Definitions. Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the
following terms and phrases, as used in this article, shall have the
meanings hereinafter designated:
Affected Person
Any person who resides within the City Limits and Extraterritorial
Jurisdiction whose legal rights, duties, or privileges may be affected
by stormwater management practices from any proposed development for
which a permit is sought.
Agricultural Activities
Pasturing of livestock or use of the land for planting, growing,
cultivating, and harvesting crops for human or animal consumption.
Agricultural Stormwater Runoff
Any stormwater runoff from orchards, cultivated crops, pastures,
range land, and other nonpoint source agricultural activities, but
not discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations as defined
in 40 CFR section 122.23 or discharges from concentrated aquatic animal
production facilities as defined in 40 CFR section 122.24.
Background Pollutant Load
The amount of pollution in stormwater runoff that is discharged
from a site before development. The background pollutant load is calculated
by multiplying the drainage area of the site by the annual runoff
coefficient by the background stormwater pollution concentrations.
Best Management Practice (Bmp)
Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance
procedures, and other temporary sediment and erosion control measures
and permanent stormwater management practices which mitigate nonpoint
source pollution and post-construction rainfall runoff rates.
Bluff
A geologic surface feature with a vertical change in elevation
of more than forty feet (40’) at an average gradient greater
than four hundred percent (400%).
Commencement of Construction
Initial disturbance of soils associated with clearing, grading,
or excavating activities or other construction activities after conducting
a pre-construction conference with applicable City Staff.
Compost
Decayed organic material used as plant fertilizer.
Critical Environmental Features (CEFs)
Features determined to be of critical importance to the maintenance
of water quality, including, but not limited to, floodplains, riparian
corridors, steep slopes in excess of twenty-five percent (25%), groundwater
recharge areas, springs, wetlands, bluffs, caves, and highly erodible
natural features.
Discharge (Hydraulics)
The rate of fluid flow, expressed as the volume of fluid
passing a point per unit time, commonly expressed as cubic feet per
second.
Discharger
Any person who causes, allows, permits, or is otherwise responsible
for a discharge, including, without limitation, any operator of a
construction site or industrial facility.
Domestic Sewage
Human excrement, gray water from home clothes washing, bathing,
showers, dishwashing, and food preparation, other wastewater from
household drains, and waterborne waste normally discharged from the
sanitary conveniences of dwellings, including apartment houses and
hotels, office buildings, factories, and institutions, that is free
from industrial waste.
Drainage Area
The horizontal projection of the area contributing runoff
to a single control or design point.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, the regional
office thereof, any federal department, agency, or commission that
may succeed to the authority of the EPA, and any duly authorized official
of the EPA or such successor agency.
Erosion
The detachment and movement of soil, sediment, or rock fragments
by wind, water, ice, or gravity.
Facility
Any Building, Structure, installation, process, or activity
from which there is or may be discharge of a pollutant.
Fertilizer
A solid or nonsolid substance or compound that contains an
essential plant nutrient element in a form available to plants that
is used primarily for its essential plant nutrient element content
in promoting or stimulating growth of a plant or improving the quality
of a crop, or a mixture of one or more fertilizers. The term does
not include the excreta of an animal, plant remains, or a mixture
of those substances, for which no claim of essential plant nutrients
is made.
Fill
The man-made deposition and compaction of material to affect
a rise in elevation.
Final Stabilization
The status when all soil-disturbing activities at a site
have been completed, and a uniform perennial vegetative cover with
a minimum density of ninety-five percent (95%) of the cover for unpaved
areas and areas not covered by permanent structures has been established
or equivalent permanent stabilization measures, such as the use of
riprap, or geotextiles, have been employed.
Flood or Flooding
A general and temporary condition of partial or complete
inundation of normally dry land areas from:
1.
The overflow of inland or tidal waters.
2.
The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters
from any source.
Grade
The vertical location or elevation of a surface, or the degree
of rise or descent of a slope.
Harmful Quantity
The amount of any substance that will cause pollution of
water in the state.
Hazardous Household Waste
Any material generated in a household (including single and
multiple residences, hotels, motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations,
crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day use recreational
areas) by a consumer which, except for the exclusion provided in 40
CFR section 261.4(b)(1), would be classified as a hazardous waste
under 40 CFR part 261.
Hazardous Waste
Any substance identified or listed as a hazardous waste by
the EPA pursuant to 40 CFR part 261 and any other toxic material as
regulated by state and federal regulations.
Impervious Cover
Buildings, parking areas, roads, and other impermeable man-made
improvements covering the natural land surface that prevent infiltration.
