Definitions

For the purposes of 314 CMR 21.00, the following terms shall have the following meanings, 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 federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1288. Alternative Control Approach or Technology – A technology or approach that is not a Conventional Control Approach or Technology but can be effectively used to remove pollutants from a waterbody or prevent or reduce the introduction of pollutants into a waterbody. Examples include but are not limited to permeable reactive barriers, enhanced natural attenuation, restored or constructed wetlands, fertilizer reduction, and pollutant credits or trading. Alternative Restoration Plan – A near-term plan or description of actions with a schedule and milestones under the federal Clean Water Act § 303(d), 33 U.S.C. § 1313(d), that is expected to be more immediately beneficial or practicable in achieving water quality standards in the near term than pursuing development of Total Maximum Daily Load(s). An Alternative Restoration Plan was previously identified as an Alternative Total Maximum Daily Load. Baseline Nitrogen Load – A Local Government Unit's proportion of the Controllable Attenuated Nitrogen Load that existed during the evaluation period for, and as reported in, the applicable TMDL, Alternative Restoration Plan, MEP Report, or Scientific Evaluation. It is sometimes referred to as the "present-day" load that existed during the evaluation period. (Mass. Register #1501, 8/4/2023) Best Management Practices or BMPs – Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the Commonwealth. BMPs include, but are not limited to, treatment requirements; operating procedures; and structures, devices, or practices to control plant site runoff, spillage, leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage. Clean Water Act or CWA – The Federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq. Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan or CWMP – A plan which develops and evaluates alternatives that can be implemented to meet a community’s wastewater infrastructure and management needs and which is consistent with the Department’s Guide to Comprehensive Wastewater Management Planning. Comprehensive Water Resource Management Plan or CWRMP – A plan developed in accordance with the Department’s Guide to Water Resource Management Planning that identifies a community’s needs and problem areas in one sector of its water resource structure, evaluates alternative means of addressing those needs and problem areas, selects the most cost- effective and environmentally appropriate remedy, and proposes an implementation plan and schedule. CWRMPs include (a) plans that evaluate a community’s wastewater infrastructure and management needs (e.g., CWMP), (b) plans that focus on the community’s water supply infrastructure and management issues, and (c) plans that focus on the community’s stormwater management needs. Controllable Attenuated Nitrogen Load – The total nitrogen load from all controllable loads within the watershed that reaches the embayment or estuary. Conventional Control Approach or Technology – A combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes that provide primary, secondary, or tertiary treatment and have been proven to be consistently effective for treating wastewater or sewage to remove suspended solids, dissolved solids, biological decomposition of organic matter, pathogens, and nutrients from wastewater. Examples of Conventional Control Technology include but are not limited to sewage treatment plants and enhanced nutrient removal alternative septic systems that the Department accepts as conventional. Core Sewer Area – The area identified in a CWMP, CWRMP, or TWMP requiring wastewater collection using Conventional Control Technology as the optimal control technology because of factors such as the extent of the local wastewater impact, proximity to impacted resources, and existing density and anticipated growth. De Minimis Nitrogen Load Exemption – An exemption from the permitting requirements of 314 CMR 21.00 issued by the Department pursuant to 314 CMR 21.12. 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. Environmental Justice (EJ) Population – (a) A Neighborhood that meets one or more of the following criteria: 1. the annual median household income is not more than 65% of the statewide annual median household income; 2. minorities comprise 40% or more of the population; 3. 25% or more of households lack English language proficiency; 4. minorities comprise 25% or more of the population and the annual median household income of the municipality in which the neighborhood is located does not exceed 150% of the statewide annual median household income; or (b) A geographic portion of a Neighborhood designated by the Secretary as an Environmental Justice Population pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30, § 62; provided, however, that a Neighborhood or a geographic portion of a Neighborhood that the Secretary has determined shall not be designated an Environmental Justice Population pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30, § 62 shall not be considered an Environmental Justice Population under 314 CMR 21.00. EPA – The United States Environmental Protection Agency. Local Government Unit – Any town, city, district, county, commission, agency, authority, board or other instrumentality of the commonwealth or of any of its political subdivisions, including any Regional Local Governmental Unit. Massachusetts Estuary Project Report or MEP Report – A technical report produced by the Massachusetts Estuaries Project that has been accepted by the Department and was created to: determine current nitrogen loads to estuaries; evaluate reductions that would be necessary to support healthy ecosystems based on a linked model to evaluate nitrogen inputs to estuaries; and provide technical guidance to support appropriate wastewater, watershed, and embayment management techniques to reduce nitrogen loading. Necessary Nitrogen Load Reductions – The proportion of the total Controllable Attenuated Nitrogen Load that must be reduced in order to restore the waterbody to applicable water quality and habitat quality restoration goals that