2023 Code of Virginia › Title 62.1 - Waters of the State, Ports and Harbors › Chapter 3.1 - State Water Control Law › § 62.1-44.15:24. (Effective until July 1, 2024) Definitions

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Agreement in lieu of a stormwater management plan" means a contract between the VSMP authority and the owner or permittee that specifies methods that shall be implemented to comply with the requirements of a VSMP for the construction of a (i) single-family residence or (ii) farm building or structure on a parcel of land with a total impervious cover percentage, including the impervious cover from the farm building or structure to be constructed, of less than five percent; such contract may be executed by the VSMP authority in lieu of a stormwater management plan.
"Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act land-disturbing activity" means a land-disturbing activity including clearing, grading, or excavation that results in a land disturbance equal to or greater than 2,500 square feet and less than one acre in all areas of jurisdictions designated as subject to the regulations adopted pursuant to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation provisions of this chapter.
"CWA" means the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), formerly referred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, P.L. 92-500, as amended by P.L. 95-217, P.L. 95-576, P.L. 96-483, and P.L. 97-117, or any subsequent revisions thereto.
"Department" means the Department of Environmental Quality.
"Director" means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.
"Farm building or structure" means the same as that term is defined in § 36-97 and also includes any building or structure used for agritourism activity, as defined in § 3.2-6400, and any related impervious surfaces including roads, driveways, and parking areas.
"Flooding" means a volume of water that is too great to be confined within the banks or walls of the stream, water body, or conveyance system and that overflows onto adjacent lands, thereby causing or threatening damage.
"Land disturbance" or "land-disturbing activity" means a man-made change to the land surface that potentially changes its runoff characteristics including clearing, grading, or excavation, except that the term shall not include those exemptions specified in § 62.1-44.15:34.
"Municipal separate storm sewer" means a conveyance or system of conveyances otherwise known as a municipal separate storm sewer system or "MS4," including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains:
1. Owned or operated by a federal, state, city, town, county, district, association, or other public body, created by or pursuant to state law, having jurisdiction or delegated authority for erosion and sediment control and stormwater management, or a designated and approved management agency under § 208 of the CWA that discharges to surface waters;
2. Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
3. That is not a combined sewer; and
4. That is not part of a publicly owned treatment works.
"Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Management Program" means a management program covering the duration of a state permit for a municipal separate storm sewer system that includes a comprehensive planning process that involves public participation and intergovernmental coordination, to reduce the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable, to protect water quality, and to satisfy the appropriate water quality requirements of the CWA and regulations, and this article and its attendant regulations, using management practices, control techniques, and system, design, and engineering methods, and such other provisions that are appropriate.
"Nonpoint source pollution" means pollution such as sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and toxics whose sources cannot be pinpointed but rather are washed from the land surface in a diffuse manner by stormwater runoff.
"Peak flow rate" means the maximum instantaneous flow from a prescribed design storm at a particular location.
"Permit" or "VSMP authority permit" means an approval to conduct a land-disturbing activity issued by the VSMP authority for the initiation of a land-disturbing activity after evidence of state VSMP general permit coverage has been provided where applicable.
"Permittee" means the person to which the permit or state permit is issued.
"Runoff volume" means the volume of water that runs off the land development project from a prescribed storm event.
"Rural Tidewater locality" means any locality that is (i) subject to the provisions of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (§ 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.) and (ii) eligible to join the Rural Coastal Virginia Community Enhancement Authority established by Chapter 76 (§ 15.2-7600 et seq.) of Title 15.2.
"Small construction activity" means:
1. A construction activity, including clearing, grading, or excavating, that results in land disturbance of equal to or greater than one acre and less than five acres. "Small construction activity" also includes the disturbance of less than one acre of total land area that is part of a larger common plan of development or sale if the larger common plan will ultimately disturb an area equal to or greater than one acre and less than five acres. "Small construction activity" does not include routine maintenance that is performed to maintain the original line and grade, hydraulic capacity, or original purpose of the facility.
