New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 9E - PRIVATE WELL TESTING ACT RULES › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:9E-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise.
"48-hour rapid gross alpha test" or "short term 48-hour gross
				  alpha test" means a test performed in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:18, within 48
				  hours from sample collection, in order to measure the presence of
				  alpha-emitting radionuclides in the sample, including the short-lived alpha
				  emitters such as radium-224.
"Act" means the Private Well Testing Act,
				  P.L.
				  2001, c. 40,
				  58:12A-26 et seq., which applies
				  to buyers, sellers and lessors of certain real property as follows:
1. All contracts of sale for any real property the potable
				  water supply for which is a private well located on the property, or for any
				  other real property the potable water supply for which is a well that has less
				  than 15 service connections or that does not regularly serve an average of at
				  least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year, shall include a
				  provision requiring, as a condition of the sale, the testing of that water
				  supply for certain parameters as set forth in this chapter.
2. The lessor of any real property the potable water supply
				  for which is a private well for which testing of the water is not required
				  pursuant to any other State law, shall test that water supply for certain
				  parameters as set forth in this chapter at least once every five years and,
				  within 30 days after receipt of the test results, provide a written copy of the
				  results to each rental unit and each new lessee.
"Action level" means the concentration of lead in drinking
				  water which determines, in some cases, the need for treatment or remedial
				  action, in accordance with
				  7:10-5.1.
"Acute parameter" means a contaminant in drinking water that
				  has significant potential to have serious adverse effects on human health as a
				  result of short-term exposure. For purposes of this chapter, "acute parameter"
				  means coliform and nitrate.
"Analyze-immediately parameter" means a parameter for which
				  analysis must be performed within 15 minutes after the sample is collected, in
				  accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:18. Examples of analyze-immediately parameters
				  include chlorine dioxide, dissolved oxygen with probe, pH, ozone, residual
				  chlorine, sulfite, and temperature.
"Authorized representative" means a person other than an
				  employee of a New Jersey certified laboratory from which a New Jersey certified
				  laboratory accepts a drinking water well sample(s) and also accepts
				  responsibility for such a sample(s) in accordance with the requirements of
				  7:18-9.1(c).
"Certified laboratory" or a "certified environmental
				  laboratory" means any laboratory, facility, consulting firm, government or
				  private agency, business entity or other person that the Department has
				  authorized pursuant to the Regulations Governing the Certification of
				  Laboratories and Environmental Measurements, N.J.A.C. 7:18, to perform analysis
				  in accordance with the procedures of a given analytical method using a
				  particular technique as set forth in a certain methods reference document, and
				  to report the results from the analysis of environmental samples in compliance
				  with a Department regulatory program.
"Certified environmental laboratory sample identification
				  number" means a unique reference number assigned to individual samples by the
				  laboratory for identification purposes.
"Contaminant" means a specific analyte or group of analytes
				  that are included in the general term "parameter" defined in this
				  section.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental
				  Protection.
"Dwelling unit" means any building or portion of a building,
				  permanent or temporary in nature, used or proposed to be used as a residence
				  either seasonally or throughout the year.
"Exceedance" means the concentration of a contaminant that is
				  greater than an MCL, action level, standard or recommended upper limit for that
				  given contaminant.
"Global Positioning System (GPS) location" means a specific
				  geographic location as determined by satellite radio signals. All GPS data
				  coordinate locations must be collected and reported in accordance with
				  Department standards for GPS data, N.J.A.C. 7:1D, Appendix A.
"Gross alpha particle activity" means the total radioactivity
				  due to alpha particle emission as inferred from measurements set forth in
				  N.J.A.C. 7:18, on a processed sample.
"Local health authority" means a county, regional or
				  municipal health agency that serves as the lead point of contact with the
				  Department on environmental issues. This agency would ordinarily be the local
				  health agency certified pursuant to the County Environmental Health Act,
				  (CEHA), N.J.S.A. 26:3A2-21 et seq. In those counties that do not have a
				  certified CEHA health agency, the local health authority is the agency that
				  serves as the lead for administering the Local Information Networks and
				  Communication System (LINCS) as designated by the Department of Health and
				  Senior Services.
"Maximum contaminant level" or "MCL" means the maximum
				  permissible level of a contaminant in drinking water. Maximum contaminant
				  levels shall apply to non-public water systems, in accordance with the New
				  Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act,
				  58:12A-1 et seq. and implementing
				  rules at N.J.A.C. 7:10.
"Municipal code" means the four-digit numerical reference
				  which identifies the location of a property within a given municipality.
