Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 250 - Department of Environmental Management › Chapter 150 - Water Resources › Subchapter 05 - Water Quality › Part 1 - Water Quality Regulations › Section 250-RICR-150-05-1.4 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. For the purposes of these regulations, the
				  following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Acute toxicity" means lethal or sublethal
				  severe adverse effect(s) to an organism when exposed to a toxic pollutant(s)
				  for a relatively short period of time. In aquatic toxicity tests, an effect
				  observed in 96 hours or less is typically considered acute.
2. "Administrator" means the administrator of
				  the United States Environmental Protection Agency or any subordinate or
				  subordinates to whom the Administrator delegates the powers and duties vested
				  in that office.
3. "Applicable
				  standards and limitations" means all state, interstate and federal standards
				  and limitations to which a discharge or activity is subject under the Clean
				  Water Act Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1251
et seq
. or any State
				  Acts
4. "Applicant" means a person
				  who applies for any approvals for any discharge, activities, projects, or
				  facilities in accordance with the requirements of these regulations.
5. "Application" means all forms, documents,
				  and other information required by the Department to apply for a permit, order,
				  certificate, or other approval from the Department in accordance with the
				  requirements of these regulations.
6. "Approval" means an authorization, Order
				  of Approval, permit, certification, license or equivalent determination issued
				  pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Department.
7. "Aquaculture facility" means a defined
				  managed water area or facility for the maintenance or production of harvestable
				  freshwater, estuarine or marine plants and/or animals. Defined managed water
				  area as used in this definition, means the portions of the waters of the state
				  within which the permittee or permit applicant confines and/or plans to confine
				  the cultivated species, using a method or plan of operation (including but not
				  limited to, physical confinement) which, on the basis of reliable scientific
				  evidence, is expected to ensure that specific individual organisms comprising
				  an aquaculture crop will enjoy increased growth and be harvestable within a
				  defined geographical area.
8.
				  "Aquatic research related activities" means an activity in which research is
				  conducted to evaluate the effect of various factors on the health, growth, or
				  reproduction of aquatic organisms.
9. "Assimilative capacity" means the amount
				  of a pollutant or pollutants that can safely be released to a waterbody or
				  segment of a waterbody under the most adverse conditions, as defined in §
											1.10(C) of
				  this Part, which will not cause any violations of applicable water quality
				  criteria nor cause measurable harm or alteration to the natural biological
				  community found therein.
10.
				  "Background" means the water quality upstream of all point and nonpoint sources
				  of pollution.
11. "Best Management
				  Practices" or "BMPs" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices,
				  maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the
				  pollution of and impacts upon waters of the State. BMPs also include treatment
				  requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff,
				  spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material
				  storage.
12. "Best Professional
				  Judgment" or "BPJ" means a determination, based on best engineering and/or
				  scientific practices and best management practices, involving any pollutant,
				  combination of pollutants or practice(s), on a case by case basis, which is
				  determined by the Director to be necessary to carry out the provisions of the
				  Clean Water Act and any applicable chapters of the Rhode Island General Laws.
				  BPJ can be used to set Best Available Technology Economically Achievable, Best
				  Conventional Pollutant Control Technology, Best Practicable Control Currently
				  Available or Best Management Practices limitations pursuant to the Clean Water
				  Act 33 U.S.C. §
												1251
et seq
. either in the
				  absence of an applicable promulgated effluent guideline or where promulgated
				  effluent limitation guidelines only apply to certain aspects of the discharge's
				  operation or to certain pollutants.
13. "Bioassay" means a toxicity testing
				  procedure using aquatic organisms to determine the concentration or amount of a
				  toxic pollutant(s) causing a specified response in the test organisms under
				  stated test conditions.
14.
				  "Brackish water" means those waters of the state in which the natural level of
				  salinity is greater than 1 (one) part per thousand but less than 10 (ten) parts
				  per thousand, 95 percent or more of the time.
15. "C.F.R." means the Code of Federal
				  Regulations.
