Definitions

For the purposes of 310 CMR 44.00, the following terms shall have the meaning set forth in 310 CMR 44.00 unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 208 Plan. An Areawide Waste Treatment Management Plan certified by the Governor or his or her designee and approved by EPA pursuant to § 208 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1288. (Mass. Register #1487, 1/20/2023) Best Management Practices (BMPs). A method, measure or practice in water management, or a combination thereof, established and published by the Trust pursuant to St. 2014, c. 259, § 55. The Trust's BMPs can be found on the Official Website of the Treasurer and Receiver General of Massachusetts. Clean Water Act (CWA). The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500, 33 USC § 1251, et seq. Collection System Projects. Projects for the construction of a collection system or its related components. Collection systems generally consist of each and all of the common lateral sewers and appurtenances of publicly owned treatment works which are primarily installed to receive wastewaters from individual structures or from private property, and which include service connection "Y" fittings and service connections within the boundary of the public way or easement. Community Septic Management Program. As authorized by St. 1996, c. 15, § 2, or by any other applicable law, a loan program to Local Governmental Units administered within the Fund and under 310 CMR 44.00 to assist eligible homeowners to upgrade failed septic systems in compliance with 310 CMR 15.000: The State Environmental Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for the Transport and Disposal of Septage through underlying betterment agreements between the Local Governmental Unit and such homeowners pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111, § 127B½. Comprehensive Water Resource Management Plan (CWMP). In accordance with the Department's Guide to Water Resource Management Planning, a CWMP identifies all of a community's needs/problems in one sector of its water resource structure, evaluates alternative means of meeting those needs, selects the most cost- effective and environmentally appropriate remedy, and proposes an implementation plan and schedule. There are three types of CWMPs: Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plans that evaluate a community's wastewater infrastructure/management needs, Comprehensive Water Supply Management Plans that focus on the community's water supply infrastructure and management issues, and Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plans that focus on the community's stormwater management needs. Cost. As applied to any water pollution abatement project, any or all costs, whenever incurred, approved by the Department in accordance with M.G.L. c. 21, § 27A, of carrying out a project including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing: costs for planning, preparation of studies and surveys, design, construction, expansion, facilities, improvement and rehabilitation, acquisition of real property, personal property, materials, machinery or equipment, start-up costs, demolitions and relocations, reasonable reserves and working capital, interest on loans, local governmental obligations and notes in anticipation thereof prior to and during construction of such project or prior to the date of such loan, if later, administrative, legal and financing expenses, and other expenses necessary or incidental to the aforesaid. Department. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. District. Any county, regional or local district, commission, board or other political subdivision or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, howsoever named, which is authorized to provide itself or through an officer, board, department or division thereof local water pollution abatement, sewer or stormwater services, or public water supply services, whether established under general law or special act. EPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal Cross-cutters. Federal laws and authorities that apply by their own terms to projects receiving federal financial assistance such as the federal SRF. Such federal cross-cutters include, but are not limited to, environmental laws and authorities such as the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Coastal Zone Management Act, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and economic and miscellaneous authorities such as the procurement and contractor requirements associated with financial assistance programs under the CWA and Clean Air Act. Fiscal Sustainability Plan. A plan prepared in compliance with § 603(d)(1)(E) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1383, for treatment works proposed for repair, replacement, or expansion, that includes at a minimum the following four items: (a) inventory of critical assets that are part of the treatment works; (b) evaluation of the condition and performance of inventoried assets or asset groupings; (c) certification that the applicant has evaluated and will be implementing water and energy conservation efforts as part of the plan; and (d) a plan for maintaining, repairing, funding, and as necessary, replacing the treatment works. Green Infrastructure Projects. Products, technologies, and practices that use natural systems or processes, or engineered systems that use natural systems or processes, to enhance overall environmental quality. Such projects include, but are not limited to, decentralized wastewater systems that infiltrate treated water; water reuse for beneficial purposes; low impact development projects; the conservation, enhancement and restoration of natural upland, wetland and submerged landscape features that naturally filter and remove silt, nutrients and pollution from surface waters, maintain or restore natural hydrologic cycles, minimize imperviousness in a watershed through preservation and restoration of natural landscape buffers such as forests, floodplains, wetlands and other natural systems and restoration of natural stream channels and submerged habitat; land acquisition and restoration projects that protect and filter drinking water supplies and buffer reservoirs or support ecological restoration in fresh or