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United We Stand.

Agriculture and Water Quality

NJFB Policy Issues	Legislative Information
Water Quality Issues Directory
Agriculture and Water Quality

Glossary of Water Quality Terms

"Ambient Water Quality" means water quality of a water body measured immediately upstream (or outside) of the influence of a particular source of pollutants or pollutant parameters during average flow conditions. This is the water quality that the Department shall utilize as the means water quality when implementing the antidegradation policies on a site-specific basis as defined in N.J.A.C. 7:9B 1.1.

"Antidegradation" means the limitation of changes in mean water quality or quantity to protect existing and designated uses, to maintain that quality which is better than the applicable criteria, and to prevent any additional lowering of water quality or quantity where those levels are already below the criteria or levels necessary to support the existing or designated uses.

"Aquifer" means a geologic formation, group of geologic formations, or a portion of geologic formations capable of yielding a significant amount of groundwater to wells or springs.

"Assimilative capacity" means the total assimilative capacity of a watershed, water body or a water body segment to receive natural and anthropogenic sources of pollutants (from point and nonpoint sources), while maintaining surface water quality standards, use classifications and the designated use(s) of the watershed, water body or water body segment. When, derived, the Total Maximum Daily Load represents, or defines, the total assimilative capacity of a water body segment. (OK definition?)

"Baseflow" means that quantity of streamflow contributed by ground water sources. It is estimated by employing a hydrograph separation method whereby long-term streamflow records are reconstructed so that the majority of stormwater flows are subtracted from those records to theoretically arrive at the ground water contribution to the stream, or through other methods approved by the Department.

"Best Management Practices" or "BMPS" for purposes of this chapter means:

1. Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of the waters of State; or
2. Methods, measures or practices selected by an agency to meet its nonpoint source control needs. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and techniques to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage. BMPs include, but are not limited to, structural and nonstructural controls and operation and maintenance procedures. BMPs can be applied before, during, and after pollution producing activities to reduce or eliminate the introduction of pollutants into receiving waters.

"Category One Waters" means those waters designated in the tables in N.J.A.C. 7.9B1. 15(c) through (h), for purposes of implementing the antidegradation policies as set forth at N.J.A.C. 7.9B-1.5(d), for protection from changes in water quality that fall outside of the 95% confidence interval of the existing, appropriate, mathematical mean water quality because of their clarity, scenic setting, other characteristics of aesthetic value, exceptional ecological significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional water supply significance, or exceptional fisheries resource(s). These waters may include, but are not limited to:

1. Waters originating wholly within Federal, Interstate, State, County, or Municipal parks, forest, fish and wildlife lands, and other special holdings that have not been designated as FW1 at N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1. 15(h) Table 6;
2. Waters classified at N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.1 5(c) through (g) as FW2 trout production waters and their tributaries;
3. Surface waters classified in this subchapter as FW2 trout maintenance or FW2 Nontrout that are upstream of waters classified in this subchapter as FW2 trout production-,
4. Shellfish waters of exceptional value; or
5. Other waters and their tributaries that flow through, or border, Federal, State, county or municipal parks, forest, fish and wildlife lands, and other special holdings.

"Category Two Waters" means those waters not designated as Outstanding National Resource Waters or Category One in N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1. IS in the SQWS for purposes of implementing the Antidegradation Policies,

"Clean Water Act" (CWA) means as the Federal Act or Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) including all subsequent supplements and amendments.

"Community onsite subsurface disposal system" means an onsite subsurface disposal system which serves five or more realty improvements as defined in N.J.S.A. 58:11-23 et seq. or any onsite subsurface disposal system receiving domestic waste and serving one or more realty improvements where the design flow is greater than 2,000 gpd.

"Confined aquifer" means an aquifer bounded above and below impermeable beds or by beds of distinctly lower permeability than that of the aquifer itself: an aquifer containing confined groundwater.

"Consumptive water use" means any use that permanently removes water from a watershed or a confined aquifer from which it is withdrawn by activities that result in substantial evaporation and evapo-transpiration. Agricultural activities, irrigation and industrial cooling operations often result in substantial evaporation and evapo-transpiration [GM2].

"Conventional pollutant" means a pollutant designated under Section 304(b)(4) of the Federal Act.

"DEP Bulletin" means the publication issued by the Department designed to provide public notice of certain Department actions.

"Depletive water use" means any use that permanently removes water from a watershed or a confined aquifer from which it is withdrawn by activities that result in the exportation, or transfer, of water and sewage.