See Section
7.3.2.D for an expanded
definition of Impervious Cover.
Industrial Waste
Any waterborne liquid or solid substance that results from
any process of industry, manufacturing, mining, production, trade,
or business.
Infiltration
The passage or movement of water into the subsurface of the
natural land.
Inline Detention Facility
A stormwater detention basin located within either a waters
of the United States, Waterway or Upland Waterways.
Natural Drainage
A stormwater runoff conveyance system not altered by man-made
changes of the land’s surface.
Natural State
The condition of the land existing prior to any development
activities.
Net Site Area
(100 percent of land with gradient of 15 percent or less)
+ (40 percent of land with a gradient from 15 percent to 25 percent)
+ (20 percent of land with gradient between 25 percent and 35 percent).
Applies to uplands zones only. Areas designated for wastewater irrigation,
impermeable liners, Water Quality Buffer Zones and Critical Environmental
Features are to be excluded from Net Site Area.
New Construction
Structures for which the "start of construction" commenced
on or after the date of adoption of this article by the City.
Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollution
Pollution that is caused by or attributable to diffuse sources.
Such pollution results in the human-made or human-induced alteration
of the chemical, physical, biological, or radiological integrity of
water. Typically, NPS pollution results from land runoff, precipitation,
atmospheric disposition, or percolation.
Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Plan
The drawings and documents submitted by an applicant seeking
plan or permit approval under this article. Such a plan consists of
a system of vegetative, structural, and other measures to control
the increased rate and volume of surface runoff and reduce pollutants
in the runoff caused by human changes to the land.
Notice of Intent (NOI)
The notice of intent that is required by either the site
development permit or building permit as it relates to the TCEQ NPDES.
Notice of Termination (NOT)
The notice of termination that is required by either the
site development permit or the building permit as it relates to the
TCEQ NPDES.
Npdes Permit
A permit issued by the EPA or by the state under authority
delegated pursuant to 33 USC section 1342(b) that authorizes the discharge
of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is
applicable on an individual, group, or general areawide basis.
Oil
Any kind of oil in any form, including, but not limited to,
petroleum, fuel oil, crude oil, or any fraction thereof which is liquid
at standard conditions of temperature and pressure, sludge, oil refuse,
and oil mixed with waste.
Operator
The person or persons who, either individually or taken together,
meet the following two criteria:
1.
Having operational control over the facility specifications,
including the ability to make modifications in specifications; and
2.
Having the day-to-day operational control over those activities
at the facility necessary to ensure compliance with pollution prevention
requirements and any permit conditions.
Pesticide
A substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent,
destroy, repel, or mitigate any pest, or any substance or mixture
of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or
desiccant, as these terms are defined in section 76.001 of the Texas
Agriculture Code.
Petroleum Product
A petroleum product that is obtained from distilling and
processing crude oil and that is capable of being used as a fuel for
the propulsion of a motor vehicle or aircraft, including motor gasoline,
gasohol, other alcohol-blended fuels, aviation gasoline, kerosene,
distillate fuel oil, and #1 and #2 diesel. The term does not include
naphtha-type jet fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel, or a petroleum product
destined for use in chemical manufacturing or feedstock of that manufacturing.
Petroleum Storage Tank (PST)
Any one or combination of aboveground or underground storage
tanks that contain petroleum products and any connecting underground
pipes.
Point Source
Any discernable, confined, and discrete conveyance, including
but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well,
discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding
operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel or other floating
craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does
not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural
stormwater runoff.
Pollutant
Dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage,
garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical waste, biological materials,
radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste
discharged into water.
Pollution
The alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological
quality of, or the contamination of, any water in the state that renders
the water harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life,
vegetation, or property, or to the public health, safety, or welfare,
or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for
any lawful or reasonable purpose.
Qualified Personnel
Persons who possess the appropriate competence, skills, and
ability, as demonstrated by sufficient education, training, experience,
and, when applicable, any required certification or licensing, to
perform a specific activity in a timely and complete manner consistent
with the applicable regulatory requirements and generally accepted
industry standards for such activity.
Rainwater Collection or Harvesting System
A system consisting of roof gutters and drains, cisterns/barrels,
and irrigation appurtenances designed to capture a certain amount
of stormwater runoff from a building roof and used as site irrigation
during dry weather conditions, wet pond make-up water, and graywater
applications.
Release
Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying,
discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing
into the stormwater drainage system or the waters of the United States.
