New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 7 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Chapter 20A - AGRICULTURAL, AQUACULTURAL, AND HORTICULTURAL WATER USAGE CERTIFICATION › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 7:20A-1.3 - 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.
"Act" means the Water Supply Management Act,
				  58:1A-1 et seq.
"Adverse impact upon wells" means an impaired pumping rate or
				  a required change in the construction of a well affected by lowered water
				  levels or any impairment of water quality.
"Agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural purposes" means
				  the commercial activity of producing principally for sale aquatic organisms,
				  crops, plants, animals or their products for the use or consumption by humans
				  and/or animals including the growing, harvesting, storage and the on-farm
				  preparation for use and marketing of aquatic organisms, crops, plants, animals
				  or their products.
"Agricultural development plan" means a plan for identifying
				  crop types anticipated to be planted, anticipated for the expansion of
				  agricultural or horticultural activities into areas of the farm management unit
				  currently not cultivated and/or irrigated, and/or the amount of impervious
				  surface planned on the farm management unit during the effective period of the
				  water usage certification.
"Agriculture management practices" means those methods,
				  techniques and actions employed to conserve water and protect natural resources
				  as described in various bulletins and guidance documents prepared and
				  distributed by the Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension, New Jersey
				  Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University, the United States
				  Department of Agriculture and/or the agricultural management practices adopted
				  by the State Agriculture Development Committee in accordance with
				  2:76-2.1.
"Agricultural water usage registration" or "water usage
				  registration" means the document issued to persons having the capability to
				  divert more than 100,000 gallons of water per day from a source or combination
				  of sources, but whose actual usage is less than 100,000 gallons of water per
				  day for agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural purposes.
"Applicant" means any person filing or required to file an
				  application to establish, modify or renew a water usage certification or water
				  usage registration to divert water pursuant to this chapter or the Act. An
				  applicant may be the owner, of the farm management unit or the authorized
				  representative.
"Aquaculture" means the propagation, rearing, and subsequent
				  harvesting of aquatic organisms in controlled or selected environments, and the
				  subsequent processing, packaging and marketing, and shall include, but not be
				  limited to, activities to intervene in the rearing process to increase
				  production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting and providing for
				  protection from predators.
"Aquatic organism" means and includes, but need not be
				  limited to, finfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and aquatic plants which are the
				  property of a person engaged in aquaculture.
"Aquifer" means any subsurface water-saturated zone which is
				  significantly permeable so that it may yield sufficient quantities of water
				  from wells or springs in order to serve as a practical source of water
				  supply.
"Area of critical water supply concern" or "critical area"
				  means a region of the State, as designated by the Commissioner under N.J.A.C.
				  7:19-8, where excessive water usage or diversion presents undue stress, or
				  wherein conditions pose a significant threat to the long-term integrity of a
				  water supply source, including a diminution of surface water due to excess
				  groundwater diversion.
"Authorized representative" means the person that the owner
				  of the farm management unit on which the agricultural, aquacultural, or
				  horticultural activity is taking place or is planned has designated in writing
				  to the appropriate county agricultural agent and the Department as having
				  authority to act on the owner's behalf on matters governed by this chapter. The
				  authorized representative may include a lessee, the farmer and/or operator, or
				  other person so designated by the owner to perform agricultural, aquacultural
				  or horticultural activities on the farm management unit.
"Capability to divert 100,000 gallons of water per day" means
				  having the equipment or diversion structure with the hydraulic capacity to pump
				  or divert 100,000 gallons per day of ground and/or surface water; for pumping
				  equipment, the hydraulic capacity is equivalent to 70 gallons per
				  minute.
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of
				  Environmental Protection or the Commissioner's designated
				  representative.
"County agricultural agent" or "appropriate county
				  agricultural agent" means the person so appointed by the New Jersey
				  Agricultural Experiment Station's Rutgers Cooperative Research and
				  Extension.
"County agricultural development board" means the public body
				  established by the governing body of a county under the Agriculture Retention
				  and Development Act,
				  4:1C-11 et seq.
"Decision maker" means the person designated by the
				  Department to make decisions on applications, after consultation with the
				  appropriate county agricultural agent, for water usage certifications and
				  claims of privileges to divert water.
"Department" means the New Jersey Department of Environmental
				  Protection.
"Diversion source" means the aquifer and/or surface water
				  sources from which a diversion of water is made and the associated
				  infrastructure by which water is diverted.
"Divert" or "diversion" means the taking of water from a
				  river, stream, lake, pond, aquifer, well, other underground source, or other
				  water body, whether or not the water is returned thereto, consumed, made to
				  flow into another stream or basin, or discharged elsewhere.
"Drought" means a climatic condition characterized by lower
				  than normal precipitation, and resulting in reduced stream flows, reduced soil
				  moisture, reduced groundwater levels and/or a lowering of the potentiometric
				  surface in wells that warrants or may warrant a declaration of a drought
				  warning pursuant to
				  7:19-13.1(d), or a
				  water supply emergency pursuant to the Water Supply Management Act,
				  58:1A-1 et seq.
"Farm management unit" means a parcel or parcels of land,
				  whether contiguous or noncontiguous, together with agricultural, aquacultural
				  or horticultural buildings, structures and facilities, producing agricultural,
				  aquacultural or horticultural products, and operated under common ownership or
				  by a common authorized representative if the same person is representing
				  multiple owners, whether active or inactive, and as such parcels are reflected
				  by lot and block numbers, or metes and bounds.
