Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 44.00 - Dep Selection, Approval and Regulation of Water Pollution Abatement Projects Receiving Financial Assistance from the State Revolving Fund › Section 44.03 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
For the purposes of
				310 CMR 44.00, the following
				terms shall have the meaning set forth in
				310 CMR 44.00 unless the
				context clearly requires otherwise.
208 Plan
. An Areawide Waste Treatment
				Management Plan certified by the Governor or his or her designee and approved
				by EPA pursuant to § 208 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. §
				1288.
Best Management Practices (BMPs)
. A
				method, measure or practice in water management, or a combination thereof,
				established and published by the Trust pursuant to St. 2014, c. 259, § 55.
				The Trust's BMPs can be found on the Official Website of the Treasurer and
				Receiver General of Massachusetts.
Clean Water Act (CWA)
. The Federal
				Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500, 33 USC § 1251,
et
				seq
.
Collection System Projects
. Projects
				for the construction of a collection system or its related components.
				Collection systems generally consist of each and all of the common lateral
				sewers and appurtenances of publicly owned treatment works which are primarily
				installed to receive wastewaters from individual structures or from private
				property, and which include service connection "Y" fittings and service
				connections within the boundary of the public way or easement.
Community Septic Management Program
.
				As authorized by St. 1996, c. 15, § 2, or by any other applicable law, a
				loan program to Local Governmental Units administered within the Fund and under
				310 CMR 44.00 to assist
				eligible homeowners to upgrade failed septic systems in compliance with
				310 CMR 15.000:
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
through
				underlying betterment agreements between the Local Governmental Unit and such
				homeowners pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111, § 127B½.
Comprehensive Water Resource Management Plan
				(CWMP)
. In accordance with the Department's
Guide to Water
				Resource Management Planning
, a CWMP identifies all of a community's
				needs/problems in one sector of its water resource structure, evaluates
				alternative means of meeting those needs, selects the most cost- effective and
				environmentally appropriate remedy, and proposes an implementation plan and
				schedule. There are three types of CWMPs: Comprehensive Wastewater Management
				Plans that evaluate a community's wastewater infrastructure/management needs,
				Comprehensive Water Supply Management Plans that focus on the community's water
				supply infrastructure and management issues, and Comprehensive Stormwater
				Management Plans that focus on the community's stormwater management
				needs.
Cost
. As applied to any water
				pollution abatement project, any or all costs, whenever incurred, approved by
				the Department in accordance with M.G.L. c. 21, § 27A, of carrying out a
				project including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing: costs for
				planning, preparation of studies and surveys, design, construction, expansion,
				facilities, improvement and rehabilitation, acquisition of real property,
				personal property, materials, machinery or equipment, start-up costs,
				demolitions and relocations, reasonable reserves and working capital, interest
				on loans, local governmental obligations and notes in anticipation thereof
				prior to and during construction of such project or prior to the date of such
				loan, if later, administrative, legal and financing expenses, and other
				expenses necessary or incidental to the aforesaid.
Department
. The Massachusetts
				Department of Environmental Protection.
District
. Any county, regional or
				local district, commission, board or other political subdivision or
				instrumentality of the Commonwealth, howsoever named, which is authorized to
				provide itself or through an officer, board, department or division thereof
				local water pollution abatement, sewer or stormwater services, or public water
				supply services, whether established under general law or special act.
EPA
. The U.S. Environmental Protection
				Agency.
Federal Cross-cutters
. Federal laws
				and authorities that apply by their own terms to projects receiving federal
				financial assistance such as the federal SRF. Such federal cross-cutters
				include, but are not limited to, environmental laws and authorities such as the
				Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Coastal Zone
				Management Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the National Historic
				Preservation Act of 1966, and economic and miscellaneous authorities such as
				the procurement and contractor requirements associated with financial
				assistance programs under the CWA and Clean Air Act.