marine waters; and the mitigation of risks of flooding and erosion using the restoration of saltmarsh, oyster reefs and eelgrass beds from sea-level rise, storm surges and extreme weather events, including the protection and restoration of natural coastal landscapes; provided, that Green Infrastructure Projects may be stand-alone and may also be used to complement built water management infrastructure technologies such as pipes, dikes and treatment facilities; and provided, further, that Green Infrastructure Projects may include innovative technologies that further achievement of the mandates under the CWA. Indirect Discharge. Means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic source regulated under § 307(b), (c) or (d) of the CWA. Infiltration. Water other than wastewater that enters a sewer system (including sewer service connections and foundation drains) from the ground through means which include, but are not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints connections, or manholes. Infiltration does not include, and is distinguished from, inflow. Infiltration/Inflow Projects. Projects which remove infiltration and inflow (i.e. water other than wastewater) from a sewer system, including construction associated with infiltration/inflow rehabilitation. Infiltration/Inflow Rehabilitation. Construction associated with the rehabilitation of a sewer system to remove or reduce infiltration/inflow. Inflow. Water other than wastewater that enters a sewer system (including sewer service connections) from sources which include but are not limited to, roof leaders, cellar drains, yard drains, area drains, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross connections between storm sewers and sanitary sewers catch basins, cooling towers, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage. Inflow does not include, and is distinguished from infiltration. Innovative Technologies. New products and processes, and significant technological changes of products and processes, which have not been commercially deployed or are in limited deployment. Integrated Water Resources Management Plan. In accordance with the Department's Guide to Water Resource Management Planning, an Integrated Water Resource Management Plan is a plan that identifies all of a community's/(ies') water resource infrastructure and management needs/problems including wastewater, water supply and stormwater, evaluates alternative means of meeting those needs, selects the most environmentally appropriate and cost-effective remedy, and proposes an implementation plan and schedule. Intended Use Plan. An annual plan submitted by the Trust to EPA pursuant to § 606(c) of the CWA which identifies the intended use of the amounts available to the Fund as determined by the Trust and derived from the federal capitalization grant, state match amounts, loan repayments, investment earnings and any other moneys deposited by the Trust available to fund projects eligible for funding under Title VI of the CWA. The Intended Use Plan includes a project listing, a description of short and long term goals for the use of the funds, information on the activities to be supported, assurances for meeting certain Title VI requirements, and the criteria and method for the distribution of funds. Intended Use Plan Project Listing. Those projects identified by the Department for inclusion on the fundable portion of the calendar year priority list pursuant to 310 CMR 44.05(2). Land Use Controls. Local and regional government zoning ordinances and by-laws and health and sewer use regulations for wastewater. Loan. Any form of financial assistance subject to repayment, in whole or in part, which is provided by the Trust to a Local Governmental Unit for all or any part of the cost of a water pollution abatement project. Loan Agreement. Any agreement entered into between the Trust and a Local Governmental Unit pertaining to a loan or local governmental obligations. Loan Commitment. A written commitment by the Trust to make a loan to a Local Governmental Unit to finance a project approved by the Department on terms consistent with the Department's Project Approval Certificate. Local Government Unit or Local Governmental Unit. Any town, city, district, commission, agency, authority, board or other instrumentality of the commonwealth or of any of its political subdivisions, including any regional local governmental unit defined in M.G.L. c. 29C, which is responsible for the ownership or operation of a water pollution abatement project and is authorized by a bond act to finance all or any part of the cost thereof through the issue of bonds. MEPA. The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, M.G.L. c. 30, §§ 61 through 62H. NEPA. The National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. Nonpoint Source Project. Projects which implement or are consistent with the Nonpoint Source Management Plan, developed and updated by the Department pursuant to § 319 of the CWA, which may include, but are not limited to, the repair, replacement and/or upgrading of subsurface sewage disposal systems regulated under 310 CMR 15.000: The State Environmental Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for the Transport and Disposal of Septage, landfill capping and closure, remediation of leaking underground storage tanks, erosion control, the control of stormwater runoff, brownfields remediation projects, and other water pollution prevention projects. Nutrient Removal Project. A water pollution abatement project that is being undertaken by a Local Governmental Unit primarily to remediate or prevent nutrient enrichment of a surface water body or a source of water supply to comply with effluent limitations established under a NPDES permit or an EPA-approved TMDL or to otherwise implement a nutrient management plan approved by the Department. Nutrient Removal Projects include those portions of such projects approved by the Department as reasonably necessary for cost-effective nutrient removal or recovery, and as evidenced by the Local Governmental Unit's CWMP or a corresponding engineering report or a 208 Plan or watershed restoration plan that is consistent therewith, as determined by the designated areawide planning agency that prepared the 208 Plan. Nutrient