"Freshwater wetland" or "wetland" means an area that is
				  inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and
				  duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does
				  support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
				  soil conditions, commonly known as hydrophytic vegetation; provided, however,
				  that the Department, in designating a wetland, shall use the three-parameter
				  approach (that is, hydrology, soils, and vegetation) enumerated in the 1989
				  Federal Manual as defined in the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Acts rules at
				  N.J.A.C. 7:7A. These include tidally influenced wetlands which have not been
				  included on a promulgated map pursuant to the Wetlands Act of 1970,
				  13:9A-1 et seq. It shall not mean
				  a "farmed wetland" pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:7A.
"Impervious surface" means any structure or surface that
				  prevents the infiltration of precipitation into the land. Examples of
				  impervious surfaces include, but are not limited to, pavement, roof tops,
				  sidewalks, driveways, barns, hoop houses, greenhouses, plastic or other
				  impermeable ground cover, sheds, foundations, houses, garages, commercial
				  buildings, compacted soil or stone areas, and lined ponds. This term shall not
				  include temporary structures that remain in place for less than six months per
				  calendar year.
"Lawful entry" means an entry by the Commissioner, or the
				  Commissioner's designated representative, into any building, place, or premise
				  pursuant to
				  13:1D-1 et seq. and N.J.S.A.
				  58:1A-15c, and otherwise provided by law, ordinance, regulation, order, permit,
				  certification, or agreement, as may be required for the purpose of
				  investigating actual or suspected non-compliance with the Water Supply
				  Management Act,
				  58:1A-1 et seq.
"Modification" means a change to a certification including,
				  but not limited to, an increase in monthly and/or annual certification volume,
				  the addition of a new diversion source, or an increase in pump capacity of an
				  existing diversion source.
"Off-stream pond" means a pond or other impoundment used for
				  water supply purposes that is not connected directly by structures or channels
				  to a surface water body, whereby the surface water is able to flow into the
				  pond or impoundment, and where diverting from the pond or impoundment will not
				  impact the flow or water level of the surface water.
"Passing flow" means the volume of water required to be
				  maintained at a selected point in the stream to promote water quantity and
				  quality conditions after consideration of downstream users and ecological
				  needs.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, company,
				  partnership, firm, association, owner, political subdivision of this State, or
				  of any State, interstate or Federal agency, authorized representative, or a
				  public water system.
"Potentiometric surface" means an imaginary surface which
				  represents the static elevation of water, relative to sea level, in a well
				  constructed in an aquifer.
"Public water system" means a system for the provision to the
				  public of water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed
				  conveyances, if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly
				  serves at least 25 individuals daily for at least 60 days out of the year. This
				  term includes any collection, treatment, storage and distribution facilities
				  under control of the operator of such system and used primarily in connection
				  with such system, and any collection or pre-treatment storage facilities not
				  under such control which are used primarily in connection with the
				  system.
"Replacement well" means a new well that is to replace an
				  existing well which shall be sealed in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:9D-3 and
				  where the proposed well will be approximately the same depth as the existing
				  well and diverting from the same aquifer; have the same or lesser pumping
				  capacity; and be within 100 feet of the existing well, or as prescribed in
				  7:20A-2.2(a)1 
				  i.
"Safe or dependable yield" or "safe yield" or "dependable
				  yield" means that maintainable yield of water from a surface or ground water
				  source or sources which is available continuously during projected future
				  conditions, including a repetition of the most severe drought of record,
				  without creating undesirable effects, as determined by the Department.
"Saltwater" means water that contains chloride concentrations
				  in excess of 10,000 mg/L.
"Violator" means any person whom the Department asserts has
				  violated the Act or any rules issued pursuant to the Act.
"Water" or "waters of the State" means all surface water or
				  ground water in the State.
"Water resource" means any river, stream, lake, pond,
				  freshwater wetland, aquifer, other underground source, or other water
				  body.
"Water supply allocation permit" means the document issued by
				  the Department to a person granting that person the privilege, so long as the
				  person complies with the conditions of the document, to divert 100,000 or more
				  gallons of water per day for more than 30 days in a consecutive 365 day period,
				  for any purpose other than agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural
				  purposes.
"Water supply critical aquifer" means an aquifer within an
				  area of critical water supply concern in which there may be either insufficient
				  water supply, shortage of ground water due to overdraft, threat of salt water
				  intrusion or contamination, or where other circumstances exist under which the
				  Department determines that special measures are required to ensure the
				  integrity and viability of the water source and to protect the public health,
				  safety and welfare.
"Water usage certification" or "certification" means the
				  document issued to a person granting that person the privilege to divert
				  100,000 gallons or more of water per day from ground and surface water sources
				  for agricultural, aquacultural, or horticultural purposes for a five-year
				  period.
"Well" means a hole or excavation larger than four inches in
				  diameter or a hole or excavation greater than 10 feet in depth, that is
				  drilled, bored, driven, cored, jetted, dug or otherwise constructed for the
				  purpose of the removal or emplacement of, investigation of, or exploration for
				  water.
"Well sealing" means the permanent closure or decommissioning
				  of a well in accordance with the procedures set forth at N.J.A.C.
				  7:9D-3.
"Zone of influence" means the area of ground water which
				  experiences an impact in water level attributable to a pumping well.