N.J. Admin. Code § 7:20A-1.3
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.
N.J. Admin. Code § 7:20A-1.3
See: 15 N.J.R. 2122(a), 16 N.J.R. 719(a).
"Coastal Plain", "Critical water supply usage area", and "Pinelands area" defined.
Amended by R.1989 d.36, effective 1/17/1989.
See: 20 N.J.R. 2663(a), 21 N.J.R. 176(a).
Added "Aquifer", "Critical aquifer", "Modification"; deleted "Coastal Plain".
Amended by R.1994 d.12, effective 1/3/1994.
See: 25 N.J.R. 3956(a), 26 N.J.R. 212(c).
Amended by R.1999 d.7, effective 1/4/1999.
See: 30 N.J.R. 3410(a), 31 N.J.R. 45(a).
Rewrote the section.
Amended by R.2007 d.6, effective 1/2/2007.
See: 38 N.J.R. 2947(a), 39 N.J.R. 39(a).
Added definitions "Agricultural development plan", "Agriculture management practices", "Authorized representative", "Farm management unit", "Freshwater wetland", "Impervious surface", "Off-stream pond", "Passing flow", "Public water system" and "Saltwater"; in definition "Agricultural, aquacultural, or horticulture purposes", inserted "and/or animals" and deleted "in a primary sense" following "including"; substituted definition "Agricultural water usage registration" for definition "Agricultural water use registration"; rewrote definitions "Applicant", "County agricultural agent", "Decision maker", "Diversion source", "Drought", "Lawful entry", "Person", "Replacement well", "Water supply critical aquifer" and "Well"; in definition "Commissioner", substituted "the Commissioner's" for "his or her"; deleted definition "Cone of depression"; in definition "Modification", inserted "monthly and/or annual" and substituted "volume" for "amount"; in definition "Potentiometric surface", substituted "elevation" for "head"; in definition "Water resource", inserted "freshwater wetland,"; in definition "Water usage certification", deleted "by a county agricultural agent or the Department pursuant to this chapter" following "issued"; in definition "Well sealing", inserted "or decommissioning" and updated the N.J.A.C. reference; and in definition "Zone of influence", inserted "in water level".