Texas Administrative Code › Title 30 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Part 1 - TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 220 - REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF WATER QUALITY › Subchapter A - PROGRAM FOR MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT OF WATER QUALITY BY WATERSHED AND RIVER BASIN › Section 222.5 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The definitions contained in Texas Water Code, §§
										26.001,
					 27.002,
					 28.001, and
					 32.003 apply
					 to this chapter. The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have
					 the following meanings.
(1)
				  Aquifer--As defined or amended under Chapter 331 of this title (relating to
				  Underground Injection Control).
(2)
				  Beneficial reuse credit--As defined by Chapter 309, Subchapter D of this title
				  (relating to Beneficial Reuse Credit).
(3) Buffer zone--The area between a
				  subsurface area drip dispersal system boundary and surface water in the state,
				  public and private water wells, and springs.
(4) Crop requirement--The amount of nutrients
				  that must be present in order to ensure that the crop nutrient needs are met,
				  while accounting for nutrients that may become unavailable to the crop due to
				  absorption to soil particles or other natural causes.
(5) Domestic wastewater --Waste and
				  wastewater from humans and household operations that are discharged to a
				  wastewater collection system or otherwise enters a treatment facility. This
				  includes waterborne human waste and waste from domestic activities such as
				  washing, bathing, and food preparation, including graywater (as defined or
				  amended in §
										210.82
				  of this title (relating to Definitions and General Requirements)) and
				  blackwater.
(6) Emitter--A device
				  designed to discharge into the soil, a small uniform flow of water at a
				  constant rate.
(7)
				  Evapotranspiration--The water lost from an area through the combined effects of
				  evaporation from the ground surface and transpiration from the
				  vegetation.
(8) Facility--All land
				  and fixtures, structures, or appurtenances used for storing, processing,
				  treating, or disposing of wastewater, or for injection activities. A facility
				  may consist of several storage, processing, treatment, disposal, or injection
				  operational units.
(9) Floodway--A
				  channel of a river or watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be
				  reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing
				  the surface elevation more than one foot. Federal Emergency Management Agency
				  maps are prima facie evidence of floodway locations.
(10) Fresh water--As defined or amended under
				  Texas Water Code, §
										27.002.
(11) Groundwater--Subsurface water occurring
				  in soils and geologic formations that are fully saturated year-round,
				  seasonally, or intermittently.
(12)
				  Hazardous waste--Any solid waste identified or listed as a hazardous waste by
				  the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency in
				  accordance with the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by the
				  Resource Conservation and Recovery Act,
				  42 United States Code, §§
											6901
et seq.,
as
				  amended.
(13) Hydrologic
				  connection--The connection and exchange between surface water and
				  groundwater.
(14) Industrial
				  wastewater --Wastewater generated in a commercial or industrial
				  process.
(15) Infiltration--The
				  passage of water through the soil surface into the soil profile.
(16) Licensed professional engineer--An
				  individual licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to engage in
				  the practice of engineering in the state of Texas.
(17) Licensed professional geoscientist--An
				  individual licensed by the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists in
				  accordance with its requirement for professional practice in the state of
				  Texas.
(18) Local government--An
				  incorporated city, county, river authority, groundwater conservation district,
				  or a water district or authority acting under Texas Constitution, Article III,
				  §52 or Article XVI, §59.
(19) Owner--The person, corporation,
				  partnership, or other legal entity that owns or partially owns a facility or
				  part of a facility, or that owns or partially owns the land on which a facility
				  or part of a facility is located.
(20) Public contact--Contact with the soil
				  over the dispersal zone by persons engaged in activities not associated with
				  wastewater disposal.
(21) Recharge
				  feature--Those natural or artificial features either on or beneath the ground
				  surface at the site that provide or create a significant hydrologic connection
				  between the ground surface and the underlying groundwater within an aquifer.
				  Significant artificial features include, but are not limited to, wells and
				  excavation or material pits. Significant natural hydrologic connections
				  include, but are not limited to: faults, fractures, karst features, or other
				  macro pores that allow direct surface infiltration; a permeable or shallow soil
				  material that overlies an aquifer; exposed geologic formations that are
				  identified as an aquifer; or a water course bisecting an aquifer.
(22) Soil--The upper layer of the surface of
				  the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of plants.
(23) Subsurface area drip dispersal
				  systems--A wastewater disposal system that injects processed commercial,
				  industrial, or municipal wastewater into the ground at a depth of not more than
				  48 inches and spreads the wastewater over a large enough area that the soil
				  hydrologic absorption rate and crop/plant root absorption rate are not
				  exceeded.
(24) Surface water in the
				  state--Water in the state as defined in Texas Water Code, §
										26.001(5),
				  except that "groundwater, percolating or otherwise," is specifically
				  excluded.