16. "Chronic toxicity"
				  means lethal or sublethal adverse effect(s) to an organism or its progeny,
				  based on various physiological measurements including but not limited to
				  growth, survival, or reproductive success when exposed to a toxic pollutant(s)
				  for a relatively long period of time. The methods commonly used to estimate
				  chronic effects involve exposures of typically seven (7) days or
				  less.
17. "Clean Water Act" or
				  "CWA" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1251
et seq
.
18. "Coldwater fishery" means waters in which
				  naturally occurring water quality and/or habitat allow the maintenance of
				  naturally reproducing indigenous coldwater fish populations.
19. "Combined sewer" means a sewer which
				  serves as a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer.
20. "Combined Sewer Overflow" or "CSO" means
				  flow from a combined sewer that is discharged into a receiving water without
				  going to a treatment works. A CSO is distinguished from bypasses which are
				  diversions of waste streams from any portion of a treatment works.
21. "Contiguous zone" means the entire zone
				  established by the United States under Article 24 of the Convention on the
				  Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone.
22. "Controlled relay" means the transplant
				  of shellfish from certain waters to Class SA waters suitable for shellfish
				  harvesting under the coordination and authority of the RIDEM for the purpose of
				  natural purification and controlled harvest, consistent with the National
				  Shellfish Sanitation Program guidance.
23. "Cultural eutrophication" means the
				  human-induced acceleration of primary productivity in a surface waterbody
				  resulting in nuisance conditions of algal blooms and/or dense
				  macrophytes.
24. "Department" or
				  "Departmental" or "DEM" or "RIDEM" or "Director" means the Rhode Island
				  Department of Environmental Management or the Director of the Department of
				  Environmental Management or any designee to whom the Director delegates the
				  powers and duties vested in that office.
25. "Depuration" means the artificial holding
				  of shellfish for purification purposes.
26. "Designated bathing beach" means bathing
				  beaches licensed by the Rhode Island Department of Health.
27. "Designated uses" means those uses
				  specified in water quality standards for each waterbody or segment whether or
				  not they are being attained. In no case shall assimilation or transport of
				  pollutants be considered a designated use.
28. "Discharge" means to cause or allow the
				  addition or release of any pollutants to the waters of the State or placement
				  of any pollutant where it is likely to enter the waters of the State and
				  includes but is not limited to surface water runoff, spilling, depositing,
				  placing, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping. This
				  definition includes additions of pollutants into waters of the State from both
				  point and nonpoint sources. This term does not include an addition of
				  pollutants by an indirect discharge.
29. "Discharger" means any person who causes,
				  or allows, any discharge.
30.
				  "Dredging" means the excavation of sediments from beneath surface waters by
				  mechanical or hydraulic means.
31.
				  "EC50" means the concentration of a test material in a suitable diluent at
				  which 50 percent of the exposed organisms exhibit a specified response during a
				  specified time period.
32.
				  "Effluent limitations" means any restriction imposed by the Director on
				  quantities, discharge rates, and concentrations of pollutants which are
				  discharged from point sources into surface waters of the state or the
				  contiguous zone.
33. "Effluent
				  limitation guidelines" means a regulation published by the Administrator under
				  Section 304(b) of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1314 to adopt or revise effluent
				  limitations.
34. "Effluent limited
				  waters" means any segment of a surface waterbody where the water quality
				  currently meets or is expected to meet applicable water quality standards after
				  the application of the technology-based effluent limitations required by
				  Sections 301(b) (33 U.S.C.
				  §
												1311) and 306 (U.S.C. §1316) of
				  the Act.
35. "EPA" means the United
				  States Environmental Protection Agency.
36. "Existing use" means those designated
				  uses and any other uses that do not impair the designated uses and that are
				  actually attained in a waterbody on or after November 28, 1975; except that in
				  no case shall assimilation or transport of pollutants be considered an existing
				  use.
37. "Facility" means any
				  building, structure and operation, including land or appurtenances thereto, on
				  one contiguous site.
38. "Filling"
				  means to place dirt, soil, stones, gravel, sand, sediment, tree stumps, brush,
				  leaves, solid waste, debris, garbage, trash, pollutants, or any other material,
				  substance, or structure, either foreign or related, on or in any waters of the
				  state or in such a way as to alter the natural character, function or value of
				  any waters of the State.