Fiscal Sustainability Plan
. A plan
				prepared in compliance with § 603(d)(1)(E) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. §
				1383, for treatment works proposed for repair, replacement, or expansion, that
				includes at a minimum the following four items:
(a) inventory of critical assets that are part of the treatment
				works;
(b) evaluation of the condition and performance of inventoried
				assets or asset groupings;
(c) certification that the applicant has evaluated and will be
				implementing water and energy conservation efforts as part of the plan;
				and
(d) a plan for maintaining, repairing, funding, and as
				necessary, replacing the treatment works.
Green Infrastructure Projects
.
				Products, technologies, and practices that use natural systems or processes, or
				engineered systems that use natural systems or processes, to enhance overall
				environmental quality. Such projects include, but are not limited to,
				decentralized wastewater systems that infiltrate treated water; water reuse for
				beneficial purposes; low impact development projects; the conservation,
				enhancement and restoration of natural upland, wetland and submerged landscape
				features that naturally filter and remove silt, nutrients and pollution from
				surface waters, maintain or restore natural hydrologic cycles, minimize
				imperviousness in a watershed through preservation and restoration of natural
				landscape buffers such as forests, floodplains, wetlands and other natural
				systems and restoration of natural stream channels and submerged habitat; land
				acquisition and restoration projects that protect and filter drinking water
				supplies and buffer reservoirs or support ecological restoration in fresh or
				marine waters; and the mitigation of risks of flooding and erosion using the
				restoration of saltmarsh, oyster reefs and eelgrass beds from sea-level rise,
				storm surges and extreme weather events, including the protection and
				restoration of natural coastal landscapes; provided, that Green Infrastructure
				Projects may be stand-alone and may also be used to complement built water
				management infrastructure technologies such as pipes, dikes and treatment
				facilities; and provided, further, that Green Infrastructure Projects may
				include innovative technologies that further achievement of the mandates under
				the CWA.
Indirect Discharge
. Means the
				introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic source regulated
				under § 307(b), (c) or (d) of the CWA.
Infiltration
. Water other than
				wastewater that enters a sewer system (including sewer service connections and
				foundation drains) from the ground through means which include, but are not
				limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints connections, or manholes. Infiltration
				does not include, and is distinguished from, inflow.
Infiltration/Inflow Projects
. Projects
				which remove infiltration and inflow (
i.e
. water other than
				wastewater) from a sewer system, including construction associated with
				infiltration/inflow rehabilitation.
Infiltration/Inflow Rehabilitation
.
				Construction associated with the rehabilitation of a sewer system to remove or
				reduce infiltration/inflow.
Inflow
. Water other than wastewater
				that enters a sewer system (including sewer service connections) from sources
				which include but are not limited to, roof leaders, cellar drains, yard drains,
				area drains, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross
				connections between storm sewers and sanitary sewers catch basins, cooling
				towers, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage. Inflow
				does not include, and is distinguished from infiltration.
Innovative Technologies
. New products
				and processes, and significant technological changes of products and processes,
				which have not been commercially deployed or are in limited deployment.
Integrated Water Resources Management
				Plan
. In accordance with the Department's
Guide to Water
				Resource Management Planning
, an Integrated Water Resource Management
				Plan is a plan that identifies all of a community's/(ies') water resource
				infrastructure and management needs/problems including wastewater, water supply
				and stormwater, evaluates alternative means of meeting those needs, selects the
				most environmentally appropriate and cost-effective remedy, and proposes an
				implementation plan and schedule.
Intended Use Plan
. An annual plan
				submitted by the Trust to EPA pursuant to § 606(c) of the CWA which
				identifies the intended use of the amounts available to the Fund as determined
				by the Trust and derived from the federal capitalization grant, state match
				amounts, loan repayments, investment earnings and any other moneys deposited by
				the Trust available to fund projects eligible for funding under Title VI of the
				CWA. The Intended Use Plan includes a project listing, a description of short
				and long term goals for the use of the funds, information on the activities to
				be supported, assurances for meeting certain Title VI requirements, and the
				criteria and method for the distribution of funds.
