Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 43 - NATURAL RESOURCES › Part VI - Water Resources Management › Subpart 1 - Ground Water Management › Chapter 1 - General Provisions › Section VI-103 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. The words
				  defined herein shall have the following meanings when used in these Rules and
				  Regulations for this Subpart. All other words used and not defined shall have
				  their usual meanings unless specifically defined in Title 38 of the Louisiana
				  Revised Statutes.
Aquifer
-a ground water bearing stratum of
					 permeable rock, sand, or gravel.
Area of Ground Water Concern
-an area in
					 which, under current usage and normal environmental conditions, sustainability
					 of an aquifer is not being maintained due to either movement of a salt water
					 front, water level decline, or subsidence, resulting in unacceptable
					 environmental, economic, social, or health impacts, or causing a serious
					 adverse impact to an aquifer, considering the areal and temporal extent of all
					 such impacts.
Beneficial Use
-the technologically
					 feasible use of ground water for domestic, municipal, industrial, agricultural,
					 recreational, or therapeutic purposes or any other advantageous purpose.
Commission
-Ground Water Resources
					 Commission authorized by
					 R.S.
					 38:3097.4.
Commissioner
-Commissioner of
					 Conservation.
Critical Area of Ground Water Concern
-an
					 area of ground water concern, in which the commissioner finds that the
					 sustainability of the aquifer cannot be maintained without withdrawal
					 restrictions.
Domestic Well
-a well used exclusively to
					 supply the household needs of the owner lessee or his family. Uses may include
					 drinking, cooking, washing, sanitary purposes, lawn and garden watering and
					 caring for pets.
Domestic wells
shall also include wells used
					 on private farms and ranches for the feeding and caring of pets and watering of
					 lawns, excluding livestock, crops, and ponds.
Drilling Rig Supply Well
-a water well used
					 only for the duration of the oil and gas drilling operation at the drilling
					 location where sited for the immediate needs of drilling rig operations.
Ground Water
-water suitable for any
					 beneficial purpose percolating below the earth's surface which contains less
					 than 10,000 mg/l total dissolved solids, including water suitable for domestic
					 use or supply for a domestic water system.
Ground Water Emergency
-an unanticipated
					 occurrence as a result of a natural force or a man-made act which causes a
					 ground water source to become immediately unavailable for beneficial use for
					 the foreseeable future or drought conditions determined by the commissioner to
					 warrant the temporary use of drought relief wells to assure the sustained
					 production of agricultural products in the state.
Large Volume Well
-a well with an 8 inch or
					 greater diameter screen size or a well that by itself or used in conjunction
					 with another well or group of wells on the same lease or within the same unit
					 and screened in the same aquifer for the purposes of providing ground water for
					 hydraulic fracturing for natural gas production and that alone or in
					 conjunction with the other well or wells is determined by the Office of
					 Conservation to be capable of producing 1,500 gallons per minute.
Owner
-the person registered as owner of a
					 water well with the Office of Conservation, and if there is none registered for
					 a specific well or proposed well then the owner shall be one of the following:
					 the legal owner of the property on which the well or hole is located, a person
					 holding a long-term lease on the property on which the well or hole is located,
					 or a person who otherwise has the legal right to drill and operate a water well
					 on the property of another where the well or hole is located.
Person
-any natural person, corporation,
					 association, partnership, receiver, tutor, curator, executor, administrator,
					 fiduciary, or representative of any kind, or any governmental entity.
Replacement Well
-a well located within
					 1,000 feet of the original well and within the same property boundary as the
					 original well, installed within the same aquifer over an equivalent interval
					 with an equivalent pumping rate, and used for the same purpose as the original
					 well.
Spacing
-the distance a water well may be
					 located in relation to an existing or proposed water well, regardless of
					 property boundaries.
Sustainability
-the development and use of
					 ground water in a manner that can be maintained for the present and future time
					 without causing unacceptable environmental, economic, social, or health
					 consequences.
User
-any person who is making any
					 beneficial use of ground water from a well or wells owned or operated by such
					 person.
Well or Water Well
-any well drilled or
					 constructed for the principal purpose of producing ground
					 water.
AUTHORITY NOTE:
					 Promulgated in accordance with
					 R.S.
					 38:3097.1 et
					 seq.