39. "Fish
				  and wildlife" means birds, fish, shellfish, mammals and all other classes of
				  wild aquatic and land organisms and all types of vegetation upon which they are
				  dependent, including all indigenous species.
40. "Flow alteration" means the withdrawal of
				  water from a surface water, either directly or indirectly, or the alteration of
				  the normal flow patterns of a surface water due to a project which diverts or
				  holds the surface water.
41.
				  "Freshwater" means those waters of the State in which the natural level of
				  salinity is equal to or less than one (1) part per thousand, 95 percent or more
				  of the time.
42. "Groundwater"
				  means water found underground which completely fills the open spaces between
				  particles of soil and within rock formations.
43. "Habitat" means the area which provides
				  direct support for a given species, population or community. It includes all
				  environmental features that comprise an area such as air, water, vegetation,
				  soil, substrate and hydrologic characteristics.
44. "Hazardous substance" means any substance
				  designated under Designation of Hazardous Substances,
				  40 C.F.R. §
												116.4, incorporated above in §
											1.3(H) of
				  this Part, pursuant to Section 311 of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1321.
45. "Hazardous waste" means any waste as
				  defined in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws §
											23-19.1-4 and regulations adopted
				  pursuant thereto.
46. "High quality
				  waters" means all Class A and SA surface waters as well as other surface waters
				  whose quality exceeds the minimum water quality criteria for any State aquatic
				  life and/or human health criteria or water quality standards assigned to them;
				  or whose quality and characteristics make them critical to the propagation or
				  survival of important living natural resources; or those waters constituting a
				  Special Resource Protection Water or an Outstanding National Resource
				  Water.
47. "Indirect discharge"
				  means any discharge into a treatment works.
48. "Kettlehole" means a pond or freshwater
				  wetland in a depression in the earth's surface formed by the melting of a
				  wholly or partially buried block of glacial ice.
49. "Lake, pond or reservoir" means any body
				  of water, whether naturally occurring or created in whole or in part, excluding
				  sedimentation control or stormwater retention/detention basins, unless
				  constructed in waters of the State.
50. "LC50" means the concentration of a test
				  material in a suitable diluent at which 50 percent of the exposed organisms die
				  during a specified time period.
51.
				  "Load allocation" means the portion of a receiving water's loading capacity
				  that is attributed either to one of its nonpoint sources of pollution or to
				  natural background sources.
52.
				  "Loading capacity" means the maximum amount of loading that a surface water can
				  receive without violating water quality standards.
53. "Low quality waters" or "degraded" means
				  any water whose quality falls below any of the criteria of §
											1.10(B) of
				  this Part in accordance with Applicable Conditions of §
											1.10(C) of
				  this Part and corresponding to its classification as designated in §
											1.9(E) of
				  this Part, as determined by the Director, shall be considered degraded for that
				  particular criterion and in violation of its water quality standards and,
				  therefore, unsatisfactory for any designated uses which the Director determines
				  are affected by the particular criterion which is violated. Waters in their
				  natural hydraulic condition may fail to meet their assigned water quality
				  criteria from time to time due to natural causes, without necessitating the
				  modification of assigned water quality standard. Such waters will not be
				  considered to be violating their water quality standards if violations of
				  criteria are due solely to naturally occurring conditions unrelated to human
				  activities.
54. "Marina" means:
a. A dock, pier, wharf, float or combination
				  of such facilities that may accommodate five (5) or more recreational vessels
				  as a commercial operation or in association with a club; or
b. Any dock, pier, wharf, float or
				  combination of such facilities used as a commercial operation, aside from a)
				  above, at which any vessel is serviced or maintained.
55. "Marine Sanitation Device (MSD)-Type I"
				  means a marine toilet which, under prescribed test conditions, will produce an
				  effluent that will not exceed a fecal coliform bacteria count of one thousand
				  (1,000) parts per hundred (100) milliliters, and have no visible
				  solids.
56. "Marine Sanitation
				  Device (MSD)-Type II" means a marine toilet which, under prescribed test
				  conditions, will produce an effluent that will not exceed a fecal coliform
				  bacteria count of two hundred (200) parts per hundred (100) milliliters, and
				  have suspended solids not greater than one hundred and fifty (150) milligrams
				  per liter.