"Designated use" means that surface water or ground water uses both existing and potential, that have been established by the Department for waters of the State. [DJ-VA3] "Design flow" means the average daily volume of wastewater, which a domestic treatment works was designed to treat or convey, or the maximum permissible volume of flow to a domestic treatment works as established by a NJPDES permit or a treatment works approval, whichever is more stringent.

"Development" means [DJVA4] the division of a parcel of land into two or more parcels, the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation or enlargement of any building or structure, or of any mining excavation or landfill, and any use or change in the use of any building, or other structure, or land or extension of use of land, for which permission may be required under the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.

"Discharge" means an intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping of a pollutant into the waters of the State, onto land or into wells from which the pollutant might flow or drain into such waters, or into waters or onto lands outside the jurisdiction of the State which pollutant enters the waters of the State, and shall 'include the release of any pollutant into a municipal treatment works. A leak into a secondary containment system which does not involve a release into the waters or lands of the state is not a discharge for purposes of applying the rules under this subchapter to violations of the Underground Storage of Hazardous Substances Act, N.J.S.A 58:11-49 et seq. and the rules promulgated pursuant thereto, 7-.14B-

"Discharge to surface water" or "DSW" means a direct discharge to surface water as defined in N.J.A.C. 7:9B. DSW does not include a discharge to a DTW.

"Divert" or "diversion" means the taking of water from a river, stream, lake, pond, aquifer, well, other underground source, or other waterbody, whether or not the water is returned thereto, consumed, made to flow into another stream or basin, or discharged elsewhere.

"Environmentally sensitive areas" means those areas identified 'in a Statewide or areawide WQM plan as land areas possessing characteristics or features that are necessary for the maintenance or improvement of water quality, or to the conservation of the natural resources of the State and are stringently regulated by the Department or another State agency. Environmentally sensitive areas include, but are not limited to: areas inhabited by threatened and endangered species, FW1 watersheds, floodways and floodplains, Pinelands ground and surface waters, Class I-A ground waters, watershed buffer areas for public community water supply systems, and coastal and freshwater wetlands.

"Environmentally Sensitive Features" means, according to the State Development and Redevelopment Plan, the following natural and cultural resources, the, disturbance of which tends to impair the physical, biological, social, or aesthetic quality of the resource:

1. Aquifer recharge areas;
2. Coastal dunes, beaches, barrier islands, and shoreline;
3. Critical slope areas;
4. Flood plains;
5. Habitats of endangered and threatened species;
6. Habitats with wide diversity of resident species;
7. Historic areas;
8. Public water supply reservoirs;
9. Ridge lines;
10. Scenic corridors;
11. Staging areas for migratory species;
12. Stream corridors;
13. Wetlands; and
14. Wildlife corridors.
15. (Wellhead protection areas?)

"Environmentally sensitive watershed" means a watershed that includes and is predominantly characterized by environmentally sensitive areas and environmentally sensitive features.

"Erosion" means the detachment and movement of soil or rock fragments by water, wind, ice and gravity.

"Existing discharge" means a permitted discharge -which is not a new source.

"Existing water quality" means the water quality in a water body at the time a water body was designated for its current level of antidegradation protection, as modified to reflect permitted loadings not actually being discharged on the date of designation, provided that such loadings were contained in issued permits prior to the effective date of the designation. This is the water quality that the Department shall utilize as mean water quality when implementing a watershed approach to water quality management for a particular waterbody.

"Federal Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly known as the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§1251 et seq. including all subsequent supplements and amendments.*

"FW1" means those fresh waters, as designated in N.J.A.C. 7:9B- 1. 15(h) Table 6, that are to be maintained in their natural state of quality (set aside for posterity)and not subject to any man-made wastewater discharges in runoff from anthropogenic activities. These water are set aside for posterity because of their clarity, color, scenic setting, other characteristics of aesthetic value, unique ecological significance, exceptional recreation significance, or exceptional water supply significance.

"FW2" means the general surface water classification applied to those freshwaters that are not designated as FW1 or Pinelands Waters.

"GPD" or "gpd" means gallons per day.

"Ground water" means water that portion of water beneath the land surface that is within the saturated zone.

"Ground Water Quality Standards" means the New Jersey rules at N.J.A.C. 7:9-6 which set forth a designated use or uses for the ground waters of the State, use classifications, water quality criteria for the State's waters based upon such uses, and the Department's policies concerning these uses, classifications and criteria.

"High quality water" means any water, where, for a particular pollutant or pollutant parameter, the water quality exceeds that quality necessary to support the existing or designated uses, or which supports an exceptional use. At a minimum, the water quality criteria at N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1. 14(c) and (d), and N.J.A.C. 7.9C- 1.7, are criteria necessary to support the designated and existing uses. These waters are determined on a case-by-case basis.

