Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 313 CMR - DIVISION OF WATER SUPPLY PROTECTION › Title 313 CMR 11.00 - Watershed Protection › Section 11.03 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Advisory Ruling
means a ruling issued
				by the Division pursuant to
				313
				CMR 11.06(1).
Agriculture, Land in Agricultural Use, Management,
				and Normal Maintenance or Improvement of Land in Agricultural Use
shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in
				310
				CMR 10.04:
Definitions
.
Alteration
means:
(a) draining, dumping, dredging, damming,
			 discharging, excavating, filling or grading;
(b) the erection, reconstruction or
			 substantial expansion of any buildings or Structures;
(c) the driving of pilings;
(d) the construction or reconstruction or
			 paving of roads and other ways;
(e)
			 the construction or reconstruction of utilities;
(f) the changing of run-off characteristics
			 in a manner likely to degrade the quality of the water in the watersheds by
			 increasing imperviousness, decreasing infiltration rates, or by introducing
			 pollutants;
(g) the intercepting or
			 diverting of Ground Waters, surface waters, reservoirs, tributaries, or
			 aquifers; and
(h) the installation
			 or substantial expansion of drainage, sewage and water systems.
Applicability Decision
means the
				written decision issued by the Division pursuant to
				313
				CMR 11.06(2)(e).
Aquifer
means a geological formation,
				group of formations, or part of a formation in the Wachusett Watershed that is
				capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring, as
				determined by reference to the Maps, as defined in
				313
				CMR 11.07. The land directly overlaying an
				aquifer shall be deemed to be part of said aquifer.
Authority
means the Massachusetts
				Water Resources Authority.
Bank
means the portion of the land
				surface which normally abuts and confines a water body. It occurs between a
				water body and a Bordering Vegetated Wetland and adjacent Flood plain, or in
				the absence of these, it occurs between a water body and an upland. A bank may
				be partially or totally vegetated or may be comprised of exposed soil, gravel
				or stone. The upper boundary of a bank is the first observable break in the
				slope or the mean annual flood level, whichever is lower. The lower boundary of
				a bank is the mean annual low flow level.
Bordering Vegetated Wetland
means a
				wet meadow, except meadows used for the grazing of livestock, marsh, swamp, bog
				or other area, hydrologically connected to and bordering on a Tributary,
				Reservoir, Flood plain, or Surface Water, which supports at least 50% wetland
				species and as defined in the Wetlands Protection Act as defined in
				313
				CMR 11.03.
Commissioner
means the Commissioner of
				the Department of Conservation and Recreation or his or her designee.
Commonwealth
means the Commonwealth of
				Massachusetts.
Date of Issuance
means the date a
				determination, order or decision is hand delivered or mailed as provided in
				313 CMR
				11.00.
Date of Submission
means the date the
				Division assigns a file number to a request or application submitted pursuant
				to 313 CMR 11.06. Assignment of
				a file number shall not imply that a request, application or supporting
				documents have been determined adequate to support the relief requested, but
				only that the submission is complete in accordance with the requirements of
				313
				CMR 11.06.
DCR
means the Department of
				Conservation and Recreation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
DEP
means the Department of
				Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Department
means the Department of
				Conservation and Recreation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Director
means the Director of the
				Division of Water Supply Protection or his or her designee.
Discharge or Discharge of Pollutant
means any addition of Pollutants or combination of Pollutants from any source
				including, but not limited to, discharges from surface runoff, which are
				collected or channelled by man and through pipes, sewers, swales, channels,
				direct overland flow, or other conveyances.
Disposal
means the discharge,
				deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, incineration or placing into or
				on any land or water so that the matter disposed of may enter the environment
				or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including Ground
				Water.
Division
means the Division of Water
				Supply Protection of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Dwelling
means any structure or
				building, or any portion thereof which is used, intended to be used, or
				designed to be occupied for human habitation purposes, including, but not
				limited to, houses, hotels, motels, apartments and condominiums.
Exemption Decision
means a decision
				of the Division, in consultation with DEP, to exempt a Tributary from
				regulation under St. 1992, c. 36 issued pursuant to
				313 CMR
				11.06(4)(g).
Flood Plain
means the land adjoining
				a Tributary, Reservoir or Surface Water, which is subject to inundation from a
				flood having a 1% chance of being equalled or exceeded in any given year,
				commonly known as the 100 year flood plain, as determined by reference to the
				Maps,
				313 CMR 11.07.
Forest Cutting Plan
means a forestry
				activities plan approved under
				304 CMR
				11.00:
Forest Cutting
				Practices
.
Generate or Generation of Pollutants
means the origination, creation or production of Pollutants.
Ground Water
means water below the
				land surface in a saturated zone, including perched ground water.
