Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 216 - Department of health › Chapter 50 - Environmental health › Subchapter 05 - Water Quality › Part 7 - Clean Water Infrastructure Plans (216-RICR-50-05-7) › Section 216-RICR-50-05-7.3 - DEFINITIONS

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Wherever used in this Part, the following
				  terms shall be construed as follows:
1.
				  "Audit" means the annual formal examination of the water supplier's financial
				  statements including all investments, interest, expenditures, and operating
				  costs.
2. "Commission" means the
				  Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of the State of Rhode Island.
3. "Comprehensive plan" means the
				  Comprehensive Plan adopted and approved in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws
				  Chapter 45-22.2, the RI Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. A
				  document prepared by each local municipality which contains the planning and
				  implementation program for land use, housing, economic development, natural and
				  cultural resources, services and facilities, open space and recreation, and
				  circulation.
4. "Department" means
				  the Department of Health (DOH), Division of Drinking Water Quality.
5. "Distribution facilities" means the pipes
				  and appurtenant facilities employed specifically to deliver, to dispense, to
				  render or to circulate potable water directly to the consumer.
6. "Drinking water" means potable water
				  served to the public.
7. "Economic
				  life" means the expected financial lifespan of a component of a public water
				  system which is used to depreciate the capital expense of the
				  component.
8. "Eligible
				  expenditures" means those costs and expenses necessary to fund, manage, and
				  implement the infrastructure replacement plan, only. This may include
				  associated accounting fees, consulting fees, replacement construction,
				  etc.
9. "Infrastructure" means the
				  permanent underlying framework of the public water system, including but not
				  limited to, supplies, transmission, storage, distribution, pumping, and
				  treatment facilities.
10. "Life
				  expectancy" means the expected physical lifespan of a component of a public
				  water system.
11. "Maintenance"
				  means a planned program of inspection, adjustment, exercise, lubrication, etc.
				  which allows the maximum continuous service of the equipment in the system at
				  the lowest possible cost to the utility as required in the Water Resources
				  Board "Rules and Procedures for Water Supply Systems Management Planning"
				  §8.07(c) . Routine maintenance expenditures are not eligible for funding
				  from the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.
12. "Rate fee" means the charge per unit for
				  public water based upon a ratio, scale, or standard relative to the cost of
				  supplying potable drinking water.
13. "Rehabilitation" means rehabilitation
				  which restores existing facilities or components to a condition which extends
				  the physical and economic life of the component. Rehabilitation is an eligible
				  expenditure under the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.
14. "Repair" means expenditures to return
				  into service a component of the infrastructure that has failed is not an
				  eligible expenditure under the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.
15. "Replacement" means new construction to
				  substitute for existing facilities or components which cannot be rehabilitated
				  or repaired cost effectively is an eligible expenditure under the
				  Infrastructure Replacement Plan.
16. "Special account" means an account
				  established by physically opening an account designated as the "Infrastructure
				  Replacement Fund" that is acceptable under this Part. This account shall be
				  self-contained in that deposits and withdrawals are recorded by the financial
				  institution through a fiduciary relationship with the utility. This special
				  account shall be a restricted receipt account dedicated solely for funding of
				  eligible expenditures from the infrastructure replacement program and be
				  administered by the general manager of the water supplier or his designee. All
				  receipts, income, and interest earned on these funds shall be accrued within
				  this special account.
17.
				  "Surcharge" means a fee charged in addition to normal system rate fees which is
				  used to fund extraordinary or special conditions of the water system.
18. "Transmission facilities" means the
				  pipes, pumping stations, and storage facilities required to carry raw and/or
				  potable water from a water source to or throughout an area served or to be
				  served by a water supply system for the specific purpose of supplying water to
				  support a general population.
19.
				  "Water supplier" means any municipality, municipal department, agency,
				  district, authority, or other entity engaged in or authorized to engage in the
				  supply, treatment, transmission, or distribution of drinking water on a
				  wholesale or retail sales basis.
20. "Water supply sources" means Department
				  of Health approved sources of supply connected to a water supply system and
				  available for distribution. These sources may be surface waters or groundwater
				  wells.
21. "Water supply management
				  plan" means a plan prepared by applicable public water suppliers which plans
				  and implements effective and efficient conservation, development, utilization,
				  and protection of water supply resources consistent with the present and future
				  needs of the State and its people as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws
				  §46-15.4.