R317-6-1. Definitions

"Aquifer" means a geologic formation, group of geologic formations or part of a geologic formation that contains sufficiently saturated permeable material to yield usable quantities of water to wells and springs.

"Background Concentration" means the concentration of a pollutant in ground water upgradient or lateral hydraulically equivalent point from a facility, practice or activity which has not been affected by that facility, practice or activity.

"Best Available Technology" means the application of design, equipment, work practice, operation standard or combination thereof at a facility to effect the maximum reduction of a pollutant achievable by available processes and methods taking into account energy, public health, environmental and economic impacts and other costs.

"Best Available Technology Standard" means a performance standard or pollutant concentration achievable through the application of best available technology.

"Board" means the Utah Water Quality Board.

"Class TDS Limit" means the upper boundary of the TDS range for an applicable class as specified in Section R317-6-3.

"Community Drinking Water System" means a public drinking water system which serves at least fifteen service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five year-round residents.

"Comparable Quality (Source)" means a potential alternative source or sources of water supply which has the same general quality as the ground water source.

"Comparable Quantity (Source)" means a potential alternative source of water supply capable of reliably supplying water in quantities sufficient to meet the year-round needs of the users served by the ground water source.

"Compliance Monitoring Point" means a well, seep, spring, or other sampling point used to determine compliance with applicable permit limits.

"Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water.

"Conventional Treatment" means normal and usual treatment of water for distribution in public drinking water supply systems including flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and storage.

"Discharge" means the release of a pollutant directly or indirectly into subsurface waters of the state.

"Existing Facility" means a facility or activity that was in operation or under construction after August 14, 1989 and before February 10, 1990.

"Economically Infeasible" means, in the context of a public drinking water source, the cost to the typical water user for replacement water would exceed the community's ability to pay.

"Facility" means any building, structure, processing, handling, or storage facility, equipment or activity; or contiguous group of buildings, structures, or processing, handling or storage facilities, equipment, or activities or combination thereof.

"Gradient" means the change in total water pressure head per unit of distance.

"Ground Water" means subsurface water in the zone of saturation including perched ground water.

"Ground Water Quality Standards" means numerical contaminant concentration levels adopted by the Board in or under R317-6-2 for the protection of the subsurface waters of the State.

"Infiltration" means the movement of water from the land surface into the pores of rock, soil or sediment.

"Institutional Constraints" means legal or other restrictions that preclude replacement water delivery and which cannot be alleviated through administrative procedures or market transactions.

"Interim Action Reports For Petroleum Releases" means plans prepared specifically to document cleanup of petroleum releases resulting primarily from transportation spills not regulated by the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste or Division of Environmental Response and Remediation that are submitted to the local health department and should include the following information: map of the location where the spill occurred, sketch of where confirmation samples were collected, quantity of fuel spilled, quantity of soil removed, soil disposal location, certified laboratory analysis report including total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) analyzed in the appropriate molecular weight range, and actions taken to control the source and protect public safety, public health, and water quality.

"Lateral Hydraulically Equivalent Point" means a point located hydraulically equal to a facility and in the same ground water with similar geochemistry such that the ground water at that point has not been affected by the facility.

"Limit of Detection" means the concentration of a chemical below which it can not be detected using currently accepted sampling and analytical techniques for drinking water as determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Local Health Department" means a city-county or multi-county local health department established under Title 26A.

"New Facility" means a facility for which construction or modification is initiated after February 9, 1990.

"Non Sensitive Area" means industrial and manufacturing areas previously contaminated and areas not likely to affect human health and exceed groundwater standards or background concentrations.

"Permit Limit" means a ground water pollutant concentration limitation specified in a Ground Water Discharge Permit and may include protection levels, class TDS limits, ground water quality standards, alternate concentration limits, permit-specific ground water quality standards, or limits stipulated in the application and use of best available technology. For facilities permitted by rule under R317-6-6.2, a permit limit is a ground water pollutant concentration limitation specified in R317-6-6.2.B.

"Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, company or body politic, including any agency or instrumentality of the federal, state, or local government.

"Point of Discharge" means the area within outermost location at which effluent or leachate has been stored, applied, disposed of, or discharged; for a diked facility, the outermost edge of the dikes.

"Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, sewage sludge, garbage, munitions, trash, chemical wastes, petroleum hydrocarbons, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into waters of the state.

"Pollution" means such contamination, or other alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any waters of the State, or such discharge of any liquid, gaseous, or solid substance into any waters of the state as will create a nuisance or render such waters harmful or detrimental or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.

"Professional Engineer" means any person qualified to practice engineering before the public in the state of Utah and professionally registered as required under the Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors Licensing Act rules (UAC 156-22).

"Professional Geologist" means any person qualified to practice geology before the public in the State of Utah and professionally registered as required under the Professional Geologist Licensing Act rules (UAC R156-76).

"Protection Level" means the ground water pollutant concentration levels specified in R317-6-4.

"Sensitive Area" means those areas that are located near residences, waters of the state, wetlands, or any area where exposure to humans or significant environmental impact is likely to occur.

"Substantial Treatment" means treatment of water utilizing specialized treatment methods including ion exchange, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis and other methods needed to upgrade water quality to meet standards for public water systems.

"Technology Performance Monitoring" means the evaluation of a permitted facility to determine compliance with best available technology standards.

"Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)" means the quantity of dissolved material in a sample of water which is determined by weighing the solid residue obtained by evaporating a measured volume of a filtered sample to dryness; or for many waters that contain more than 1000 mg/l, the sum of the chemical constituents.

"Radius of Influence" means the radial distance from the center of a well bore to the point where there is no lowering of the water table or potentiometric surface because of pumping of the well; the edge of the cone of depression.

"Upgradient" means a point located hydraulically above a facility such that the ground water at that point has not been impacted by discharges from the facility.

"Vadose Zone" means the zone of aeration including soil and capillary water. The zone is bound above by the land surface and below by the water table.

"Waste" see "Pollutant."

"Water Table" means the top of the saturated zone of a body of unconfined ground water at which the pressure is equal to that of the atmosphere.

"Water Table Aquifer" means an aquifer extending downward from the water table to the first confining bed.

"Waters of the State" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, water courses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon this state or any portion thereof; except bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property, and which do not develop into or constitute a nuisance or a public health hazard, or a menace to fish and wildlife, shall not be considered to be "waters of the state" under this definition.

"Zone of Influence" means the area contained by the outer edge of the drawdown cone of a water well.