Hazardous Material or Waste
means any
				material or waste, including oil, in whatever form, which because of its
				quantity, concentration, corrosivity, flammability, reactivity, toxicity, or
				infectious, chemical or radioactive characteristics, either separately or in
				combination with any substance or substances, constitutes a present or
				potential threat to human health, safety, welfare, or to the environment.
				Hazardous Material or Waste shall include those materials referred to in M.G.L.
				c. 21E and in 42 U.S.C. 103 and shall also specifically include oil.
Impervious
means not allowing
				entrance or passage of water due to the presence on or above the ground of
				material having a percolation rate of greater than 30 minutes per inch,
				including, but not limited to, pavement, concrete, stone, peat, loam and other
				organic matter.
Leaching Field
means a soil
				absorption system as such term is defined in 310 CMR 15.00:
The State
				Environmental Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting,
				Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and
				Disposal Systems and for the Transport and Disposal of Septage
.
List of Affected Parcels
means the
				list developed by the Division from maps prepared pursuant to M.G.L. c.
				92A½, § 5(q).
Lot
means an area of land subject to
				St. 1992, c. 36 in one ownership with definite boundaries described in a deed
				or shown on a plan recorded in the registry of deeds or registered in the
				registry district of the land court.
Maps
means the maps described in
				313 CMR 11.07.
Natural Basin
means an area bounded
				peripherally by a water parting and draining ultimately to a particular water
				course or body of water; the catchment area or drainage basin from within which
				the waters of a stream or stream system are drawn.
Office
means the Office of Watershed
				Management (OWM) within the Division of Water Supply Protection of the
				Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Owning an Interest in Real Property or Real
				Property Interest
means having solely, jointly or severally with
				others:
(a) legal title to real
			 property;
(b) the care, charge or
			 control of real property in any capacity including, but not limited to as
			 agent, executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee, or guardian
			 of the estate of the holder of legal title;
(c) the status of a lessee under a written
			 lease; or
(d) the status of an
			 agent, trustee or other person appointed by the Courts of the Commonwealth.
Papers
means all requests, documents,
				papers, notices, appeals and other written communications permitted or required
				by the regulations to be filed with the Division or the Department.
Party Aggrieved
means any Person who,
				because of an act or failure to act by the Division or the Department under St.
				1992, c. 36 or
				313 CMR
				11.00, may suffer an injury in fact which is
				different, either in kind or magnitude, from that suffered by the general
				public, and which is within the scope of the interests identified in St. 1992,
				c. 36. Such party must specify, in writing, sufficient facts to allow the
				Division or the Department to determine whether or not the party is, in fact,
				aggrieved.
Person
means an individual,
				corporation, firm, partnership, company, association, trust, or other business
				or non-profit organization; any agency, department, board, commission,
				quasi-public agency or authority of the Commonwealth; and any Federal,
				municipal or regional governmental or intergovernmental agency, department,
				board, commission, authority, or other entity, or any combination of
				individuals or entities including but not limited to those listed above, their
				agent, trustee, executor, receiver, assignee, or other representative thereof
				owning property or carrying on an activity regulated by St. 1992, c. 36.
Plans
means such data, maps,
				engineering drawings, calculations, specifications, schedules and other
				materials, if any, deemed necessary by the Division to describe the Lot,
				portion of the Lot or the Alteration to determine the applicability of St.
				1992, c. 36 or to determine the impact of the Alteration upon the interests
				identified in St. 1992, c. 36.
Pollutant
means any substance,
				man-made or resulting from human activities, that can alter the biological,
				chemical, physical, or radiological character of water.
Post, Posted, or Posting
means to
				display in a place of public view in electronic or printed form.
Regional Director
means chief
				administrator of either the Wachusett/Sudbury Section or Quabbin/Ware Section
				of the Office of Watershed Management within the Division of Water Supply
				Protection (formerly referred to as "Superintendent" of either the Quabbin or
				Wachusett Reservoirs).
Reservoir
means either the Wachusett
				or the Quabbin Reservoir.
Secretary
means the Secretary of the
				Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) within the
				Executive Branch of the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Sewage Treatment Facility
means any
				wastewater treatment facility used for treating, neutralizing or stabilizing
				sewage, including: treatment or disposal plants; the necessary intercepting
				outfall and outlet sewers; pumping stations integral to such facilities; and
				equipment and appurtenances related to the foregoing.
Sewer System
means pipelines or
				conduits, pumping stations, force mains, and all other structures, devices,
				appurtenances, and facilities used for collecting and conveying wastes to a
				site or works for treatment or disposal.
Storage
means the actual or intended
				containment on a temporary basis or permanent basis which does not constitute
				Disposal.