"Impoundment" means a body of water confined by a darn dike floodgate or other barriers

"Intermittent stream" means a stream with a MA7CD10 flow of less than one-tenth (0-1) cubic foot per second.

"Lake, pond or reservoir" means any impoundment, whether naturally occurring or created in whole or in part by the building of structures for the retention of surface water, excluding sedimentation control, stormwater retention/detention basins and ponds designed for the treatment of wastewater. Lakes, ponds and reservoirs are characterized by a long-term or permanent downgradient restriction of surface water flow from the impoundment and areas of quiescent water within the body of the impoundment. Lakes, ponds and reservoirs are frequently characterized by greater water depths within the impoundment than either the upgradient or downgradient surface water flow and by shallow water lateral edges containing emergent or submerged plant species. For regulatory purposes, the upgradient boundary of a lake, pond [DJVA5] or reservoir shall be considered to be the point at which areas of greater depth and relatively quiescent water can be differentiated from the upgradient surface water input into the impoundment under average flow conditions.

"Load allocation" means the portion of a receiving water's total maximum daily load (TMDL) for a specific pollutant that is allocated to existing or future nonpoint sources of pollution.

"Lowering of water quality" means a change in water quality from either existing water quality or ambient water quality, as appropriate, toward water quality which does not protect the designated and existing uses.

"NJPDES" means the New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System established in N.J.A.C. 7:14A.

"NJPDES discharge permit" means a permit issued by the Department under N.J.A.C. 7:14A for discharges to waters of the state.

"Non-conventional pollutant" means any pollutant not defined as a conventional pollutant or a toxic pollutant.

"Nonpoint pollution" means pollution from any source other than from any discernible, confined and discrete conveyances, and shall include, but not be limited to, pollutants from agricultural, silvicultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.

"Non-point source" means

1. Any man-made or man-induced activity, factor, or condition, other than a point source, from which pollutants are or may be discharged;
2. Any man-made or man-induced activity, factor, or condition, other than a point source, that may temporarily or permanently change any chemical, physical, biological, or radiological characteristic of waters of the State from what was or is the natural, pristine condition of such waters, or that may increase the degree of such change; or
3. Any activity, factor, or condition, other than a point source, that contributes or may contribute to water pollution.

"Nutrient" means a chemical element or compound, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, which is essential to and promotes the growth and development of organisms.

"Permit" means, for the NJPDES program, an authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the Department or a delegated local agency to implement the requirements of the Water Pollution Control Act, N.J.S.A. 5 8: 1 OA- I et seq., even where any or all of the conditions of the permit have been stayed. Permit does not. include any permit which has not yet been the subject of final agency action, such as a "draft permit." Permit includes a letter of agreement entered between a delegated local agency and a user of its municipal treatment works, setting effluent limitations and other conditions on the user of the agency's municipal treatment works. Permit also includes a general permit and a permit-by-rule.

"Permit by rule" means, for the NJPDES program, a provision of N.J.A.C 7:14A stating that a "facility or activity" is deemed to have a NJPDES permit if it meets the requirements of the applicable regulations.

"Permitted flow" means a treatment work's maximum allowable flow (usually in million gallons per day, or other appropriate unit of flow such as gallons per day) as stated in the facility's NJPDES Permit or TWA, whichever is more stringent.

"Pinelands waters" means all waters within the boundaries of the Pinelands Area, except those water designated as FW1 in N.J.A.C. 7:9B-1.15(h) Table 6, as established in the Pinelands Protection Act (N.J.S.A. 13:18A-1 et seq.) and shown on Plate 1 of the "Comprehensive Management Plan" adopted by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission in November 1980.

"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, landfill leachate collection System, vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. Return flows from irrigated agriculture are not considered point sources.

"Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, refuse, oil, grease, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, medical wastes, radioactive substance (except those regulated under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. SS2011 et seq.), thermal waste, wrecked or discarded equipment, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, agricultural and construction waste or runoff or their residue discharged to the land, ground waters or surface waters of the State, or to a domestic treatment works. "Pollutant" includes both hazardous and nonhazardous pollutants.

"Pollutant parameter" means a chemical compound, indicator of the presence or effects of chemical compounds, or indicator of the presence or effects of aggregates of chemical compound (for example, whole effluent toxicity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, carbonaceous oxygen demand) that may be used to assess the presence of pollutants or aggregates of pollutants.