have been identified in a TMDL, Alternative Restoration Plan, MEP Report, or Scientific Evaluation as being necessary to meet the designated uses of the waterbody established by the Department under 314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards. Person – Any agency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth, the Federal government, any public or private corporation or authority, individual, partnership or association, or other entity, including any officer of a public or private agency or organization. Pollutant – Any element or property of sewage, agricultural, industrial or commercial waste, runoff, leachate, heated effluent, or other matter, in whatever form and whether originating at a point or major non-point source, which is or may be discharged, drained or otherwise introduced into any sewerage system, treatment works or waters of the Commonwealth. Quality Assurance Program Plan or QAPP – A planning document for a specific monitoring project or program that describes the quality-control elements to be implemented to help ensure that the data collected will be of known and documented quality to meet the project or program needs. Implementation of an approved QAPP is generally required for any monitoring data used by the Department. Regional Local Government Unit – Any Local Government Unit which is responsible for the ownership or operation of a Regional System. Regional System – An entity or legal arrangement that is designed to provide public water supply or wastewater services through facilities, sources, or distribution networks and has the authority to set rates and charges for the consumers of such services, including but not limited to: a Local Government Unit or District serving two or more municipalities, a private water system serving two or more municipalities, or a county in which all municipalities of the county have agreed to provide shared public water or wastewater services and set rates and charges for such services. Scientific Evaluation – A watershed assessment that is accepted by the Department because it is scientifically rigorous and based upon information, data, modeling, and analyses that could be used to: delineate the watershed; develop and implement an EPA-approved TMDL; and develop and implement wastewater and nutrient management plans to satisfy the TMDL; and which produces, at a minimum, the following: (a) quantitative and qualitative assessments of the nutrient related health of the waterbodies being assessed; (b) identification of all controllable and uncontrollable nutrient sources and their respective contributions to the waterbodies for the present day and the next 20 years, including any projected buildout; (c) nutrient threshold concentrations that must be achieved to comply with 314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards to support the ecosystem and restore and maintain indicator habitats, such as eel grass and benthic species, associated with nutrient impacts; (d) analyses of watershed nutrient loading reductions that will be necessary to achieve at least the minimum nutrient threshold concentrations in the waterbody and restore and maintain the indicator habitats; and (e) site-specific, calibrated, watershed-waterbody model(s) that can be used to simulate the efficacy of strategies towards restoration and maintenance of the waterbodies. (A TMDL is not required to complete the Scientific Evaluation.) Surface Waters – All waters other than ground waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, including, without limitation, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, impoundments, estuaries, wetlands and coastal waters. Surface Water Quality Standards – The Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards set forth in 314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards. Targeted Watershed Management Plan or TWMP – A plan that is consistent with a 208 Plan, if a 208 Plan exists, as determined by the designated areawide planning agency under § 208 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1288, and that contains all elements of a CWMP or a CWRMP developed to address the waterbody impairments or impacts identified in a TMDL, Alternative Restoration Plan, MEP Report, or Scientific Evaluation, or to implement a TMDL or Alternative Restoration Plan, in a watershed or sub-watershed. Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL – The sum of a receiving water's individual waste load allocations and load allocations and natural background, which, together with a margin of safety that takes into account any lack of knowledge concerning the relationship between effluent limitations and water quality, represents the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards in all seasons. Updated Nitrogen Load – The sum of the Baseline Nitrogen Load and any changes in that load that occur between completion of the applicable TMDL, Alternative Restoration Plan, MEP Report, or Scientific Evaluation and the filing of an application for either a Watershed Permit or a De Minimis Nitrogen Load Exemption. Watershed – The boundary of the area described by either surface hydrology, subsurface hydrology, or both, delineating a drainage divide to a specific body of water. Watershed Management Plan or WMP – A plan that: (a) is consistent with a 208 Plan, if such plan exists, as determined by the designated areawide planning agency under § 208 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1288; (b) includes or is supplemented with the information and documentation specified in 314 CMR 21.03(2), unless the Department determines otherwise; (c) is based on one or more CWMPs, CWRMPs, or TWMPs, which may serve as the WMP if all requirements of this definition are met; and (d) provides a schedule and description of actions to achieve Necessary Nitrogen Load Reductions. Unless otherwise determined by the Department, the WMP may address pollutants other than nitrogen. Watershed Permit – A permit issued by the Department pursuant to 314 CMR 21.00 for one or more watersheds with a term of no longer than 20 years, including the Pleasant Bay Watershed Permit (Permit No. 001-0) that was issued August 3, 2018, by the Department prior to the promulgation of 314 CMR 21.00.