310 CMR, § 15.002
For the purposes of 310 CMR 15.000, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise. Terms expressed in the singular shall be construed to incorporate the plural, and vice versa, unless the context otherwise requires.
1978 Code - Title 5 of the State Environmental Code, 310 CMR 15.000, as revised and in effect as of 1978.
Acre - a unit of land measure equal to 40,000 square feet which is considered a building acre in accordance with standard real estate practices.
Agency - an agency, department, board, commission or authority of the Commonwealth or of the federal government and any authority of any political subdivision, which is specifically created as an authority under special or general law. The term shall not include housing authorities permitted pursuant to M.G.L. c. 40A.
Alternative Systems - Systems designed to provide or enhance on site sewage disposal which either do not contain all of the components of an on site disposal system constructed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.100 through 15.255 or which contain components in addition to those specified in 310 CMR 15.100 through 15.255 and which are proposed to the Local Approving Authority and/or the Department, or an agent authorized by the Department, for remedial, pilot, provisional, or general use approval pursuant to 310 CMR 15.280 through 15.289.
Approved Capacity - The capacity of a 1978 Code system reflected by the sewage flow as shown on the Disposal Works Construction Permit Application or as shown on the Certificate of Compliance, whichever is less for that system and not the calculated capacity based on 1978 Code loading rates which may account for over design or safety factors. For a system designed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.000, the approved calculated capacity is based on the loading rates found at 310 CMR 15.242.
Approving Authority - A Local Approving Authority as defined in 310 CMR 15.002; or the Department, with regard to systems owned or operated by an agency of the Commonwealth or of the federal government, systems serving a facility with a design flow of 10,000 gallons per day or greater, systems subject to a variance granted under 310 CMR 15.416, or on a case by case basis as determined by the Department to be necessary to carry out the purposes of 310 CMR 15.000; or the Department with regard to alternative systems proposed in compliance with 310 CMR 15.280 through 15.289.
ASTM - The American Society of Testing and Materials.
Authorized Agent - A person or entity authorized in writing by the Department to act on its behalf in the implementation and oversight of responsibilities, as identified in 310 CMR 15.000.
Bank (Coastal) - Any land or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.30(2). Generally, the seaward face or side of any elevated landform, other than a coastal dune, which lies at the landward edge of a coastal beach, land subject to tidal action, or other wetland.
Bank (Inland) - Any land or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.54(2). Generally, a portion of the land surface which normally abuts and confines a water body.
Barrier Beach - Any land or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.29(2). Generally, a narrow low-lying strip of land generally consisting of coastal beaches and coastal dunes extending roughly parallel to the trend of the coast, separated from the mainland by a narrow body of fresh, brackish, or saline water or a marsh system.
Bedrock - Solid rock exposed at the surface or overlain by unconsolidated gravel, sand, silt and/or clay. Bedrock includes weathered or saprolitic components thereof. Bedrock types are defined and most of their areal extent are described in the "Bedrock Geologic Map of Massachusetts" published by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (1983).
Bedroom - A room providing privacy, intended primarily for sleeping and consisting of all of the following:
Living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, halls, bathrooms, unfinished cellars and unheated storage areas over garages are not considered bedrooms. Single family dwellings shall be presumed to have at least three bedrooms. Where the total number of rooms for single family dwellings exceeds eight, not including bathrooms, hallways, unfinished cellars and unheated storage areas, the number of bedrooms presumed shall be calculated by dividing the total number of rooms by two then rounding down to the next lowest whole number. The applicant may design a system using design flows for a smaller number of bedrooms than are presumed in this definition by granting to the Approving Authority a deed restriction limiting the number of bedrooms to the smaller number.
Best Available Nitrogen Reducing Technology -
Biological Mat - A layer composed of microorganisms and organic material located below a soil absorption system which forms on the infiltrative surface of soil and which provides biological treatment of septic tank effluent.
Blackwater - Wastewater from toilets, urinals, and any drains equipped with garbage grinders.
Bordering Vegetated Wetland - Any land or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.55(2).
Building - A structure enclosed within exterior walls or firewalls, built, erected, or framed of any materials, whether portable or fixed, having a roof, to form a structure for the shelter of persons, animals or property.
Building Sewer - A pipe which begins outside the inner face of a building wall and extends to an on-site system or municipal or private sewer.
