Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Subject 391-3-6 - WATER QUALITY CONTROL › Rule 391-3-6-.07 - Surface Water Withdrawals. Amended

Current through Rules and
				Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
(1)
Purpose.
This chapter
				establishes procedures to be followed in obtaining a permit to withdraw, divert
				or impound surface waters of the State. It sets forth the types of information
				to be supplied on a permit application. It also outlines the procedures for
				granting, denying, revoking and modifying such permits.
(2)
Definitions.
Whenever a
				term appears in this Chapter which has been defined in the Georgia Water
				Quality control Act (O.C.G.A. §
									12-5-31,
et seq.
)
				such definition shall apply. Whenever a term appears in this Chapter that is
				defined below, such definition shall apply, so long as such definitions is not
				inconsistent with any definition in the
Georgia Water Control Act.
(a) "Withdrawal" shall mean the taking away
				of surface water from its natural course.
(b) "Diversion" shall mean a turning aside or
				altering of the natural course of surface water.
(c) "Impoundment" shall mean the storing or
				retaining of surface water by whatever method or means.
(d) "Watershed" means that area of landing
				draining into any given point of a basin.
(e) "Surface water(s) of the State" or
				"surface water(s)" shall mean any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches,
				lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs producing in excess of
				100,000 gallons per day, and all other bodies of surface 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.
(f) "Director" shall mean the Director of the
				Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources, State
				of Georgia, or his designee.
(g)
				"Farm uses" shall mean irrigation of any land used for general farming, forage,
				aquaculture, pasture, turf production, orchards, or tree and ornamental
				nurseries; provisions of water supply for farm animals, poultry farming, or any
				other activity conducted in the source of farming operation. Farm uses shall
				also include the processing or perishable agricultural products and
				theirrigation of recreational turf, except in the Chattahoochee River watershed
				upstream from the Peach tree Creek confluence, where irrigation of recreational
				turf shall not be considered a farmuse.
(h) "Domestic and personal uses" shall mean
				uses for drinking, cooking, washing, sanitary purposes, and all health related
				activities.
(i) "Instream flow"
				shall mean that minimum continuous flow reserved to the Surface Waters of the
				State at or immediately downstream of the point of withdrawal, diversion, or
				impoundment.
(j) "7Q10 Flow" shall
				mean that lowest average stream flow expected to occur for seven consecutive
				days with an average frequency of once in ten years.
(k) "Non-Depletable Flow" shall mean that
				instream flow consisting of the 7Q10 flow plus an additional flow needed to
				ensure the availability of water to downstream users. Non-depletable flow is
				normally calculated by adding the 7Q10 flow to the pro rata share of the down
				stream withdrawal, using the drainage area ratio method.
(l) "Basin" shall mean that the area within
				one of the fourteen river drainages listed below comprising the sum of the
				watershed within that basin.
1.
				Altamaha
2. Chattahoochee
3. Coosa
4. Flint
5. Ochlockonee
6. Ocmulgee
7. Oconee
8. Ogeechee
9. St. Marys
10. Satilla
11. Savannah
12. Suwannee
13. Tallapoosa
14. Tennessee
(m) "Interbasin Transfer" shall mean a
				withdrawal or diversion of water from one river basin, followed by use and/or
				return of some or all of that water to a second river basin. The river
				basinfrom which the withdrawal or diversion occurs is termed the 'donor' basin,
				and the river basin to which all or a portion of the water is diverted and
				returned is termed the 'receiving' basin.
(n) "Unaccounted for Water" (UAW) means the
				difference between the total amount of water pumped into the water system from
				the source(s) and the amount of metered water use by the customers of the water
				system expressed as a percentage of the total water pumped into the system. UAW
				generally includes system leakage and unmetered uses such as fire fighting,
				flushing, broken water mains, etc.
(o) "Made inflow to a reservoir" shall mean
				water that flows into a reservoir (1) after having been released from a storage
				project upstream of the reservoir as part of a plan approved by the Director;
				or (2) after having been discharged from a wastewater reclamation plant as part
				of aplan approved by the Director to increase flows into the
				reservoir.