SECTION 319.301. Definitions

The following definitions apply to this subchapter.

(1) Alluvial well--A well completed in sedimentary deposits resulting from modern rivers.

(2) Appropriate local government officials--

(A) The county judge of a county in which a spill occurs requiring notification under §319.302 of this title (relating to Notification Requirements).

(B) The county judge of a county within 1/2-mile of a spill requiring notification under §319.302 of this title.

(C) The mayor and city manager of a city whose drinking water supply intake is within 1/2-mile of a spill requiring notification under §319.302 of this title.

(D) The director of a water district or authority, acting under the Texas Constitution, Article III, §52, or Article XVI, §59, whose drinking water supply intake is within 1/2-mile of a spill requiring notification under §319.302 of this title.

(3) Drinking water--All water:

(A) distributed by any agency or individual, public or private, for the purpose of human consumption;

(B) which may be used in the preparation of foods or beverages;

(C) which may be used for the cleaning of any utensil or article used in the course of preparation or consumption of food or beverages for human beings;

(D) supplied for human consumption; or

(E) used by any institution catering to the public.

(4) Facility--A wastewater treatment plant, collection facility, pumping station, or sewer pipeline owned or operated by a local government.

(5) Groundwater recharge area--An area where there is direct and rapid communication of flow from the surface downward to the drinking-water aquifer.

(6) Karst--A type of topography that is formed over limestone, dolomite, or gypsum by dissolving or solution, and that is characterized by closed depressions or sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage.

(7) Local government--An incorporated city, a county, a river authority, or a water district or authority acting under the Texas Constitution, Article III, §52 or Article XVI, §59.

(8) Local media--The daily newspapers and the radio and television media serving the counties and cities served by a facility or the aquifer area in which a spill or accidental discharge occurs, as well as these news organizations in the nearest metropolitan area.

(9) Private source of drinking water--A drinking water supply that is not a public source of drinking water.

(10) Public source of drinking water--A public water system which provides the public piped water for human consumption, which includes all uses described under the definition of drinking water in paragraph (3) of this section. Such a system must have a potential for at least 15 service connections or serve at least 25 individuals at least 60 days out of the year.

(11) Responsible individual--The individual designated by the owner of a facility to give the notices required by §319.302 of this title.

(12) Spill--An act or omission through which waste or other substances:

(A) are inadvertently discharged into water in the state; or

(B) will enter water in the state, unless controlled or removed.

(13) Water in the state--Groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.

Source Note: The provisions of this §319.301 adopted to be effective December 30, 1999, 24 TexReg 11774