57. "Marine Sanitation
				  Device (MSD)-Type III" means a marine toilet which is designed to prevent the
				  discharge from the vessel of any treated or untreated sewage, or any waste
				  derived from sewage.
58. "Marine
				  toilet" means any toilet or receptacle for the containment of human wastes
				  located on or within any vessel, as defined herein, not including a portable
				  potty.
59. "Mixing zone" means a
				  limited area or volume in the immediate vicinity of a discharge where mixing
				  occurs and the receiving surface water quality is not required to meet
				  applicable standards or criteria, provided the minimum conditions described in
				  §§
											1.10(B)(5) and
				  (6) of this Part are attained.
60. "Municipality" means a quasi-governmental
				  corporation, association or other public body created by or under State law and
				  having jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other
				  wastes; a city, town, county, district, or a designated and approved management
				  agency under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1288.
61. "Natural background conditions" means all
				  prevailing dynamic environmental conditions in a waterbody or segment thereof,
				  other than those human-made or human-induced.
62. "New discharge" means any discharge which
				  commenced subsequent to November 28, 1975, unless appropriate approvals had
				  been granted.
63. "No discharge
				  area/zone" means an area of the surface waters of the State which has been
				  requested by the Director of the Department of Environmental Management and
				  declared by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant to
				  Section 312 of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1322, to be an area in which any discharge of
				  sewage from vessels is prohibited.
64. "Non-contact cooling water" means water
				  which is used to reduce temperature and does not come into direct contact with
				  any raw material, intermediate product (other than heat), or finished
				  product.
65. "Nonpoint Source" or
				  "NPS" means any discharge of pollutants that does not meet the definition of
				  Point Source in Section 502(14) of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1362, and these regulations. Such sources are
				  diffuse, and often associated with land-use practices, and carry pollutants to
				  the waters of the State, including but not limited to, non-channelized land
				  runoff, drainage, or snowmelt; atmospheric deposition; precipitation; and
				  seepage.
66. "Nutrient" means a
				  chemical element or compound such as but not limited to nitrogen or phosphorous
				  which is essential to and promotes the growth and development of marine or
				  freshwater plant species.
67.
				  "Outstanding National Resource Waters" or "ONRW" means waters of National and
				  State Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other such waters designated as having
				  special recreational or ecological value.
68. "Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances" or
				  "PFAS" means all members of the class of fluorinated organic chemicals
				  containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom, which constitute a large
				  family of fluorinated chemicals, exceeding several thousand that might be in
				  commercial use or the environment, that vary widely in their chemical and
				  physical properties, exclusive of organofluorine pharmeceutical
				  products.
69. "Person" means an
				  individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a
				  quasi-governmental corporation), partnership, association, syndicate,
				  municipality, municipal or state agency, fire district, club, non-profit agency
				  or any subdivision, commission, department, bureau, agency or department of
				  state or federal government (including any quasi-governmental corporation) or
				  of any interstate body.
70. "Point
				  source" means any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but
				  not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete
				  fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation or
				  vessel, or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be
				  discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated
				  agriculture.
71. "Pollutant" means
				  any dredged material, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage
				  sludge, sediment, filter backwash, munitions, chemical wastes, biological
				  materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
				  sand, cellar dirt, industrial or municipal or agricultural waste or effluent,
				  petroleum or petroleum products, including but not limited to oil; or any
				  material which will likely alter the physical, chemical, biological or
				  radiological characteristics and/or integrity of water.
72. "Pollution" means the human-made or
				  human-induced alteration of the physical, chemical, biological or radiological
				  characteristics and/or integrity of water.
73. "Pretreatment requirements" means any
				  limitation or prohibition on quantities, quality, rates, and/or concentrations
				  of pollutants directly or indirectly discharged into or otherwise introduced
				  into a treatment works that are imposed by federal or state regulation or by
				  the treatment works.
74. "Primary
				  contact recreational activities" means any recreational activities in which
				  there is prolonged and intimate contact by the human body with the water,
				  involving considerable risk of ingesting water, such as swimming, diving, water
				  skiing and surfing.