Campground - A facility regulated pursuant to 105 CMR 430.00: Minimum Standards for Recreational Camps for Children (State Sanitary Code: Chapter IV) or 105 CMR 440.00: Minimum Standards for Developed Family Type Campgrounds (State Sanitary Code: Chapter VI) and any campground operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation in a State Park.
Cellar Wall - That portion of the outside surface of the foundation wall enclosing a full basement which is above the cellar floor and below the ground surface.
Certificate of Compliance or Certificate - A certificate issued by the Approving Authority to the owner or operator of a system in accordance with 310 CMR 15.021 indicating that an on-site system has been constructed or upgraded, and inspected, as necessary in compliance with 310 CMR 15.000.
Certified System - An alternative system which has been approved by the Department for specified uses or site conditions pursuant to 310 CMR 15.288. Systems which have been certified may be approved for use by approving authorities without further Departmental review but subject to any limitations on their use imposed by the Department pursuant to 310 CMR 15.000.
Certified Vernal Pool - A surface water body that has been certified by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife as a vernal pool in accordance with the "Vernal Pool Certification Guidelines" pursuant to the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program administered by the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game at the time a permit application is submitted to the Approving Authority.
Cesspool - A pit with open-jointed linings or holes in the bottom and/or sidewalls into which raw sewage is discharged, the liquid portion of the sewage being disposed of by seeping or leaching into the surrounding soils, and the solids or sludge being retained in the pit. Cesspools are nonconforming systems.
Cluster Development - A cluster development as allowed by local zoning ordinances or by-laws in accordance with M.G.L. c. 40 A § 9. Where no local cluster development zoning ordinances or by-laws have been enacted in accordance with M.G.L. c. 40 A, § 9, a cluster development means a residential development design that preserves a minimum of 50% open space which may include wetlands. For these latter developments, the percentage of open space that can be wetland shall not exceed the percentage of wetland for the entire site under existing conditions as shown on a plan, but in no case may the wetland portion of the required open space exceed 50% of the open space. The open space shall be subject to a deed restriction that provides for a common area and limits its use to passive recreation.
Coastal Beach - Shall mean any land or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.27(2): Definitions. Generally, unconsolidated sediment subject to wave, tidal and coastal storm action which forms the gently sloping shore of a body of salt water and includes tidal flats.
Commercial Sewage Waste - Non-toxic, non-hazardous wastewater from commercial facilities, including but not limited to institutional and commercial food operations, and animal holding facilities.
Cover Material - The soils placed on top of a soil absorption system to bring the area to finish grade.
Crown - The top of the internal cross section of a pipe or fitting.
Deep Observation Hole - An open pit dug to permit examination of the soils and to obtain data relative to the mean annual high groundwater elevation.
Department - The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Design Flow - The quantity of sanitary sewage, expressed in gallons per day (gpd), for which a system must be designed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.203.
Designer - A registered sanitarian or a professional engineer registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who has either designed the system and/or has witnessed all phases of the system installation for the purpose of making the certification required of the Designer under 310 CMR 15.021(3).
Disposal Area - The subsurface environment in which a soil absorption system or reserve area is located.
Disposal System - see On-site System.
Disposal System Construction Permit or Permit - Written approval issued by the Approving Authority in accordance with 310 CMR 15.020 authorizing the construction, upgrade or expansion of an on-site system.
Disposal System Installer - A person, licensed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.019, who constructs, repairs, or replaces an on-site subsurface sewage disposal system.
Disposal System Installer Permit - A permit issued in accordance with 310 CMR 15.019.
Distribution Box - A level, watertight structure which receives septic tank effluent and distributes it in substantially equal portions to distribution lines in a soil absorption system.
Distribution Line - A pipe which provides dispersion of septic tank effluent within a soil absorption system.
Dosing - the pumping of septic tank effluent at a prescribed rate to a distribution box for gravity distribution to a soil absorption system.
Dosing Chamber - A watertight structure placed between a septic tank and either a distribution box or soil absorption system which is equipped with a pump designed to discharge septic tank effluent at a predetermined rate to a soil absorption system.
Dry Well - A pit with open-jointed lining or holes through which storm-water drainage from roofs, basement floors, foundations or other areas seeps into the surrounding soil.
Dune - A coastal dune, as defined in M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and 310 CMR 10.28(2): Definition.
