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 391-3-7 - EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION CONTROL › Rule 391-3-7-.01 - Definitions

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27,
				2024
The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation
				  and enforcement of these rules and regulations unless otherwise specifically
				  stated.
(a) "Best Management
				Practices" means a collection of structural measures and vegetative practices
				which, when properly designed, installed and maintained, will provide effective
				erosion and sedimentation control and are designed in accordance with the
				design specifications contained in the "Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control
				in Georgia." Best Management Practices also include, but are not limited to,
				design specifications from the most recent publications of the Georgia
				Stormwater Management Manual and Coastal Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia
				Stormwater Management Manual.
(b)
				"Buffer" and "Buffer Area" each mean the area of land immediately adjacent to
				the banks of state waters in its natural state of vegetation, which facilitates
				the protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.
(c) "Certification" means an action by the
				Division that states in writing that a local issuing authority has met the
				criteria established in these rules and regulations.
(d) "Certified Personnel" means any person
				who meets or exceeds the education and training requirements of Code Section
				12-7-19.
(e) "Coastal Marshlands" shall have the same
				meaning as in Code Section
				12-5-282.
(f) "Complaint Investigation Process" means a
				process followed by a local issuing authority or the Division when dealing with
				inquiries, complaints or concerns about land disturbing activities.
(g) "Decertification" means an action by the
				Division that states in writing that a local issuing authority has failed to
				meet the criteria established in these rules and regulations.
(h) "Department" means the Department of
				Natural Resources of the State of Georgia.
(i) "Director" means the Director of the
				Environmental Protection Division.
(j) "District" means the appropriate local
				Soil and Water Conservation District.
(k) "Division" means the Environmental
				Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.
(l) "Erosion" means the process by which land
				surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity.
(m) "Erosion, Sedimentation and Pollution
				Control Plan" or "Plan" means a plan for the control of soil erosion and
				sediment resulting from a land disturbing activity.
(n) "Infrastructure Project" means
				construction activities that are not part of a common development that include
				the construction, installation and maintenance of roadway and railway projects
				and conduits, pipes, pipelines, substations, cables, wires, trenches, vaults,
				manholes, and similar or related structures or devices for the conveyance of
				natural gas (or other types of gas), liquid petroleum products, electricity,
				telecommunications (telephone, data television, etc.), water or
				sewage.
(o) "Land Disturbing
				Activity" means any activity which may result in soil erosion and the movement
				of sediments into State waters or onto lands within the State, including but
				not limited to clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting, and
				filling of land, but not including those practices to the extent described in
				O.C.G.A. 12-7-17.
(p) "Local Issuing Authority" means the
				governing authority of any county, municipality, water authority, or water and
				sewer authority that is certified pursuant to these rules and regulations and
				pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A.
				12-7-8(a).
(q) "Maintenance" means actions necessary or
				appropriate for retaining or restoring a currently serviceable improvement to
				the specified operable condition to achieve its maximum useful life.
				Maintenance includes emergency reconstruction of recently damaged parts of a
				currently serviceable structure so long as it occurs within a reasonable period
				of time after damage occurs. Maintenance does not include any modification that
				changes the character, scope or size of the original design.
(r) "Major Buffer Impact" means any impact
				that does not meet the definition of "Minor Buffer Impact."
(s) "Minor Buffer Impact" means an impact
				that upon completion yields no additional above ground, man-made materials or
				structures within the buffer, maintains the original grade, and results in less
				than 5,000 square feet of buffer impacts per stream crossing and/or less than
				5,000 square feet of buffer impacts per individual area of encroachment for
				each project.
(t) "Permit" means
				the authorization necessary to conduct a land disturbing activity under the
				provisions of these rules and regulations.
(u) "Person" means any individual,
				partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation,
				trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility,
				cooperative, State agency, municipality or other political subdivision or the
				State, any interstate body or any other legal entity.
(v) "Project" means the entire area of the
				proposed development site, regardless of the size of the area to be
				disturbed.
(w) "Sediment" means
				solid material, both organic and inorganic, that is in suspension, is being
				transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by wind, water, ice, or
				gravity as a product of erosion.
(x) "Sedimentation" means the action or
				process of forming or depositing sediment.
(y) "Serviceable" means usable in its current
				state or with minor maintenance but not so degraded as to essentially require
				reconstruction.
(z) "Soil and Water
				Conservation District Approved Plan" means an erosion, sedimentation and
				pollution control plan approved in writing by the Soil and Water Conservation
				District in which the proposed land disturbing activity will take
				place.
(aa) "Stabilization" means
				the process of establishing an enduring soil cover of vegetation and/or mulch
				or other ground cover and/or installing temporary or permanent structures for
				the purpose of reducing to a minimum the erosion process and the resultant
				transport of sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity.
(bb) "State Waters" means any and all rivers,
				streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs,
				wells, and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural and 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, except as may be defined in O.C.G.A.
				12-7-17(7).
(cc) "Stream Bank" means the confining cut of
				a stream channel and is usually identified as the point where the normal stream
				flow has wrested the vegetation. For nontrout waters, the normal stream flow is
				any stream flow that consists solely of base flow or consists of both base flow
				and direct runoff during any period of the year. Base flow results from
				groundwater that enters the stream channel through the soil. This includes
				spring flows into streams. Direct runoff is the water entering stream channels
				promptly after rainfalls or snow melts.
(dd) "Trout Streams" means all streams or
				portions of streams within the watershed as designated by the Division under
				the provisions of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act, O.C.G.A.
				12-5-20 et seq. Streams designated
				as primary trout waters are defined as water supporting a self-sustaining
				population of rainbow, brown or brook trout. Streams designated as secondary
				trout waters are those in which there is no evidence of natural trout
				reproduction, but are capable of supporting trout throughout the year. First
				order trout waters are streams into which no other streams flow except
				springs.
(ee) "Water authority" or
				"water and sewer authority" means a "local government authority", as that term
				is defined in O.C.G.A. §
									36-80-16, that has been properly
				formed in accordance with applicable Georgia law and that provides water
				services or water and sewer services to the public.
(ff) "Watercourse" means any natural or
				artificial waterway, stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, conduit,
				culvert, drain, gully, ravine, or wash in which water flows either continuously
				or intermittently, having a definite channel, bed and bank, and includes any
				area adjacent thereto which is subject to inundation by reason of overflow or
				floodwater.
(gg) "Water Quality"
				means the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of the State's
				water resources.
O.C.G.A. §
											12-7-1
et
				  seq.