75. "Priority
				  pollutant" means those pollutants listed pursuant to Section 307(a)(1) of the
				  Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C.
				  §
												1317.
76. "Public drinking water supplier" means
				  any city, town, district, or other municipal, public, private corporation or
				  company, or non-profit entity authorized to engage in the collection and
				  treatment of surface water for the purposes of distribution of drinking water
				  in Rhode Island and whose source of drinking water is a surface water in Rhode
				  Island.
77. "Public drinking water
				  supply" or "PDWS" means the source of surface water for a public drinking water
				  supplier.
78. "Pycnocline" means a
				  steep density gradient in an estuary caused by differences in temperature or
				  salinity between the bottom and surface layers of water that limits mixing of
				  the two layers.
79. "Rhode Island
				  Pollutant Discharge Elimination System" or "RIPDES" means the Rhode Island
				  system for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring
				  and enforcing point source discharge permits and imposing and enforcing
				  pretreatment requirements pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 46-12 and the
				  federal Clean Water Act.
80.
				  "RIPDES regulations" means the Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination
				  System Regulations promulgated by the Department and any amendments
				  thereto.
81. "Runoff" means water
				  that drains from an area as surface flow.
82. "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which
				  conveys sewage.
83. "Seawater" or
				  "Saltwater" means those waters of the State in which the natural level of
				  salinity is equal to or greater than ten (10) parts per thousand, 95 percent or
				  more of the time.
84. "Secondary
				  contact recreational activities" means any recreational activities in which
				  there is minimal contact by the human body with the water, and the probability
				  of ingestion of the water is minimal, such as boating and fishing.
85. "Sewage" or "wastewater" means human
				  waste, or wastes from toilets and other receptacles intended to receive or
				  retain body waste, and any wastes, including wastes from households, commercial
				  establishments, and industries.
86.
				  "Sewage from vessels" means human body wastes and the wastes from toilets and
				  other receptacles intended to receive or retain body wastes that are discharged
				  from vessels, and regulated under Section 312 of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1322 or under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter
				  46-12.
87. "Sewage sludge" or
				  "sludge" means residue, partially solid, or solid, treated or untreated,
				  resulting from the treatment of sewage, including such residues from the
				  cleaning of sewers, by processes such as settling, flotation, filtration and
				  centrifugation, and does not meet the criteria for a hazardous waste.
88. "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit that
				  conveys wastewater or stormwater.
89. "Site" means the land or water area where
				  any facility or activity is physically located or conducted, including adjacent
				  land used in connection with the facility or activity.
90. "Special Resource Protection Waters" or
				  "SRPW" means surface waters identified by the Director as having significant
				  recreational or ecological uses, and may include but are not limited to:
				  wildlife refuge or management areas; public drinking water supplies; State and
				  Federal Parks; State and Federal designated Estuarine Sanctuary Areas;
				  waterbodies containing critical habitats, including but not limited to
				  waterbodies identified by the RIDEM Natural Heritage Program as critical
				  habitat for rare or endangered species; wetland types or specific wetlands
				  listed as rare, threatened, endangered, of special interest or of special
				  concern by the Rhode Island Natural Heritage Program; waterbodies identified by
				  the U. S. Department of the Interior on the Final List of Rivers for potential
				  inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
91. "State guide plan" means goals, policies,
				  or plan elements for the physical, economic, and social development of the
				  State, adopted by the State Planning Council in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws
				  §
											42-11-10.
92. "Storm sewer" means a sewer which conveys
				  stormwater.
93. "Stormwater" means
				  precipitation induced runoff.
94.
				  "Surface water" means any waters of the State that are not
				  groundwaters.
95. "Surface water
				  quality action level" means a concentration of a substance that, if exceeded,
				  requires that the Department be notified and may require additional
				  investigation and/or sampling as specified under §
											1.30 of this Part. Surface
				  water action levels do not affect water quality criteria or designated
				  uses.