Dwelling - A building which is used, intended, or designed for human habitation, including but not limited, to houses, hotels, motels, apartments, mobile and modular homes and condominiums and cooperatives.
Effective Capacity - The volume of a tank below the design discharge point, liquid level line.
Effluent - Sanitary sewage discharged into the environment, whether or not treated.
Emergency Repair - The repair of a system which is necessary to prevent sewage backup into a building, surface breakout of sewage, or to alleviate an imminent danger to public health, safety or the environment in accordance with 310 CMR 15.353.
Environmental Justice (EJ) Population -
EPA - The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Equalization Basin - A watertight tank or basin of sufficient size that has the capacity to store at a minimum the proposed daily design flows for the facility.
Facility - Any real property (including any abutting real property) and any buildings thereon, which is served, is proposed to be served, or could in the future be served, by a system or systems, where:
Failed Subsurface Sewage Disposal System or Failed System - A system which fails to protect public health and safety or the environment as set forth at 310 CMR 15.303 or 15.304.
Family Mobile Home Park - A facility upon which two or more mobile homes are located on a continual or seasonal non-recreational basis, regardless of whether a charge is made therefor.
Fill - The clean, uncontaminated, nonindigenous soil placed beneath, above, and/or around a soil absorption system, as specified in 310 CMR 15.201 through 15.293.
Foundation Drain - A drain around a foundation, usually located at the footing, and consisting of perforated pipe surrounded by crushed stone and filter fabric.
Geotextile Fabric - A porous material suitable to prevent fines from migrating down through the soil absorption system while still letting air circulate.
Grease Trap - A watertight structure located on a building sewer before a septic tank in which grease and oils are separated from other solid and liquid constituents of sewage and accumulated in accordance with 310 CMR 15.230.
Greywater - Any putrescible wastewater discharged from domestic activities including but not limited to washing machines, sinks, showers, bath tubs, dishwashers, or other source except toilets, urinals and any drains equipped with garbage grinders.
Groundwater - Water found in cracks, fissures and pore spaces in the saturated zone below the ground surface, including but not limited to perched groundwater.
High Groundwater Elevation - As determined in accordance with 310 CMR 15.101, 15.102 and 15.103.
Housing for the Elderly - A facility restricted to use by adults over 55 years of age (in accordance with 42 USC 3601et seq. as referenced in M.G.L. c. 151B, § 4, paragraph 7.).
H-10 Loading - Standard H-10 truck loading as specified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
H-20 Loading - Standard H-20 truck loading as specified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Humus/Composting Toilet - A self-contained system consisting of a composter with a separate toilet fixture from which no liquid or solid waste materials are discharged to the surface or subsurface environment and from which a humus/compost-like end product is produced. Such systems may be used in accordance with the provisions of 310 CMR 15.289.
Impervious Material - Soils with a percolation rate greater than 60 minutes per inch. (See, also, the definition of unsuitable material.)
Individual - A single or specific person (See definition of Person).
Industrial Waste - Any water-carried or liquid waste resulting from any process or industry, manufacture, trade, business, or activity listed in 310 CMR 15.004.
Interim Wellhead Protection Area (IWPA) - An interim well-head protection area, as defined in Massachusetts drinking water regulations, 310 CMR 22.02. Generally, this is a 1/2-mile radius for sources whose approved pumping rate is 100,000 gallons per day or greater. For smaller sources, the radius in feet is determined by multiplying the approved pumping rate in gallons per minute by 32, and adding 400.
Invert - The lowest portion of the internal cross section of a pipe or fitting.
Irrigation Well - Any on-site source of groundwater not certified as a potable water supply by the local Board of Health or the Department in accordance with M.G.L. c.111, § 122A and 160 or 310 CMR 22.00.
Local Approving Authority - The board of health or its authorized agent or an agent of a health district constituted pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111, § 27 acting on behalf of the applicable board of health.
Local Upgrade Approval - An approval granted by the Approving Authority allowing the owner or operator of an existing system, including a nonconforming system, to perform an upgrade of that system to the maximum feasible extent, all in accordance with the provisions of 310 CMR 15.401 through 15.405.
Long-term Acceptance Rate (LTAR) - The stable rate of effluent acceptance through the biological mat of a soil absorption system measured in gallons per day per square foot (gpd/sf) or centimeters per day (cm/d).