Sensitive Watershed. Any watershed or sub-watershed containing a water body impaired by nutrients that has been listed, accordingly, on Massachusetts' list of impaired waterbodies under § 303(d) of the CWA or that has been designated as nutrient sensitive by the Department. Policy on Eligible Project Costs. The Department's document entitled Policy on Eligible Project Costs, which identifies the specific types of project costs determined by the Department to be generally within the eligible project categories identified in 310 CMR 44.08(1) and (2). POTW Treatment Plant. That portion of a POTW which is designed to provide treatment (including recycling and reclamation) of municipal sewage and industrial waste. Project Approval Certificate. A certificate issued by the Department to the Trust certifying that a project is approved for financing by the Trust and that the costs of the project are eligible for financial assistance pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29C, § 6. Project Regulatory Agreement. An agreement between the Department and a Local Governmental Unit, executed and delivered to the Trust on or prior to the date of a loan from the Trust to the Local Governmental Unit to finance a project approved by the Department, which includes a disbursement schedule, procedures for approval and payment of requisitions, conditions related to the borrower's compliance with the Department's regulations and other federal and state statutes and regulations applicable to the construction and operation of the project, and provision for the Department's supervision of the project in accordance with 310 CMR 44.00. Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). A treatment works as defined by § 212 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1292, which is owned by a State or municipality (as defined by § 502(4) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(4)). Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) also includes sewers, pipes and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW Treatment Plant. Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) also means the municipality as defined in § 502(4) of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(4), which has jurisdiction over the Indirect Discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works. Regional Land Use Planning Agency. Any one of the public bodies corporate established as a regional planning district commission pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40B, § 3. Regional Local Government Unit. Any Local Government Unit which is responsible for the ownership or operation of a Regional System. Regional System. Any District serving two or more municipalities, any private water system serving two or more municipalities, and any other entity established by mutual agreement of two or more municipalities, or by a county in which all municipalities of the county have an agreement to provide public water supply or wastewater services, or both, through shared facilities, sources or distribution networks, and which has authority to set rates and charges for the consumers of such services. State Revolving Fund (SRF) Program. The financial assistance program for water pollution abatement projects authorized under M.G.L. c. 21, § 27A, and the CWA, including the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29C, the Department's related authority and responsibilities set forth in M.G.L. c. 21, § 27A, and elsewhere in M.G.L. c. 21, and the Water Pollution Abatement Revolving Fund established pursuant to M.G.L. c. 29, § 2L. Title 5. 310 CMR 15.000: The State Environmental Code, Title 5: Standard Requirements for the Siting, Construction, Inspection, Upgrade and Expansion of On-site Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems and for the Transport and Disposal of Septage. Trust. The Massachusetts Clean Water Trust established by M.G.L. c. 29C. The Trust administers the Commonwealth's SRF programs, which are authorized by federal legislation - the Water Quality Act of 1987 for the clean water SRF and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 for the drinking water SRF - to provide financial assistance to borrowers for wastewater projects and drinking water projects. Wastewater. Sewage, industrial waste, other wastes or any combination of the three, as defined in 314 CMR 3.00: Surface Water Discharge Permit Program and 5.00: Ground Water Discharge Permit Program. Wastewater Treatment Project. Abatement facilities eligible for SRF assistance under the CWA providing, or being upgraded or rehabilitated to provide, secondary or more stringent wastewater treatment (or any cost effective alternatives), including conveyance components (such as interceptors) and appurtenances related to such facilities as well as the correction of combined sewer overflows. Wastewater treatment project does not, however, include activities and/or facilities within the definitions of an Infiltration and Inflow Project or a Collection System Project under 310 CMR 44.03. Water Pollution Abatement Project. Any abatement facilities, including without limitation rehabilitation of abatement facilities to remove, curtail or otherwise mitigate infiltration and inflow, collection system, treatment works and treatment facilities as defined in M.G.L. c. 21, § 26A, and any eligible facilities for implementation of a nonpoint source pollution control management program or estuary conservation and management plan pursuant to the CWA. Watershed Benchmark Flow. The existing wastewater facility total flow amount in a planning area, including flow amounts from on-site subsurface disposal systems, collection systems, and wastewater treatment plants, as set forth in a Local Governmental Unit's Department-approved CWMP. Watershed Management Plans. Plans developed, updated and/or approved by the Department to assess and manage the water resources of any watershed or subwatershed, including plans which implement or are consistent with the Department's Nonpoint Source Management Plan. Watershed Management Plans may include watershed related plans developed and updated by other parties which, as approved by the Department, implement or are consistent with the Department's Nonpoint Source Management Plan.