered water. Billed metered water means authorized consumption by all customer types that is both metered and billed. Unbilled metered water means any authorized consumption that is metered but for which the water supplier does not bill.
XVII. "Well" means a hole or shaft sunk into the earth to observe, sample, or withdraw groundwater.
XVIII. "Wellhead protection area" means the surface and subsurface area surrounding a water well or wellfield, supplying a public water system, through which contaminants are reasonably likely to move toward and reach such water well or wellfield.
XIX. "Zone of contribution" means the subsurface volume from which groundwater flow is drawn to a pumping well.
Source.
1991, 344:1. 2006, 322:1. 2007, 55:1. 2010, 348:3, 4, eff. Sept. 18, 2010. 2014, 304:1, eff. Sept. 30, 2014.