Maintenance - All activities required to assure the effective and continuous operation and performance of an on-site system including, but not limited to, solids and scum removal from the septic tank, grease trap, dosing chamber or pump chamber and, re-leveling the distribution box, but not including a system upgrade.
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.
Mobile Home - A single transportable structure on a chassis designed to be used, with or without a permanent foundation, as a dwelling. The support system of a mobile home is constructed so that the mobile home may be moved from time to time.
Modular Home - A prefabricated building designed and constructed to be used as a dwelling and to be transported in two or more sections to a site where the sections are permanently connected and installed on a permanent foundation.
Mottling Due to Wetness (Redoximorphic Features) - A color pattern in soil consisting of blotches or spots of contrasting high or low chroma colors which may be an indication of the upper extent of soil saturation by groundwater.
Multiple Compartment Tank - A septic tank containing more than one settling compartment in series.
Munsell System - The system of classifying soil color consisting of an alpha-numeric designation for hue, value and chroma together with a descriptive color name accepted by the USDA/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) used as a standard procedure in soil classification.
Naturally Occurring Pervious Material - Naturally occurring soil exhibiting a percolation rate of 60 minutes or less per inch which was deposited on a site by natural causes and not by human action.
New Construction - The construction of a new building for which an occupancy permit is required or an increase in the actual or design flow to any system or an increase in the actual or design flow to any nonconforming system or an increase in the design flow to any system above the existing approved capacity. New construction shall not include replacement or repair of a building in existence as of March 31, 1995 that has been totally or partially destroyed or demolished, provided there is no increase in design flow, no increase in design flow above the existing approved capacity to any system, no increase in the number of dwellings or dwelling units or no increase in the number of bedrooms in any dwelling or dwelling unit.
Nitrogen Sensitive Area - An area of land and/or natural resource area so designated by the Department in accordance with 310 CMR 15.214.
Nonconforming System - Any system which is not in full compliance with the standards and requirements of 310 CMR 15.000 and for which a variance or local upgrade approval has not been obtained. Nonconforming systems include, but are not limited to, cesspools, privies, failed systems, and systems with a design flow above 10,000 gpd.
Notice of Intent and Application Period - The two-year period that begins on the effective date of a Nitrogen Sensitive Area designation pursuant to 310 CMR 15.214(1)(b).
Observed Ground-Water Elevation - That elevation below the ground surface at which water is observed weeping, flowing from the walls of, or standing in a deep observation hole.
On-site System or Disposal System or On-site Subsurface Sewage Disposal System or System - A system or series of systems for the treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage below the ground surface on a facility.
Open Drain - Any uncovered ditch or culvert used for the conveyance of surface water runoff or groundwater. A culvert that carries a water course or intermittent stream is not a surface drain.
Operate - To use or occupy a facility served by an on-site system or to own a facility where such use or occupation exists.
Operator - A person who alone or together with other persons has charge or control of any system.
Owner - A person who, alone or together with other persons, has legal title to any facility served by a system or control of the facility, including but not limited to any agent, executor, administrator, trustee, lessee, or guardian of the estate for the holder of legal title.
Percolation Test - A field test to assess the suitability of soils in a defined area for the subsurface disposal of sewage as described at 310 CMR 15.104 and 15.105.
Person - Any individual, partnership, corporation, firm, association, authority, trust or group, including, but not limited to, a city, town, county, the Commonwealth and its agencies, and the federal government.
Pervious Soil - Soil with a percolation rate of 60 minutes per inch or less found in the B and C horizons.
Pressure Distribution - The application under pressure of septic tank or treatment unit effluent to the entire soil absorption system at a prescribed rate.
Privy - A structure used for the disposal of human wastes without water transport consisting of a shelter built over an unlined pit or vault in the ground into which waste is deposited. A privy is a nonconforming system.
Pump Chamber - A watertight structure equipped with a pump designed to discharge effluent at a predetermined rate. (See definition of Dosing Chamber)
Recirculating Sand Filter (RSF) - A biological and physical treatment unit consisting of a bed of sand to which septic tank effluent is distributed and then collected in a recirculating tank prior to recirculating a portion through the sand bed filter and discharging a portion of the filtrate to the soil absorption system.
Regulatory Floodway - The channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than a designated height (typically one foot), the boundary of which is the area designated as floodway on the most recently available flood profile data prepared for the community within which the site is located under the National Flood Emergency Program (NFIP, currently administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, successor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Within this area flooding characterized by a significant velocity of flow is likely to occur.