Intended Use Plan Project Listing
.
				Those projects identified by the Department for inclusion on the fundable
				portion of the calendar year priority list pursuant to
				310 CMR
				44.05(2).
Land Use Controls
. Local and regional
				government zoning ordinances and by-laws and health and sewer use regulations
				for wastewater.
Loan
. Any form of financial assistance
				subject to repayment, in whole or in part, which is provided by the Trust to a
				Local Governmental Unit for all or any part of the cost of a water pollution
				abatement project.
Loan Agreement
. Any agreement entered
				into between the Trust and a Local Governmental Unit pertaining to a loan or
				local governmental obligations.
Loan Commitment
. A written commitment
				by the Trust to make a loan to a Local Governmental Unit to finance a project
				approved by the Department on terms consistent with the Department's Project
				Approval Certificate.
Local Government Unit or Local Governmental
				Unit
. Any town, city, district, commission, agency, authority,
				board or other instrumentality of the commonwealth or of any of its political
				subdivisions, including any regional local governmental unit defined in M.G.L.
				c. 29C, which is responsible for the ownership or operation of a water
				pollution abatement project and is authorized by a bond act to finance all or
				any part of the cost thereof through the issue of bonds.
MEPA
. The Massachusetts Environmental
				Policy Act, M.G.L. c. 30, §§ 61 through 62H.
NEPA
. The National Environmental
				Policy Act,
				42 U.S.C.
				4321
et seq
.
Nonpoint Source Project
. Projects
				which implement or are consistent with the Nonpoint Source Management Plan,
				developed and updated by the Department pursuant to § 319 of the CWA,
				which may include, but are not limited to, the repair, replacement and/or
				upgrading of subsurface sewage disposal systems regulated under
				310 CMR 15.000:
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
,
				landfill capping and closure, remediation of leaking underground storage tanks,
				erosion control, the control of stormwater runoff, brownfields remediation
				projects, and other water pollution prevention projects.
Nutrient Removal Project
. A water
				pollution abatement project that is being undertaken by a Local Governmental
				Unit primarily to remediate or prevent nutrient enrichment of a surface water
				body or a source of water supply to comply with effluent limitations
				established under a NPDES permit or an EPA-approved TMDL or to otherwise
				implement a nutrient management plan approved by the Department. Nutrient
				Removal Projects include those portions of such projects approved by the
				Department as reasonably necessary for cost-effective nutrient removal or
				recovery, and as evidenced by the Local Governmental Unit's CWMP or a
				corresponding engineering report or a 208 Plan or watershed restoration plan
				that is consistent therewith, as determined by the designated areawide planning
				agency that prepared the 208 Plan.
Nutrient Sensitive Watershed
. Any
				watershed or sub-watershed containing a water body impaired by nutrients that
				has been listed, accordingly, on Massachusetts' list of impaired waterbodies
				under § 303(d) of the CWA or that has been designated as nutrient
				sensitive by the Department.
Policy on Eligible Project Costs
. The
				Department's document entitled
Policy on Eligible Project
				Costs
, which identifies the specific types of project costs determined
				by the Department to be generally within the eligible project categories
				identified in
				310 CMR 44.08(1) and
				(2).
POTW Treatment Plant
. That portion of
				a POTW which is designed to provide treatment (including recycling and
				reclamation) of municipal sewage and industrial waste.
Project Approval Certificate
. A
				certificate issued by the Department to the Trust certifying that a project is
				approved for financing by the Trust and that the costs of the project are
				eligible for financial assistance pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29C, § 6.
Project Regulatory Agreement
. An
				agreement between the Department and a Local Governmental Unit, executed and
				delivered to the Trust on or prior to the date of a loan from the Trust to the
				Local Governmental Unit to finance a project approved by the Department, which
				includes a disbursement schedule, procedures for approval and payment of
				requisitions, conditions related to the borrower's compliance with the
				Department's regulations and other federal and state statutes and regulations
				applicable to the construction and operation of the project, and provision for
				the Department's supervision of the project in accordance with
				310 CMR 44.00.
Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW)
.