"Parameter" means a general term that includes, but is not
				  limited to, terms such as contaminant, constituent, substance, metal, organic
				  chemical, and characteristics that are used to designate an analyte, group of
				  analytes, attribute, or physical property for which a certified environmental
				  laboratory may be approved to perform analysis of regulatory samples and report
				  results.
"pH" means a numerical expression of the hydrogen ion
				  concentration (acidity) of aqueous matrices. The range of pH values are from
				  zero (high acidity-low alkalinity) to 7 (neutral), to 14 (low acidity-high
				  alkalinity). pH is also known as a secondary parameter.
"Point-of-entry treatment device" means a water treatment
				  device applied to the drinking water entering a house or building for the
				  purpose of reducing contaminants in the drinking water distributed to the
				  entire house or building.
"Point-of-use treatment device" or "point-of-delivery
				  treatment device" means a water treatment device applied to a single tap for
				  the purpose of reducing contaminants in drinking water at that one tap.
"Potable water" means any water used, or intended to be used,
				  for drinking and/or culinary purposes which is free from impurities in amounts
				  sufficient to cause disease or harmful physiological effects, and complies with
				  the bacteriological and chemical quality conforming to applicable standards the
				  New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act rules, N.J.A.C. 7:10.
"Private well" means a potable water well that serves a
				  dwelling unit and is located on the same real property as the dwelling
				  unit.
"Private Well Water Test Reporting Form" means the
				  standardized form prescribed by the Department to be used by a certified
				  laboratory to disseminate well test results to its client in order to determine
				  compliance with this chapter.
"Public notification" means general notice by the appropriate
				  local health authority of well test failures to surrounding and/or neighboring
				  owners of real property served by wells subject to this chapter, with
				  recommendations to test for the parameters of concern to the owners of
				  surrounding or neighboring properties served by wells.
"Recommended limit" means the optimum range of lower or upper
				  limit for iron, manganese, and pH, in accordance with the New Jersey Safe
				  Drinking Water Act rules at N.J.A.C. 7:10-7.
"Reporting laboratory" means the certified laboratory
				  responsible for reporting the complete set of required information related to
				  this chapter to the Department.
"Secondary parameter" means a drinking water contaminant
				  regulated under this chapter for aesthetic purposes rather than health effects.
				  Secondary parameter refers to pH, iron and manganese. Treatment for the removal
				  or adjustment for these contaminants may be recommended when their reported
				  levels exceed the recommended limits.
"Standard" means a water quality standard as defined in this
				  section.
"Surface water" means water at or above the land's surface,
				  which is neither groundwater nor contained within the unsaturated zone,
				  including, but not limited to, the ocean and its tributaries, all springs,
				  streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and artificial water bodies, in
				  accordance with the New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act rules, N.J.A.C.
				  7:10.
"Water quality standard" or "drinking water quality standard"
				  means a standard that applies to a contaminant that is required to be tested
				  pursuant to the New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act,
				  58:12A-1 et seq. and implementing
				  rules at N.J.A.C. 7:10, that include maximum contaminant level, recommended
				  limits, or an action level for lead analysis.
"Water test failure" means an exceedance of an applicable
				  drinking water quality standard of a required test parameter under the Private
				  Well Testing Act. This term includes all applicable maximum contaminant levels,
				  recommended limits, or an action level for lead analysis.
"Water treatment system" means a device applied to the
				  drinking water at a house or building for the purpose of reducing contaminants
				  in the drinking water distributed in the house or building. Examples include
				  point-of-entry devices and point-of-use devices, as defined in this
				  section.
"Well" means a hole or excavation larger than four inches in
				  diameter or a hole or excavation deeper than 10 feet in depth that is drilled,
				  bored, cored, driven, jetted, dug, or otherwise constructed for the purpose of
				  removal or emplacement of, or investigation of, or exploration for, fluids,
				  water, oil, gas, minerals, soil, or rock, or for the installation of an
				  elevator shaft, in accordance with rules governing well construction and
				  maintenance at N.J.A.C. 7:9D.
"Well permit" means a written approval issued by the
				  Department, pursuant to the well construction and maintenance rules, at
				  N.J.A.C. 7:9D, to a licensed well driller which authorizes a licensed well
				  driller of the proper class to construct a well or wells. A designated numeric
				  reference is assigned by the Department to individual State well
				  permits.
"Well record" means the form provided by the Department that
				  depicts the construction details of a well, which is completed by the well
				  driller subsequent to well permit issuance and well installation.