For the purposes of this Part 3, certain terms and words used
herein shall be interpreted as follows:
A.Â
Words used in the present tense include the future tense; the singular
number includes the plural, and the plural number includes the singular;
words of masculine gender include feminine gender; and words of feminine
gender include masculine gender.
B.Â
The word "includes" or "including" shall not limit the term to the
specific example but is intended to extend its meaning to all other
instances of like kind and character.
C.Â
The words "shall" and "must" are mandatory; the words "may" and "should"
are permissive.
As used in this Part 3, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The work of producing crops, including tillage, land clearing,
plowing, disking, harrowing, planting, and harvesting crops, or pasturing
and raising of livestock and installation of conservation measures.
Construction of new buildings or impervious area is not considered
an agricultural activity.
A landowner, developer or other person who has filed an application
to the City of Scranton for approval to engage in any regulated activity
at a project site in the City of Scranton.
Activities, facilities, designs, measures or procedures used
to manage stormwater impacts from regulated activities, to meet state
water quality requirements, to promote groundwater recharge and to
otherwise meet the purposes of this Part 3. Stormwater BMPs are commonly
grouped into one of two broad categories or measures: "structural"
or "nonstructural." In this Part 3, nonstructural BMPs or measures
refer to operational and/or behavior-related practices that attempt
to minimize the contact of pollutants with stormwater runoff, whereas
structural BMPs or measures are those that consist of a physical device
or practice that is installed to capture and treat stormwater runoff.
Structural BMPs include, but are not limited to, a wide variety of
practices and devices, from large-scale retention ponds and constructed
wetlands, to small-scale underground treatment systems, infiltration
facilities, filter strips, low-impact design, bioretention, wet ponds,
permeable paving, grassed swales, riparian or forested buffers, rain
gardens, sand filters, detention basins, and manufactured devices.
Structural stormwater BMPs are permanent appurtenances to the project
site.
An area of permanent native vegetation, including trees,
shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation, that exists or is established to
protect a stream system, lake, reservoir, or costal estuarine area.
Cubic feet per second.
A natural or artificial watercourse that conveys, continuously
or periodically, flowing water.
The City of Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, or
its designee.
A conservation district, as defined in Section 3(c) of the
Conservation District Law [3 P. S. § 851(c)], which has
the authority under a delegation agreement executed with the Department
to administer and enforce all or a portion of the erosion and sediment
control program in this commonwealth.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The magnitude and temporal distribution of precipitation
from a storm event, measured in probability of occurrence (e.g., a
five-year storm) and duration (e.g., 24 hours), used in the design
and evaluation of stormwater management systems. Also see "return
period."
The volume of runoff that is captured and released into the
waters of this commonwealth at a controlled rate.
An impoundment (above or below ground) designed to collect
and retard stormwater runoff by temporarily storing the runoff and
releasing it at a predetermined rate. Detention basins are designed
to drain completely shortly after any given rainfall event and are
dry until the next rainfall event.
See "project site."
The release of water from a project, site, aquifer, drainage
basin or other point of interest (verb); the rate and volume of flow
of water such as in a stream, generally expressed in cubic feet per
second (volume per unit of time) (noun).
An unstabilized land area where an earth disturbance is occurring
or has occurred.
An artificial waterway for irrigation or stormwater conveyance.
That land area contributing runoff to a single point and
that is enclosed by a ridgeline.
All facilities and natural features used for the movement
of stormwater through and from a drainage area, including, but not
limited to, any and all of the following: conduits, pipes and appurtenant
features, channels, ditches, flumes, culverts, streets, swales, gutters
as well as all watercourses, water bodies and wetlands.
A construction or other human activity which disturbs the
surface of the land, including, but not limited to, clearing and grubbing;
grading; excavations; embankments; road maintenance; building construction;
and the moving, depositing, stockpiling, or storing of soil, rock
or earth materials.
The Environmental Protection Agency.
The wearing away of land surface by water or wind which occurs
naturally from weather or runoff but is often intensified by human
activity.
The dominant land cover during the five-year period immediately
preceding a proposed regulated activity.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Any land area susceptible to inundation by water from any natural source or delineated by applicable FEMA maps and studies as being a special flood hazard area. Included are lands adjoining a river or stream that have been or may be expected to be inundated by a one-hundred-year flood. Also included are areas that comprise Group 13 soils, as listed in Appendix A of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Technical Manual for Sewage Enforcement Officers (as amended or replaced from time to time by PADEP).
The channel of the watercourse and those portions of the
adjoining floodplains that are reasonably required to carry and discharge
the one-hundred-year flood. Unless otherwise specified, the boundary
of the floodway is as indicated on maps and flood insurance studies
provided by FEMA. In an area where no FEMA maps or studies have defined
the boundary of the one-hundred-year floodway, it is assumed, absent
evidence to the contrary, that the floodway extends from the stream
to 50 feet from the top of the bank of the stream.
Planning and activities necessary for the management of forestland.
These include conducting a timber inventory, preparation of forest
management plans, silvicultural treatment, cutting budgets, logging
road design and construction, timber harvesting, site preparation
and reforestation.
Infiltration rates of soils vary widely and are affected
by subsurface permeability as well as surface intake rates. Soils
are classified into four HSGs (A, B, C, and D) according to their
minimum infiltration rate, which is obtained for bare soil after prolonged
wetting. The NRCS defines the four groups and provides a list of most
of the soils in the United States and their group classification.