Reserve Area - An area of land with demonstrated capacity for subsurface sewage disposal upon which no permanent structure shall be constructed and which is intended for replacement of the primary disposal area should it fail.
Retirement Mobile Home Park - A facility upon which two or more mobile homes, restricted to use by adults over 55 years of age (in accordance with 42 USC 3601et seq.), are located on a continual or seasonal non-recreational basis, regardless of whether a charge is made therefore.
Salt Marsh - A coastal wetland as defined in the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40, and the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto at 310 CMR 10.32(2).
Sanitary Sewage or Sewage - Either greywater or blackwater or a combination of greywater and blackwater from domestic, commercial and other non-industrial sources. Sanitary sewage does not include stabilized waste.
Sanitary Sewer - Any system of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains and all other structures and devices used for collecting and conveying wastewater to a public or private treatment works.
Saturated Zone - Any portion of the earth below the land surface where available openings (pore, fissure, joint or solution cavity) are filled with water.
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:
A TMDL is not required to complete the Scientific Evaluation.
Scum - A mass of light solids, such as hair, grease, oils and soaps, floating on the surface of the wastewater in a septic tank.
Separation Distance - The clear distance between system components.
Septage - Material physically removed from any part of an on-site system, including, but not limited to, the solids, semi-solids, scum, sludge and liquid contents of a septic tank, privy, chemical toilet, cesspool, holding tank, or other sewage waste receptacle. It does not include any material which is hazardous waste.
Septage Hauler - A person licensed by an Approving Authority to remove septage from on-site sewage disposal systems and transport it to an approved disposal location in accordance with 310 CMR 15.500.
Septage Hauler Permit - A permit issued pursuant to the authority of M.G.L. c. 111, § 31 and 310 CMR 15.500 entitling a person to transport septage within the Commonwealth.
Septic System Additive - Any solid or liquid material or biological agent intended or used primarily for cleaning, treating, degreasing, unclogging, disinfecting, deodorizing or otherwise affecting the performance of any component of an on-site system.
Septic Tank - A watertight receptacle to receive sewage from a building sewer which is designed and constructed to allow for the separation of scum and sludge and the partial digestion of organic matter before discharge of the liquid portion to a soil absorption system or other intermediate structure in the treatment sequence.
Septic Tank Effluent - The liquid portion of settled sewage which is discharged from the outlet of a septic tank.
Shared System - A system sited and designed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.100 through 15.293 which serves, or is proposed to serve, more than one facility and which has been approved in accordance with 310 CMR 15.290 through 15.293. A system serving a condominium located on the same facility is not a shared system.
Soil Absorption System - A system of trenches, galleries, chambers, pits, field(s) or bed(s) together with effluent distribution lines and aggregate which receives effluent from a septic tank or treatment system.
Soil Evaluator - A person approved by the Department pursuant to 310 CMR 15.017 as capable of evaluating the suitability of a specific site for the use of an on-site subsurface sewage disposal system in compliance with 310 CMR 15.000.
Soil Texture - The relative proportions of sand, silt and clay in a given soil medium as defined by the USDA/NRCS.
Stabilized Waste - Any waste chemically fixated for the control of odors or whereby biological decomposition is affected.
Structural Component - A tangible, removable item that is part of the on-site system. A soil absorption system is not a structural component.
Subsurface Drain - Any underground conduit used for the conveyance of surface or groundwater, including, but not limited to, stormwater culverts, curtain drains and French drains.
Supermarket - A retail market selling foods and household goods that also consists of a bakery, deli, or on-site meal preparation.
Surface Water - All waters other than groundwaters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, including without limitation, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, reservoirs, impoundments, estuaries, wetlands, coastal waters and certified vernal pools.
Surface Water Supply - Any lake, pond, reservoir, or impoundment designated as a public water supply in 314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards.
System - see on-site system.
System Inspector - A person approved by the Department pursuant to 310 CMR 15.340 as capable of appropriately assessing the condition of systems in accordance with 310 CMR 15.000.
Temporary - A single time period or an accumulation of time periods not exceeding 180 total days in any 365-day period.
Tight Tank - A water tight vessel having an inlet to receive raw sewage but no outlet and which is designed and used to collect and store sewage until it is removed for disposal.