"Public water supply" means a water supply providing piped water to the public for human consumption, if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves at least 25 individuals, as defined by N.J.A.C. 7:15.

"Recharge" means the replenishment of ground water.

"Runoff' means any rainwater, leachate, or other liquid that drains overland from any part of a facility.

"Sanitary sewage" means any liquid waste containing animal or vegetable matter in suspension or solution of the water carried wastes resulting from the discharge of water closets, laundry tubs, washing machines, sinks, dishwashers, or any other source of water-carried waste of human origin or containing putrescible material. This term specifically excludes industrial, hazardous or toxic wastes and materials.

"Sediment" means solid material, mineral or organic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by air, water or gravity as a product of erosion.

"Sewage" means any wastes, including wastes from humans, households, commercial establishments, industries, and stormwater runoff, that are discharged to or otherwise enter a DTW.

"Shellfish waters" means waters classified as Approved, Seasonally Approved, Special Restricted. Seasonally Special Restricted or Condemned that support or possess the potential to support shellfish which are within the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) zone as delineated in 1973, (excluding I -The Cohansey River upstream of Brown's Run; 2-the Maurice River upstream of Route 548; 3-The Great Egg harbor river upstream of Powell Creek; 4-the Tuckahoe river upstream of Route 50; 5The Mullica River upstream of the Garden State Parkway) plus the adjacent areas between Route 3 5 (from its juncture with the CAFRA zone just north of Red Bank to its juncture with the CAFRA zone just south of Keyport) and the CAFRA zone and the area from the C.A.F.R.A. zone on the south northwesterly along Route 35 to he northern shore of the Raritan River, then easterly along Route 35 to her northern shore of the Raritan River to the southeast point of Perth Amboy, then due east to the New Jersey jurisdictional line, and seaward along the Jurisdictional limit to the Atlantic Ocean.

"Significant modification" means an alteration, expansion or other change that may reasonably be expected to effect the quantity of flow treated or the quality of the effluent discharged to the waters of the State or to a publicly owned treatment works.

"Site" means the lot or lots upon which a proposed development is to be constructed "Site specific allocation" means a wasteload allocation for a specific pollutant to an existing or future point source based on site specific considerations rather than from a total maximum daily load (TMDL).

"Site-specific pollution control plan" means a plan that details necessary measures designed to control one or more specified pollutants or sources of pollution from a site.

"State Water Quality Inventory Report" means the biennial report prepared by the Department, pursuant to Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1315, which inventories and assesses the quality of surface and ground waters of the State.

"Statewide Water Quality Management Plan" or "Statewide WQM Plan" (formerly known as the Statewide Water Quality Management Program Plan) means the plan that, together with this chapter, directs and coordinates water quality planning and implementation activities for the entire State, and contains the written provisions of the CPP pursuant to Section 7 of the Water Quality Planning Act (N.J.S.A. 58:1 IA-7).

"Stormwater management basin" means an embankment and associated space for impoundment of water or, alternatively, the space for impoundment partially or entirely created by excavation rather than by embankment, in either case designed to retain stormwater runoff. A stormwater management basin may either be normally dry (that is, a detention basin or infiltration basin) or retain water in a permanent pool (a retention basin).

"Stormwater management facility" means any structural stormwater management measure, including stormwater management basins and filtration or other treatment systems.

"Stormwater management measure" means any structural or nonstructural practice, technology, process, program, or other method intended to control or reduce stormwater runoff or to promote the control or reduction of stormwater runoff.

"Stormwater or stormwater runoff" means water flow on the surface of the ground or in storm sewers, resulting from precipitation.

"Surface water" means water at or above the land's surface which is neither ground water nor contained within the unsaturated zone, including, but not limited to, the ocean and its tributaries, all springs, streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, and artificial waterbodies.

"Surface water classifications" means names assigned by the Department in N.J.A.C. 7:9B to waters having the same designated uses and water quality criteria (for example FW1, PL, FW2-NT, SEI, SC ZONE IC).

"Surface water quality standards" means the rules at N.J.A.C. 7:9B which set forth, for the surface waters of the State, designated uses, use classifications and water quality criteria, and the Department's policies concerning these uses, classifications and criteria.

"Thermal discharge" means the component of any discharge which is comprised of heat, and which shall be limited in accordance with Sections 301, 306, 316 of the Federal Act, Section 6 of the State Act.

"TMDL Project Work Plan" means a detailed plan for the development of a Basic TMDL or a Complex TMDL in full conformance with the requirements of N.J.A.C. 7:157.