				A treatment works as defined by § 212 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1292,
				which is owned by a State or municipality (as defined by § 502(4) of the
				CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(4)).
Publicly Owned Treatment Works
				(POTW)
includes any devices and systems used in the storage,
				treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes
				of a liquid nature.
Publicly Owned Treatment Works
				(POTW)
also includes sewers, pipes and other conveyances only if
				they convey wastewater to a POTW Treatment Plant.
Publicly Owned
				Treatment Works (POTW)
also means the municipality as defined in
				§ 502(4) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(4), which has jurisdiction over
				the Indirect Discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment
				works.
Regional Land Use Planning Agency
. Any
				one of the public bodies corporate established as a regional planning district
				commission pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40B, § 3.
Regional Local Government Unit
. Any
				Local Government Unit which is responsible for the ownership or operation of a
				Regional System.
Regional System
. Any District serving
				two or more municipalities, any private water system serving two or more
				municipalities, and any other entity established by mutual agreement of two or
				more municipalities, or by a county in which all municipalities of the county
				have an agreement to provide public water supply or wastewater services, or
				both, through shared facilities, sources or distribution networks, and which
				has authority to set rates and charges for the consumers of such
				services.
State Revolving Fund (SRF) Program
.
				The financial assistance program for water pollution abatement projects
				authorized under M.G.L. c. 21, § 27A, and the CWA, including the Clean
				Water State Revolving Fund Program established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29C, the
				Department's related authority and responsibilities set forth in M.G.L. c. 21,
				§ 27A, and elsewhere in M.G.L. c. 21, and the Water Pollution Abatement
				Revolving Fund established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29, § 2L.
Title 5
.
				310 CMR 15.000:
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
.
Trust
. The Massachusetts Clean Water
				Trust established by M.G.L. c. 29C. The Trust administers the Commonwealth's
				SRF programs, which are authorized by federal legislation -the Water Quality
				Act of 1987 for the clean water SRF and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 for
				the drinking water SRF - to provide financial assistance to borrowers for
				wastewater projects and drinking water projects.
Wastewater
. Sewage, industrial waste,
				other wastes or any combination of the three, as defined in
				314 CMR 3.00:
Surface
				Water Discharge Permit Program
and 5.00:
Ground Water
				Discharge Permit Program
.
Wastewater Treatment Project
.
				Abatement facilities eligible for SRF assistance under the CWA providing, or
				being upgraded or rehabilitated to provide, secondary or more stringent
				wastewater treatment (or any cost effective alternatives), including conveyance
				components (such as interceptors) and appurtenances related to such facilities
				as well as the correction of combined sewer overflows. Wastewater treatment
				project does not, however, include activities and/or facilities within the
				definitions of an Infiltration and Inflow Project or a Collection System
				Project under 310 CMR 44.03.
Water Pollution Abatement Project
. Any
				abatement facilities, including without limitation rehabilitation of abatement
				facilities to remove, curtail or otherwise mitigate infiltration and inflow,
				collection system, treatment works and treatment facilities as defined in
				M.G.L. c. 21, § 26A, and any eligible facilities for implementation of a
				nonpoint source pollution control management program or estuary conservation
				and management plan pursuant to the CWA.
Watershed Benchmark Flow
. The existing
				wastewater facility total flow amount in a planning area, including flow
				amounts from on-site subsurface disposal systems, collection systems, and
				wastewater treatment plants, as set forth in a Local Governmental Unit's
				Department-approved CWMP.
Watershed Management Plans
. Plans
				developed, updated and/or approved by the Department to assess and manage the
				water resources of any watershed or subwatershed, including plans which
				implement or are consistent with the Department's Nonpoint Source Management
				Plan. Watershed Management Plans may include watershed related plans developed
				and updated by other parties which, as approved by the Department, implement or
				are consistent with the Department's Nonpoint Source Management
				Plan.