Title 5 of the State Environmental Code, 310 CMR 15.000 - The Department's regulation for the siting, construction, inspection, upgrade and expansion of on-site sewage treatment and disposal systems and for the transport and disposal of septage.
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.
Training Contact Hours (TCH) - The hours of training a person has had prior to the renewal of either a soil evaluator or system inspector approval. Each seminar, workshop, training course, or college course will have a specific training hour value as rated by the Department or an agent authorized by the Department.
Treatment Works - Any and all devices, processes, and properties, real or personal, used in the collection, pumping, transmission, storage, treatment, disposal, recycling, reclamation or reuse of waterborne pollutants, including septage receiving facilities but not including any works receiving a hazardous waste from off the site of the works for the purpose of treatment, storage or disposal. Treatment works must be permitted by the Department pursuant to the authority of M.G.L. c. 21, §§ 27 through 52 and regulations thereunder.
Tributary to Surface Water Supply - Any body of running water, including a river, stream, brook or creek, which moves in a definite channel in the ground due to a hydraulic gradient, and which is designated as a tributary to a public water supply in 314 CMR 4.00: Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards, provided that such water supply is a surface water supply as defined in 310 CMR 15.000. The exact location and extent of tributaries to surface water supplies shall be determined by reference to the most current U.S.G.S. and/or GIS maps and in consultation with the Department's Division of Watershed Management and the Drinking Water Program.
Underground Injection Control Program or UIC Program - The Underground Injection Control Program under Part C of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 300fet seq., which is implemented and enforced by the Department in Massachusetts pursuant to its UIC regulations at 310 CMR 27.00: Underground Injection Control Regulations.
Unsuitable Material - All impervious material, all organic sediments, and all material found in the following horizons: O (organic), A (topsoil), and E (mineral). All bedrock, including saprolite or weathered bedrock, schist, and ledge. (see, also, the definition of impervious material).
Upgrade - The modification of one or more components of an on-site system or the design and construction of a new on-site system which is intended to bring an existing system, including a nonconforming system, into conformance with 310 CMR 15.000. An emergency repair is not an upgrade.
USDA/NRCS - The United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
USGS - The United States Geological Survey, within the United States Department of the Interior.
Velocity Zone or V-zone, also known as the Coastal High Hazard Area - An area within the Special Flood Hazard Area that is subject to high velocity wave action or seismic sources. The Velocity Zone Boundaries are determined by reference to the currently effective or preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) map whichever is more recent, prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or at a minimum to the inland limit of the primary frontal dune, whichever is further landward.
Vernal Pool - see Certified Vernal Pool.
Waters of the Commonwealth or Waters or Water Bodies - All waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, including, without limitation, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, impoundments, wetlands, estuaries, coastal waters, groundwaters, and vernal pools.
Watershed - Any region or area measured in a horizontal topographic divide which directs water runoff from precipitation, normally by gravity, into a stream, a body of impounded surface water, or a coastal embayment, or any region or area measured by a groundwater divide which directs groundwater into a stream, a body of impounded surface water, or a coastal embayment.
Watershed Permit - A permit issued by the Department pursuant to 314 CMR 21.00: Massachusetts Watershed Permit Regulations, 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.
Water Supply Well - Any public or private source of groundwater used for human consumption, including but not limited to, a source approved for such use by the local Board of Health or the Department in accordance with M.G.L. c. 111, § 122A or 310 CMR 22.00: Drinking Water.
Wetland - Any land area or surface area so defined by the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, M.G.L. c. 131, § 40 and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto at 310 CMR 10.00: Wetlands Protection or pursuant to § 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. 1341.
Working Level - The level between the pump "off" elevation and the high level alarm elevation.
Zone I - The protective radius required around a public water supply well or wellfield, as defined in Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations, 310 CMR 22.02: Definitions. For public water supply system wells with approved yields of 100,000 gpd or greater, the protective radius is 400 feet. Tubular well fields require a 250-foot protective radius. Protective radii for all other public water system wells are determined by the following equation: Zone I radius in feet = [150 x log of pumping rate in gpd] - 350.
Zone II - That area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well under the most severe pumping and recharge conditions that can realistically be anticipated, as defined in Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations, 310 CMR 22.02: Definitions.
Zone A - As defined in Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations, 310 CMR 22.02: Definitions:
310 CMR, § 15.002