SECTION 311.71. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in the subchapter, have the following meanings.

(1) 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event--The maximum rainfall event with a probable recurrence interval of once in 25 years, with a duration of 24 hours, as defined by the National Weather Service and Technical Paper Number 40, "Rainfall Frequency Atlas of the U.S.," May 1961, and subsequent amendments; or equivalent regional or state rainfall information.

(2) Aggregates--Any commonly recognized construction material originating from a quarry or pit by the disturbance of the surface, including dirt, soil, rock asphalt, granite, gravel, gypsum, marble, sand, stone, caliche, limestone, dolomite, rock, riprap, or other nonmineral substance. The term does not include clay or shale mined for use in manufacturing structural clay products.

(3) Aquifer--A saturated permeable geologic unit that can transmit, store, and yield to a well, the quality and quantities of groundwater sufficient to provide for a beneficial use. An aquifer can be composed of unconsolidated sands and gravels; permeable sedimentary rocks, such as sandstones and limestones; and/or heavily fractured volcanic and crystalline rocks. Groundwater within an aquifer can be confined, unconfined, or perched.

(4) Best management practices--Any prohibition, management practice, maintenance procedure, or schedule of activity designed to prevent or reduce the pollution of water in the state. Best management practices include treatment, specified operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage areas.

(5) John Graves Scenic Riverway--That portion of the Brazos River Basin and its contributing watershed, located downstream of the Morris Shepard Dam on the Possum Kingdom Reservoir in Palo Pinto County, Texas, and extending to the county line between Parker and Hood Counties, Texas.

(6) Natural hazard lands--Geographic areas in which natural conditions exist that pose or, as a result of quarry operations, may pose a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of people, property, or the environment, including areas subject to landslides, cave-ins, large or encroaching sand dunes, severe wind or soil erosion, frequent flooding, avalanches, and areas of unstable geology.

(7) Navigable--Designated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as perennial on the most recent topographic map(s) published by the USGS, at a scale of 1:24,000.

(8) Operator--Any person engaged in or responsible for the physical operation and control of a quarry.

(9) Overburden--All materials displaced in an aggregates extraction operation that are not, or reasonably would not be expected to be, removed from the affected area.

(10) Owner--Any person having title, wholly or partly, to the land on which a quarry exists or has existed.

(11) Pit--An open excavation from which aggregates have been, or are being, extracted with a depth of five feet or more below the adjacent and natural ground level.

(12) Quarry--The site from which aggregates for commercial sale are being, or have been, removed or extracted from the earth to form a pit, including the entire excavation, stripped areas, haulage ramps, and the immediately adjacent land on which the plant processing the raw materials is located. The term does not include any land owned or leased by the responsible party not being currently used in the production of aggregates for commercial sale or an excavation to mine clay or shale for use in manufacturing structural clay products.

(13) Quarrying--The current and ongoing surface excavation and development without shafts, drafts, or tunnels, with or without slopes, for the extraction of aggregates for commercial sale from natural deposits occurring in the earth.

(14) Reclamation--The land treatment processes designed to minimize degradation of water quality, damage to fish or wildlife habitat, erosion, and other adverse effects from quarries. Reclamation includes backfilling, soil stabilization and compacting, grading, erosion control measures, appropriate revegetation, or other measures, as appropriate.

(15) Responsible party--Any owner, operator, lessor, or lessee who is primarily responsible for overall function and operation of a quarry located in the water quality protection area as defined in this section.

(16) Restoration--Those actions necessary to change the physical, chemical, and/or biological qualities of a receiving water body in order to return the water body to its background condition. Restoration includes on- and off-site stabilization to reduce or eliminate an unauthorized discharge, or substantial threat of an unauthorized discharge from the permitted site.

(17) Structural controls--Physical, constructed features that prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants. Structural controls include, but are not limited to, sedimentation/detention ponds; velocity dissipation devices such as rock berms, vegetated berms, and buffers; and silt fencing.

(18) Tertiary containment--A containment method by which an additional wall or barrier is installed outside of the secondary storage vessel or other secondary barrier in a manner designed to prevent a release from migrating beyond the tertiary wall or barrier before the release can be detected.

(19) Water body--Any navigable watercourse, river, stream, or lake within the water quality protection area.

(20) Water quality protection area--The Brazos River and its contributing watershed within Palo Pinto and Parker Counties, Texas, downstream from the Morris Shepard Dam, and extending to the county line between Parker and Hood Counties, Texas.

Source Note: The provisions of this §311.71 adopted to be effective August 3, 2006, 31 TexReg 6033