Structure
means a combination of
				materials assembled at a fixed location to give support or shelter, such as,
				but not limited to, a Dwelling, a building, framework, retaining wall, tent,
				reviewing stand, platform, bin, fence over six feet high, sign, flagpole,
				recreational tramway, mast for radio antenna or the like.
Structure
shall be construed, where the context
				requires, as though followed by the words "or part or parts thereof".
Subsurface Waste Water Disposal
				System
means an on-site subsurface sewage disposal system as
				defined in 310 CMR 15.00:
The State Environmental Code, Title 5:
				Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and
				Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for the
				Transport and Disposal of Septage
.
Surface Water(s)
means water in the
				Watersheds, including any lake, spring, impoundment, and pond, as determined by
				reference to the Maps,
				313 CMR 11.07. Surface water
				shall include the land located thereunder and the Banks thereto. Surface water
				shall exclude all Reservoirs, Tributaries, Aquifers, Ground Waters, and
				man-made farm ponds used for irrigation, as well as so-called great ponds of
				the Commonwealth which do not drain into a Tributary or a Reservoir.
Title 5
means Title 5 of the
				Massachusetts Environmental Code governing standard requirements for the
				siting, constructing, repair, replacement and maintenance of on-site sewage
				treatment and disposal systems, 310 CMR 15.00:
The State Environmental
				Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection,
				Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for
				the Transport and Disposal of Septage
.
Treatment
means any method,
				technique, or process, including neutralization, incineration, stabilization or
				solidification, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological
				character or composition of any Hazardous Material or Waste so as to neutralize
				such Material or Waste or so as to render such Material or Waste less
				hazardous, non-hazardous, safer to transport, amenable to storage, or reduced
				in volume, except such method or technique as may be included as an integral
				part of a manufacturing process at the point of generation.
Tributary
means a body of running
				water, including a river, stream, brook and creek, which moves in a definite
				channel in the ground due to a hydraulic gradient and which flows ultimately
				into a Reservoir in the Watersheds or the Ware River above the Ware River
				intake, as determined by reference to the Maps,
				313 CMR 11.07. A Tributary
				shall include the land over which the water therein runs and the Banks
				thereto.
Uses and Activities
means those uses
				and activities described in M.G.L. c. 92A½, § 5 and
				313 CMR
				11.04(3).
Variance Decision
means the written
				decision issued by the Division pursuant to
				313 CMR
				11.06(3)(g).
Waters of the Watershed System
means
				all waters that in their natural course would flow into the Ware River above
				the Colbrook Diversion, the open channel of the Wachusett Aqueduct, the
				Quabbin, Wachusett, Sudbury and Foss reservoirs and any other lake, pond,
				reservoir, aqueduct, stream, ditch, watercourse or any other open water under
				the provision of M.G.L. c. 92A½, §§ 2 and 5.
Watershed Reservation(s)
means land
				within the Watershed System and described in St. 1972, c. 737 as amended by St.
				1990, c. 436.
Watershed(s)
means the Natural Basin
				from within which water drains or in the natural course would drain into the
				Quabbin Reservoir, the Wachusett Reservoir, or the Ware River upstream of the
				Ware River intake.
Watershed System
means:
(a) all real and personal property interests
			 held by or on behalf of the Commonwealth immediately prior to the effective
			 date of St. 1992, c. 36 in and for the Department of Conservation and
			 Recreation, Division of Water Supply Protection (formerly, the Metropolitan
			 District Commission) water system which were part of or appurtenant to the
			 Quabbin Watershed, Quabbin Reservoir, Ware River watershed, Wachusett
			 watershed, Wachusett Reservoir, North and South Sudbury watersheds, Sudbury
			 Reservoir, Framingham Reservoirs 1, 2 and 3, Blue Hills Reservoir, Bear Hill
			 Reservoir, Spot Pond Reservoir, Fells Reservoir, Weston Reservoir, Norumbega
			 Reservoir, Chestnut Hill Reservoir, including land, easements, buildings,
			 Structures, all equipment, machinery, vehicles and appliances, improvements,
			 water rights and rights in source of water supply; and
(b) all enlargements and additions to the
			 former Metropolitan District Commission water system acquired or constructed by
			 the Division for the purpose of the Watershed System, including land,
			 easements, buildings, Structures, equipment, machinery, vehicles, and
			 appliances, improvements, reservoirs, dams, water rights and rights in sources
			 of water supply, but excluding the Waterworks System of the Authority.
Waterworks System
means waterworks
				system as defined in M.G.L. c. 92 App. and
				360 CMR
				10.00:
Sewer Use
Wetlands Protection Act
means the
				Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and
				310 CMR
				10.00:
Wetlands
				Protection
.