The soils in the area of the development site may be identified from
a soil survey report that can be obtained from local NRCS offices
or conservation district offices. Soils become less pervious as the
HSG varies from A to D (NRCS3,4).
A surface that prevents the infiltration of water into the
ground. Impervious surfaces (or areas) shall include, but not be limited
to: roofs; additional indoor living spaces, patios, garages, storage
sheds and similar structures; and any new streets or sidewalks. Decks,
parking areas and driveway areas are not counted as impervious areas
if they do not prevent infiltration. "Net increase of impervious surface"
refers to the difference between the existing impervious coverage
and the total impervious surface proposed.
Movement of surface water into the soil, where it is absorbed
by plant roots, evaporated into the atmosphere, or percolates downward
to recharge groundwater.
The depth of accumulated rainfall per unit of time.
A type of topography or landscape characterized by surface
depressions, sinkholes, rock pinnacles/uneven bedrock surface, underground
drainage and caves. Karst is formed on carbonate rocks, such as limestone
or dolomite.
Inclusive of any or all of the following meanings:
The total amount (generally measured in pounds or kilograms
per acre per year) of material (sediment, nutrients, oxygen-demanding
material, or other chemicals or compounds) brought into a lake, stream
or water body by inflowing streams, runoff, direct discharge through
pipes, groundwater, the air (aerial or atmospheric deposition) and
other sources over a specific period of time (often annually).
The action taken to restore or preserve the as-built functional
design of any facility or system.
A natural ground cover with less than one viable tree of
a DBH (diameter at breast height, 4.5 feet) of six inches or greater
per 1,500 square feet within three years of application; a cover condition
for which SCS curve numbers have been assigned or to which equivalent
Rational Method runoff coefficients have been assigned.
Municipal separate storm sewer system.
Created in 1972 under the Clean Water Act to authorize discharges
to local receiving waters only pursuant to governmental permits, in
an effort to reduce point-source and non-point-source pollutants.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Passive, site design approaches or regulatory approaches
that positively impact water quality and reduce or minimize the generation
of stormwater runoff without requiring the construction of specific
or discrete stormwater management control structures.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (previously
SCS).
Any natural or man-made watercourse or conduit in which water
flows with a free surface.
Also known as "swales," "grass channels," and "biofilters."
These systems are used for the conveyance, retention, infiltration
and filtration of stormwater runoff.
The Pennsylvania Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual,
PA DEP Document Number: 363-0300-002, as amended and updated.
The Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The maximum rate of stormwater runoff from a specific storm
event.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Any area not defined as impervious.
The specific area of land where any regulated activities
in the City of Scranton are planned, conducted, or maintained.
Any person licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of State
or otherwise qualified by law to perform the work required by this
Part 3.
Any earth disturbances or any activities that involve the
alteration or development of land in a manner that may affect stormwater
runoff.
Activity involving earth disturbance subject to regulation
under 25 Pa. Code Chapter 92, Chapter 102, or the Clean Streams Law.[2]
The volume of runoff that is captured and not released directly
into the surface waters of this commonwealth during or after a storm
event.
The average interval, in years, within which a storm event
of a given magnitude can be expected to occur one time. For example,
the twenty-five-year return period rainfall would be expected to occur
on average once every 25 years. The probability of a twenty-five-year
storm occurring in any one year is 0.04 (i.e., a four-percent chance).
Any part of precipitation that flows over the land.
Soils or other materials transported by surface water as
a product of erosion.
The regulatory requirements to protect, maintain, reclaim,
and restore water quality under Pennsylvania Code Title 25 and the
Clean Streams Law.[3]
Drainage runoff from the surface of the land resulting from
precipitation or snow or ice melt.
Is abbreviated as "SWM BMPs" throughout this Part 3.
Any structure, natural or man-made, that, due to its condition,
design, or construction, conveys, stores, or otherwise affects stormwater
runoff. Typical stormwater management facilities include, but are
not limited to, detention and retention basins, open channels, storm
sewers, pipes, and infiltration structures.
The Lackawanna River Watershed Stormwater Management Plan
for managing stormwater runoff adopted by the County of Lackawanna
as required by the Act of October 4, 1978, P.L. 864 (Act 167), as
amended, and known as the "Storm Water Management Act."[4]
The plan prepared by the developer or his representative
indicating how stormwater runoff will be managed at the development
site in accordance with this Part 3. "Stormwater management site plan"
will be designated as "SWM site plan" throughout this Part 3.
For purposes of administration of this Part 3 (other regulatory
agencies such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers have a
different definition), a "stream" is defined as a perennial or intermittent
watercourse identified through site inspection and U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) maps. Perennial streams are those which are depicted
on a USGS map with a solid blue line. Intermittent streams are those
which are depicted on a USGS map with a dotted blue line.
As defined in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code,
Act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, No. 247.[5]
The United States Department of Agriculture.
A region or area drained by a river, watercourse or other
surface water of the commonwealth.
Rivers, streams, creeks, rivulets, impoundments, ditches,
watercourses, storm sewers, lakes, dammed water, wetlands, ponds,
springs and other bodies or channels of conveyance of surface and
underground water, or parts thereof, whether natural or artificial,
within or on the boundaries of this commonwealth.
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water
or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support,
and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions, including
swamps, marshes, bogs, fens, and similar areas.
