The definitions contained herein apply to the interpretation and implementation of this chapter and any rules and regulations promulgated by the Director pursuant to §
219-3B of this chapter. Terms not defined in this section shall be construed according to their customary and usual meaning, unless the context indicates a special or technical meaning.
ALTERATION OF DRAINAGE CHARACTERISTICS
Any activity on an area of land that changes the water quality,
force, direction, timing or location of runoff flowing from the area.
Such changes include: change from distributed runoff to confined,
discrete discharge; change in the volume of runoff from the area;
change in the peak rate of runoff from the area; and change in the
recharge to groundwater in the area.
APPLICANT
Any person, individual, partnership, association, firm, company,
corporation, trust, authority, agency, department, or political subdivision
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the federal government to
the extent permitted by law requesting a stormwater management permit
for proposed land disturbance activities.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Structural, nonstructural, and managerial techniques that
are recognized to be the most effective and practical means to prevent
or minimize increases in stormwater volumes and flows, reduce point
source and nonpoint source pollution, and promote stormwater quality
and protection of the environment.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
A document issued by the Director after all construction
activities have been completed which states that all conditions of
an issued stormwater management permit - other than those for operation
and maintenance - have been met and that a project has been completed
in compliance with the conditions set forth in the stormwater management
permit.
CITY
The City of Haverhill.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 1251
et seq.) as hereafter amended.
COMMON PLAN
A contiguous area where multiple separate and distinct land-disturbing
activities may be taking place at different times, on different schedules,
but under one proposed plan. "One plan" is broadly defined as any
announcement or piece of documentation (including a sign, public notice
or hearing, sales pitch, advertisement, drawing, permit application,
zoning request, computer design, etc.) or physical demarcation (including
boundary signs, lot stakes, surveyor markings, etc.) indicating construction
activities may occur on a specific plot.
DIRECTOR
The Director or Deputy Director of the Department of Public
Works of the City of Haverhill or a deputy or representative authorized
by the Director or Deputy Director.
DISCHARGE OF POLLUTANTS
The addition from any source of any pollutant or combination
of pollutants into the MS4 or into the waters of the United States
or Commonwealth of Massachusetts from any source.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE
Direct or indirect discharge to the MS4 that is not composed
entirely of stormwater. The term also does not include a discharge
in compliance with an NPDES stormwater discharge permit or a surface
water discharge permit.
LAND DISTURBANCE ACTIVITY
Any activity that causes a change in the position or location
of soil, sand, rock, gravel, or similar earth material or the alteration
of drainage characteristics of a parcel of land, including, but not
limited to, clearing and grubbing, excavating, paving, or changing
grades two feet or greater.
LOW-IMPACT DEVELOPMENT (LID)
A set of innovative stormwater management system strategies
and techniques that are modeled after natural hydrologic features
and seek to maintain natural hydrologic systems both during and after
the development process. LID techniques manage stormwater at the source
using uniformly distributed decentralized micro-scale controls. LID
techniques use small cost-effective landscape features located at
the lot level.
MASSACHUSETTS STORM WATER MANAGEMENT STANDARDS
The latest version, as may be amended from time to time,
of the Storm Water Management Standards and accompanying Storm Water
Handbook issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
(MassDEP) pursuant to authority under the Wetlands Protection Act,
MGL c. 131, § 40, and the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act,
MGL c. 21, §§ 26 through 53.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)
The system of conveyances designed or used for collecting
or conveying stormwater, including any road with a drainage system,
street, gutter, curb, inlet, piped storm drain, pumping facility,
retention or detention basin, natural or man-made or altered drainage
channel, reservoir, and other drainage structure that together comprise
the storm drainage system owned or operated by the City.
NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION
Pollution from diffuse sources caused by rainfall or snowmelt
moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks
up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing
them into water resource areas.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE PLAN
A plan setting up the functional, financial, and organizational
mechanisms for the ongoing operation and maintenance of a stormwater
management system post-development to ensure that it continues to
function as designed.
OWNER
A person with a legal or equitable interest in property.
PERMITTEE
The person who holds a stormwater management permit and therefore
bears the responsibilities and enjoys the privileges conferred thereby.
PERSON
Any individual, group of individuals, association, partnership,
corporation, company, business organization, trust, estate, department
or political subdivision of the Commonwealth or the federal government,
to the extent permitted by law, and any office, employee, or agent
of such person.
POINT SOURCE
Any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including,
but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, or container from which pollutants are or may be
discharged.
POLLUTANT
Any element or property of sewage, agricultural, industrial
or commercial waste, runoff, leachate, heated effluent, or other matter,
whether originating at a point or nonpoint source, that is or may
be introduced into any sewage treatment works or waters of the United
States or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Pollutants include, without
limitation:
A.
Paints, varnishes, and solvents;
B.
Oil and other automotive fluids;
C.
Nonhazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes;
D.
Refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned
objects, ordnances, accumulations and floatables;
E.
Pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers;
F.
Hazardous materials and wastes;
G.
Sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens;
H.
Dissolved and particulate metals;
K.
Construction wastes and residues; and
L.
Noxious or offensive matter of any kind.
RECHARGE
The process by which groundwater is replenished by precipitation
through the percolation of runoff and surface water through the soil.
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES
Owner(s), persons with financial responsibility, and persons
with operational responsibility.
RUNOFF
Rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation water flowing over the
ground surface.
SITE
Any lot or parcel of land or area of property where land
disturbances are, were, or will be performed.
STORMWATER
Any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely
of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from
such precipitation.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT
The application of BMPs, including ESSD, which are designed
to reduce stormwater runoff pollutant loads, discharge volumes, and/or
peak flow discharge rates.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PERMIT (SMP)
A permit issued by the Director, after review of an application,
plans, calculations, and other supporting documents, which is designed
to protect the environment from the deleterious effects of uncontrolled
and untreated stormwater runoff.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
A document containing narrative, drawings and details, prepared
by a Massachusetts registered professional engineer, which includes
structural and nonstructural BMPs to manage and treat stormwater runoff
generated from regulated land disturbance activity. A stormwater management
plan also includes an operation and maintenance plan describing the
maintenance requirements for the selected BMPs.
WASTEWATER
Any sanitary waste, sludge, process wastewater, or septic
tank or cesspool overflow.
WATER QUALITY
Systematic application of standards to describe water pursuant
to the Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards (314 CMR 4.00).
WATERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
All waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, including, without limitation, rivers, streams, lakes,
ponds, springs, impoundments, estuaries, wetlands, coastal waters,
watercourses and groundwater.
WETLANDS
Coastal and freshwater wetlands, wet meadows, marshes, swamps,
bogs, areas where groundwater, flowing or standing surface water or
ice provide a significant part of the supporting substrate for a plant
community for at least five months of the year; emergent and submergent
communities in inland waters; that portion of any bank which touches
any inland waters as defined and determined pursuant to MGL c. 131,
§ 40, and 310 CMR 10.