The Board may waive the otherwise applicable requirements in a general permit for a stormwater discharge from construction activities that disturb less than five acres where stormwater controls are not needed based on an approved total maximum daily load (TMDL) that addresses the pollutants of concern or, for nonimpaired waters that do not require TMDLs, an equivalent analysis that determines allocations for small construction sites for the pollutants of concern or that determines that such allocations are not needed to protect water quality based on consideration of existing in-stream concentrations, expected growth in pollutant contributions from all sources, and a margin of safety. For the purpose of this subdivision, the pollutants of concern include sediment or a parameter that addresses sediment, such as total suspended solids, turbidity, or siltation, and any other pollutant that has been identified as a cause of impairment of any water body that will receive a discharge from the construction activity. The operator shall certify to the Board that the construction activity will take place, and that stormwater discharges will occur, within the drainage area addressed by the TMDL or provide an equivalent analysis.
As of the start date in the table of start dates for electronic submissions of Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) information within the regulation governing the implementation of electronic reporting requirements for certain VPDES permittees, facilities, and entities, all certifications submitted in support of such waiver shall be submitted electronically by the owner or operator to the Department in compliance with (i) this subdivision; (ii) 40 C.F.R. Part 3, including, in all cases, 40 C.F.R. Part 3 Subpart D; (iii) the regulation addressing signatories to state permit applications and reports; and (iv) regulations addressing the VPDES electronic reporting requirements. Such regulations addressing the VPDES electronic reporting requirements shall not undo existing requirements for electronic reporting. Prior to such date, and independent of the regulations addressing the VPDES electronic reporting requirements, a permittee shall be required to report electronically if specified by a particular permit.
2. Any other construction activity designated by either the Board or the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, based on the potential for contribution to a violation of a water quality standard or for significant contribution of pollutants to surface waters.
"State permit" means an approval to conduct a land-disturbing activity issued by the Board in the form of a state stormwater individual permit or coverage issued under a state general permit or an approval issued by the Board for stormwater discharges from an MS4. Under these permits, the Commonwealth imposes and enforces requirements pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act and regulations and this article and its attendant regulations.
"Stormwater" means precipitation that is discharged across the land surface or through conveyances to one or more waterways and that may include stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
"Stormwater management plan" means a document containing material describing methods for complying with the requirements of a VSMP.
"Subdivision" means the same as defined in § 15.2-2201.
"Virginia Stormwater Management Program" or "VSMP" means a program approved by the Soil and Water Conservation Board after September 13, 2011, and until June 30, 2013, or the State Water Control Board on and after June 30, 2013, that has been established by a VSMP authority to manage the quality and quantity of runoff resulting from land-disturbing activities and shall include such items as local ordinances, rules, permit requirements, annual standards and specifications, policies and guidelines, technical materials, and requirements for plan review, inspection, enforcement, where authorized in this article, and evaluation consistent with the requirements of this article and associated regulations.
"Virginia Stormwater Management Program authority" or "VSMP authority" means an authority approved by the Board after September 13, 2011, to operate a Virginia Stormwater Management Program or the Department. An authority may include a locality; state entity, including the Department; federal entity; or, for linear projects subject to annual standards and specifications in accordance with subsection B of § 62.1-44.15:31, electric, natural gas, and telephone utility companies, interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline companies, railroad companies, or authorities created pursuant to § 15.2-5102.
"Water quality volume" means the volume equal to the first one-half inch of runoff multiplied by the impervious surface of the land development project.
"Water quantity technical criteria" means standards set forth in regulations adopted pursuant to this article that establish minimum design criteria for measures to control localized flooding and stream channel erosion.
"Watershed" means a defined land area drained by a river or stream, karst system, or system of connecting rivers or streams such that all surface water within the area flows through a single outlet. In karst areas, the karst feature to which water drains may be considered the single outlet for the watershed.
1989, cc. 467, 499, § 10.1-603.2; 1991, c. 84; 1994, cc. 605, 898; 2004, c. 372; 2006, cc. 21, 171; 2012, cc. 785, 819; 2013, cc. 756, 793; 2014, cc. 303, 598; 2018, cc. 154, 155; 2023, cc. 48, 49.