"Total allocable capacity" means the total assimilative capacity minus any applicable reserve capacity or margin of safety. It is the total loading that may be allocated to both point and nonpoint sources in a specific waterbody and includes pollution credits held for future use or trading and permitted but not yet utilized loading capacity of existing point source discharges.

"Total assimilative capacity" means the product of the applicable surface water quality criterion multiplied by the applicable stream design flow (or designated mixing volume in the case of embayment), expressed as a mass loading rate for site-specific allocations where regulatory mixing zones are permitted. The total assimilative capacity may also be determined by a model developed for the purpose of calculating a TMDL for a waterbody (see N.J.A.C. 7:15-7).

"Total maximum daily load" or "TMDL" means a total maximum daily load formally established pursuant to Section 7 of the Water Quality Planning Act (N.J.S.A. 58:1 1A-7) and Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. A TMDL is the sum of individual wasteload allocations for point sources, load allocations for nonpoint sources of pollution, other sources such as tributaries or adjacent streams, and allocations to a reserve or margin of safety for an individual pollutant.

"Total suspended solids" or "TSS" means the total nonfilterable residue as determined by analytical procedures set forth in the Manual of Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes (USEPA Office of Technology Transfer, Washington, D.C. March, 1983).

"Trout maintenance waters" means waters designated in N.J.A.C. 7:9B for the support of trout throughout the year.

"Trout - production waters" means waters designated in N.J.A.C. 7:9B by trout for spawning or nursery purposes during their first summer.

"Unconfined or semi-confined aquifer" means an aquifer that is either exposed to atmospheric pressure or bounded by layers of materials which do not serve as an effective barrier to upward water migration.

"USGS quadrangle map" means any of the set of topographic maps published by the United States Geological Survey at 1:24,000 scale, also known as "quadrangles" or "quads."

"Wasteload allocation" or "WLA" means the portion of a receiving water's total maximum daily load for a specific pollutant that is allocated to one of its existing or future point sources of pollution. WLAs constitute a type of water quality-based effluent limitation.

 "Wastewater" means residential, commercial, industrial, or agricultural liquid wastes, septage, stormwater runoff, or any combination thereof or other residue discharged or collected [GM9].

"Wastewater management agency" means a governmental entity or sewerage agency designated in an areawide WQM Plan to plan, construct, or operate domestic treatment works.

"Water quality-based effluent limitations" means effluent limitations established so that the quality of the waters receiving a discharge will meet the Surface Water Standards of NJAC 7:9B after the introduction of the effluent

"Water quality limited segment" means any segment of a water body that does not or is not expected to meet surface water quality standards, identified in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:15-6.2. Each WQLS shall be entirely contained within a watershed, and may be configured using the USEPA stream segments data base or the US Geological Survey 14-digit Hydrologic Unit Code mapping of New Jersey surface water bodies (USGS Water Resources Investigation Report 95-4134).

"Water quality management plans" or "WQM plans" means the plans prepared pursuant to Sections 208-and 303 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., and the Water Quality Planning Act, N.J.S.A. 58:1 IA-1 et seq., including the Statewide, areawide, and county WQM Plans.

"Waters of the State" means the ocean and its estuaries, all springs, streams and bodies of surface and ground water, whether natural or artificial, within the boundaries of this State or subject to its jurisdiction.

"Watershed" means a geographic area within which water, sediments, and dissolved materials drain to a particular receiving waterbody or to a particular point along a receiving waterbody.

"Watershed management" means the protection and restoration of a watershed through integrated and holistic efforts.

"Water supply allocation permit" means the document issued by the Department to a person granting that person the privileges so on as the person complies with conditions of the document, to divert I 00,000 or more gallons of water per day for more than 30 days in a consecutive 365 day period, for any purpose other than agricultural or horticultural purposes, as defined in N.J.A.C. 7:15.

"Water table aquifer" means a geological formation which carries water at atmospheric pressure at the top of the unsaturated zone, as defined in N.J.A.C. 7:15.

"Well" means a bored, drilled, or driven shaft, or a dug hole, whose depth is greater than the largest surface dimension.

"Well head protection area" means the surface and subsurface area which surrounds a water well or wellfield that supplies a potable water supply system, through which pollutants are reasonably likely to move toward and reach such a water well or wellfield. This area shall be designated by the Department.

"Freshwater wetlands" or "wetland" means an area that is inundated or saturated by surface water, or ground water 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 wetlands shall use the three-parameter approach (that is, hydrology, soils and vegetation) enumerated in the Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Wetlands.

"WMP" means wastewater management plan.

"WQM plan" means water quality management plan.