96. "Total Maximum Daily
				  Load" or "TMDL" means the amount of a pollutant that may be discharged into a
				  waterbody and still maintain water quality standards. The TMDL is the sum of
				  the individual wasteload allocations for point sources and the load allocations
				  for nonpoint sources and natural background taking into account a margin of
				  safety.
97. "Toxicity" means the
				  chemical, biological or biochemical adverse effect(s) of a pollutant or
				  combination of pollutants on organisms.
98. "Toxic pollutant" means any pollutant
				  that has the potential to cause toxicity.
99. "Treatment works" means any devices and
				  systems for the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of wastewater;
				  any devices and systems for the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation
				  of sewage from vessels used to implement Section 201 of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 U.S.C. §
												1281; or any devices and systems necessary to
				  recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the design life of the
				  works. These include intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection
				  systems, pumping, power, and other equipment, and their appurtenances,
				  extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof;
				  elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby
				  treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including acquisition
				  of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used
				  for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment (including land
				  for composting sludge, temporary storage of such compost and land used for the
				  storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems prior to land
				  application); or any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing,
				  storing, treating, separating, or disposing of wastewater, including wastewater
				  in combined sewers.
100.
				  "Undesirable species" or "nuisance species" means any plant or animal aquatic
				  species which becomes so numerous due to pollutants or physical or hydrological
				  modifications that it interferes with, or indicates an impairment of, the
				  designated use(s) of a waterbody.
101. "Use attainability analyses" or "UAA"
				  means a structured scientific assessment of the factors affecting the
				  attainment of a use which may include physical, chemical, biological, and
				  economic factors. The physical, chemical and biological factors affecting the
				  attainment of a use shall be evaluated through a waterbody survey and
				  assessment. Waterbody surveys and assessments shall be sufficiently detailed to
				  evaluate at a minimum:
a. Current aquatic uses
				  achieved in the waterbody;
b.
				  Causes of any impairment of the aquatic uses and why the impairment cannot be
				  rectified; and
c. Aquatic uses(s)
				  that can be attained based on the physical, chemical, and biological
				  characteristics of the water body.
102. "Vessel" means any boat or other
				  watercraft whether moved by oars, paddles, sails or other power mechanism,
				  inboard or outboard, or any other boat or structure floating upon the water
				  whether or not capable of self-locomotion, including house boats, floating
				  businesses, barges and similar floating objects.
103. "Warmwater fishery" means waters in
				  which naturally occurring water quality and/or habitat support populations of
				  warmwater fish.
104. "Wasteload
				  allocation" means the portion of a receiving water's loading capacity that is
				  allocated to one of its point sources of pollution.
105. "Wastewater" mean the definition of
				  sewage.
106. "Waterbody segment"
				  means a defined section or described area which is part of a larger surface
				  waterbody of the State.
107. "Water
				  quality criteria" means elements of the State water quality standards,
				  expressed as constituent concentrations, levels, or narrative statements,
				  representing a quality of water that supports a particular use.
108. "Water quality limited waters" means any
				  segment of a surface waterbody where the water quality does not meet applicable
				  water quality standards, and is not expected to meet applicable water quality
				  standards, even after the application of the technology-based effluent
				  limitations required by Sections 301(b) (33 U.S.C. §
												1311) and 306 (33. U.S.C. §1316) of the
				  Clean Water Act.
109. "Water
				  quality standard" means provisions of state or federal law which consist of a
				  designated use(s) and water quality criteria for the waters of the State. Water
				  quality standards also consist of an antidegradation policy.
110. "Waters of the State" or "the waters"
				  means all surface water and groundwater of the State of Rhode Island, including
				  all tidewaters, territorial seas, wetlands, and land masses partially or wholly
				  submerged in water; and both inter- and intra-state bodies of water which are,
				  have been or will be used in commerce, by industry, for the harvesting of fish
				  and shellfish or for recreational purposes.
111. "Wetlands" means those areas that are
				  inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration
				  sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a
				  prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil
				  conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.
				  Freshwater wetlands are determined by the Department in accordance with the
				  Rules and Regulations Governing the Administration and Enforcement of the Fresh
				  Water Wetlands Act. Coastal wetlands are determined by rules and regulations
				  under the jurisdiction of the Coastal Resources Management Council.