Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 100-199 - Environmental Protection - General › Chapter NR 121 - Areawide Water Quality Management Plans › Section NR 121.03 - Definitions

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) "Areawide water quality management plan"
				or areawide waste treatment management plan means a plan for managing,
				protecting and enhancing groundwater and surface water quality which considers
				the interrelationship of water quality and land and water resources on an
				areawide basis (hydrologic, political, or other).
(2) "Areawide water quality management plans
				for designated areas" means areawide water quality management plans prepared by
				agencies designated by the governor in areas of the state similarly
				designated.
(3) "Areawide water
				quality management plans for nondesignated areas" means areawide water quality
				management plans prepared by the department for all areas of the state not
				designated by the governor.
(4)
				"Best management practices" as defined in s.
				281.65(2)
				(a), Stats., means practices, techniques or
				measures, identified in areawide water quality management plans, which are
				determined to be the most effective, practicable means of preventing or
				reducing pollutants generated from nonpoint sources to a level compatible with
				water quality goals.
(5)
				"Cost-effectiveness analysis" means a systematic comparison of alternative
				means of meeting state water quality standards, effluent limitations or other
				treatment standards in order to identify the alternative which will minimize
				the total resources costs over the planning period. These resources costs
				include monetary costs and environmental as well as other non-monetary
				costs.
(6) "Critical water quality
				conditions" means those ambient water conditions upon which the most stringent
				water quality effluent requirements are based.
(7) "Department" means the department of
				natural resources.
(8) "Designated
				management agency" means any agency designated in an areawide water quality
				management plan having responsibility for implementing specific plan
				recommendations. This may be done through direct activities of the designated
				management agency or through delegation to other agencies or units of
				government.
(9) "Effluent
				limitation" as defined in s.
				283.01(6),
				Stats., means any restriction established by the department, including
				schedules of compliance, on quantities, rates, and concentrations of chemical,
				physical, biological, and other constituents which are discharged from point
				sources into the waters of this state.
(10) "Point source", as defined in s.
				283.01(12),
				Stats., 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 may be discharged either
				into the waters of this state or into a publicly owned treatment works. Point
				source shall not include diffused surface drainage or any ditch or channel
				which serves only to intermittently drain excess surface water from rain or
				melting snow and is not used as a means of conveying pollutants into waters of
				the state. Point source shall not include uncontrolled discharges composed
				entirely of storm runoff when these discharges are uncontaminated by any
				industrial or commercial activity, unless the particular storm runoff discharge
				has been identified by the department as a significant contributor of
				pollution.
(11) "Priority
				watershed" means a watershed of manageable size, delineated in the areawide
				water quality management plan and selected according to the procedures
				specified in s.
				NR
				121.07.
(12) "Public participation process" means
				those activities developed for involving individual members of the public,
				local governmental officials, and interest groups in the areawide water quality
				management planning process. These activities may include: the dissemination of
				information to the public including plan documents and summaries in lay terms,
				outreach activities to identify interested members of the public, the actual
				involvement of the public in the decision-making process which leads to the
				preparation and implementation of an areawide water quality management plan,
				and response to the public on how their input was used. This process normally
				includes both public meetings and public informational hearings.
(13) "Nonpoint source" as set forth in s.
				281.65(2)
				(b), Stats., means a land management or use
				activity contributing to runoff, seepage or percolation; and are sources which
				are not defined as a point source under s.
				283.01(12),
				Stats.
(14) "Residual wastes" means
				waste materials resulting from the treatment of wastes or wastewater.
(15) "Sewer service area" means that area
				presently served and anticipated to be served by a sewage collection
				system.
(16) "Total maximum daily
				load" means the amount of pollutants specified as a function of one or more
				water quality parameters, that can be discharged per day into a water quality
				limited segment and still insure attainment of the applicable water quality
				standard. There are 4 components to the total maximum daily load: point source
				allocation, nonpoint source allocation, reserve capacity and margin of
				safety.
(17) "Waste load
				allocation" means the assignment of a portion of the total maximum daily load
				to each of the discharges to a water quality limited segment, such that the
				summation of these individual loadings does not exceed the total maximum daily
				load.
(18) "Water pollution", as
				defined in s.
				283.01(14),
				Stats., means man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
				biological or radiological integrity of water.
(19) "Water quality standards" means
				standards established by the department pursuant to s.
				281.15,
				Stats., of the physical, chemical or biological characteristics or both of a
				water which must be maintained to make it suitable for specified
				uses.
(20) "Water quality limited
				segment" means any area or portion of a stream which will not meet the
				established water quality standard with application of only categorical
				effluent limitations to all point sources.
(21) "Watershed" means a hydrologically
				related land unit delineated for the purpose of instituting water quality
				management activities. Generally, the maximum size of a watershed should not
				exceed 200,000 acres.