Section 250-RICR-150-05-1.4 - DefinitionsA. 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. § 1251et seq. or any State Acts4. "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. § 1251et 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. § 1251et 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; orb. 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; andc. 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.250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-150-05-1.4
Amended effective 12/28/2023