Riparian Corridor
The ecological areas within and adjacent to the floodplain
that can be comprised of the following species: pecan (Carya illinoinensis),
American elm (Ulmus americana), Arizona walnut (Juglans major), bald
cypress (Taxodium distichum), black walnut (Juglans nigra), bur oak
(Quercus macrocarpa), cedar elm (Ulmus crassifolia), little walnut
(Juglans microcarpa), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Texas sugarberry
(Celtis laevigata), American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), eastern
cottonwood (Populus deltoides), black willow (Salix nigra), and live
oak (Quercus fusiformis).
Rubbish
Non-putrescible solid waste, excluding ashes, that consists
of:
1.
Combustible waste materials, including paper, rags, cartons,
wood, excelsior, furniture, rubber, plastics, yard trimmings, leaves,
and similar materials; and
2.
Noncombustible waste materials, including glass, crockery, tin
cans, aluminum cans, metal furniture, and similar materials that do
not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures (1600 to 1800 degrees
Fahrenheit).
Sediment
Solid soil material, both mineral and organic, that is being
moved or has been moved from its original site by wind, gravity, flowing
water or ice. Also sometimes referred to as "silt" or "sand."
Septic Tank Waste
Any domestic sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical
toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
Service Station*
Any retail establishment engaged in the business of selling
fuel for motor vehicles that is dispensed from stationary storage
tanks.
Sewage (or Sanitary Sewage)
The domestic sewage and industrial waste that is discharged
into a sanitary sewer system and passes through the sanitary sewer
system to a sewage treatment plant for treatment.
Sheet Flow
Water or stormwater runoff flowing in a thin, diffused layer
over the ground surfaces.
Solid Waste
Any garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment
plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility,
and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid,
or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, municipal,
commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community
and institutional activities.
Spring
A point or zone of natural groundwater discharge having measurable
flow, or a pool, and characterized by the presence of a mesic plant
community adapted to the moist conditions of the site.
Stormwater
Any moisture that falls naturally from the atmosphere in
a discrete storm event, including snow, sleet, rain, and hail.
Stormwater Drainage System
A conveyance or system of conveyances including roads with
drainage systems, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made
channels, or storm drains designed or used for collecting or conveying
stormwater.
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
A plan required by either the NPDES construction general
permit or the NPDES industrial general permit and which describes
and ensures the implementation of practices that are to be used to
reduce the pollutants in stormwater discharges associated with construction
or other industrial activity to [from] the facility.
Threshold Velocity
The velocity that will initiate transport of the median size
(D50) of the channel bed. An increase to threshold velocity resulting
[from] development [may] result in stream bank and bed erosion that
damages infrastructure and lowers water quality.
Upland Waterways
A defined waterway that is a tributary to Little Barton Creek,
Barton Creek, or the Colorado River.
Used Oil (or Used Motor Oil)
Any oil that has been refined from crude oil or a synthetic
oil that, as a result of use, storage, or handling, has become unsuitable
for its original purpose because of impurities or the loss of original
properties but that may be suitable for further use and is recyclable
in compliance with state and federal law.
Water in the State (or Water)
Any groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds,
impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries,
marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico inside the territorial
limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural
or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or non-navigable,
and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of
surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the
state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.
Water Quality Buffer Zone (WQBZ)
Natural riparian areas along waterways and critical environmental
features that reduce overland flow velocities and filter pollutants.
Water Quality Standard
The designation of a body or segment of surface water in
the state for desirable uses and the narrative and numerical criteria
deemed by the state to be necessary to protect those uses, as specified
in chapter 307 of title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code.
Water Quality Volume
The volume of runoff necessary to be captured and treated
to meet the performance standards.
Waters of the United States
All waters that are currently used, were used in the past,
or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including
all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide; all
interstate waters, including interstate wetlands; all other waters
the use, degradation, or destruction of which would affect or could
affect interstate or foreign commerce; all impoundments of waters
otherwise defined as waters of the United States under this definition;
all tributaries of waters identified in this definition; all wetlands
adjacent to waters identified in this definition; and any waters within
the federal definition of "waters of the United States" at 40 CFR
section 122.2; but not including any waste treatment systems, treatment
ponds, or lagoons designed to meet the requirements of the federal
Clean Water Act.
Watershed
The total area contributing runoff to a stream or drainage
system.
Waterway
A natural, defined watercourse as designated on the U.S.
Geologic Survey topographic maps.
Wetland
An area that is inundated or saturated by surface or ground
water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that
under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions and conforms
to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ definition. Wetlands generally
include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
Yard Waste
Leaves, grass clippings, yard and garden debris, and brush
that results from landscaping maintenance and land-clearing operations.