Sec.25-32d-1a. Definitions  


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  • (a) As used in sections 25-32d-1a to 25-32d-6, inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies:

    (1) "1 in 100 occurrence frequency" means the 1 in 100 year recurrence interval for the critical dry period or the one percent non-exceedance probability for the critical drawdown duration;

    (2) "Active source" means a department approved source of supply which meets state and federal water quality standards, with adequate department approved treatment facilities as needed, or for which compliance schedules are in place. An active source is one that is permanently connected to the system and may include, but need not be limited to, a seasonal or standby source of supply that may be used intermittently or on a partial year basis;

    (3) "Adequate water supply" means a quantity of water sufficient to meet demands even in a critical dry period;

    (4) "Available water" means the maximum amount of water a company can dependably supply, taking into account the following reductions applied to safe yield: any limitations imposed by hydraulics, treatment, well pump capabilities, reductions of well yield due to clogging that can be corrected with redevelopment, transmission mains, permit conditions, source construction limitations, approval limitations, or operational considerations; and the safe yield of active sources and water supplied according to contract, provided that the contract is not subject to cancellation or suspension and assures the availability of water throughout a period of drought and that the supply is reliable;

    (5) "Average daily demand" means the total annual production from all sources of supply divided by the number of days in that calendar year;

    (6) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Public Health or his designated representative;

    (7) "Complete plan" means a plan that satisfies the content requirements of sections 25-32d-2 to 25-32d-4, inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies and that is technically adequate for its intended purpose;

    (8) "Conservation" or "water conservation" means measures designed to promote efficient use of water and to eliminate waste of water;

    (9) "Consumptive losses" means any water uses which do not result in the water being discharged back into the water source at or near the withdrawal point in substantially the same quality and quantity as prior to use;

    (10) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.

    (11) "Critical drawdown duration" means the length of time for a reservoir to go from full to the bottom of usable storage for single-year cycle reservoirs, and from full to the bottom of usable storage without spilling in the intervening period for multi-year cycle reservoirs;

    (12) "Critical dry period" means the historic drought event for which yield is the least. For surface water sources of supply the critical dry period has both a critical drawdown duration and a 1 in 100 occurrence frequency. For ground water sources of supply the critical dry period is the 180 day pumping event with no precipitation recharge and a seven day duration and a one in ten year recurrence frequency of the stream flow;

    (13) "Critical Lands to be protected" means any land located within a source water protection area;

    (14) "Critical system component" means any water system component or facility necessary to deliver, with at least twenty-five pounds per square inch of pressure, one hundred percent of the average daily demand of the system or any portion of the system that it serves;

    (15) "Demand management" means conservation measures which provide assistance for consumers to use water economically and efficiently and that may achieve permanent water savings;

    (16) "Department" means the Department of Public Health or its designated representative;

    (17) "Emergency source" means a source of supply identified by the water company within its water supply emergency contingency plan for possible use at various stages of an emergency. An emergency source is not an active source and is not considered part of available water. An emergency source may be prohibited from use as a source of supply due to contractual limitations, lack of water quality monitoring, known or suspected water quality limitations, the need for additional treatment prior to use, or the absence of any required state and local approval;

    (18) "Flashboards" means temporary or semi-permanent structures across the spillway of a reservoir. Flashboards increase water levels and storage volumes that are designed to be released during flood events;

    (19) "Inactive source" means a source of supply that is not used or maintained as an active or emergency source of supply, but has not been abandoned in accordance with Section 25-33k of the Connecticut General Statutes, is not routinely monitored, and is physically disconnected from the system;

    (20) "Initial plan" means the first plan for a water company ever requested by the commissioner pursuant to section 25-32d of the Connecticut General Statutes;

    (21) "Major users" means the ten water customers with the greatest annual volumes of water use for the most recent calendar year and all other users with individual meters or estimated use exceeding an annual average of 50,000 gallons of water per day based on the most recent calendar year;

    (22) "Margin of safety" means the unitless ratio of available water to demand;

    (23) "Mass balance methodology" means a technique based on the continuity equation, in which the sum of all water inflows minus the sum of all water outflows is equal to the change in storage. Inflows include streamflow, direct precipitation, diversions, routing from upstream reservoirs, ground water discharge, and supplementation from wells. Outflows include water supply withdrawals, streamflow releases, evaporation, diversions, consumptive losses, groundwater recharge, uncontrolled releases downstream orspills from the reservoir, and dam leakage;

    (24) "Maximum month demand" means the highest water demand in a month calculated by dividing the total production from all sources of supply for each calendar month by the number of days in that month and expressed in gallons per day;

    (25) "Minimum stream flow releases" means water released from a reservoir for the purpose of providing a specified flow rate downstream of a dam. The flow requirements may be fixed or variable;

    (26) "Modified plan" means any amendments, modifications or page revisions to an initial or revised plan as requested by the commissioner or submitted by a water company in order to satisfy the requirements for completeness or plan approval;

    (27) "Non-revenue water" means the difference between total annual metered water production and the sum of annual metered water consumption plus any other properly estimated revenue-producing unmetered water;

    (28) "Peak day demand" means the annual maximum daily rate of water use measured in gallons per day;

    (29) "Planning periods" means time periods for projecting future demands for planning to meet future water supply needs. Planning periods are five years from the time of plan preparation and twenty years (20) and fifty (50) years from the last decennial census;

    (30) "Public or privately-owned protected lands" means any combination of state forest, parklands and municipally or privately held land, excluding water company-owned lands, designated as protected open space in a delineated source water protection area;

    (31) "Regional planning organization" means regional planning agencies created pursuant to the provisions of sections 8-31a to 8-37b, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, regional councils of elected officials created pursuant to the provisions of sections 4-124c to 4-124h, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes, where such councils have undertaken to exercise the powers of regional planning agencies and regional councils of governments created pursuant to the provisions of sections 4-124i to 4-124p, inclusive, of the Connecticut General Statutes;

    (32) "Revised plan" means any subsequent plan requested by the commissioner or submitted by a water company pursuant to section 25-32d of the Connecticut General Statutes after the initial plan and excluding modified plans;

    (33) "Safe yield" means the maximum dependable quantity of water per unit of time which may flow or be pumped continuously from a source of supply during a critical dry period without consideration of available water limitations;

    (34) "Source of supply" means any well, spring, reservoir, stream, river or other location where water is siphoned, pumped, channeled, or withdrawn for water supply purposes, including interconnections with other water companies;

    (35) "Source water assessment program" (SWAP) means a program adopted by the State to evaluate the susceptibility of public water supply sources to potential sources of contamination, pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1996, 42 U.S.C. Section 300j-13;

    (36) "Source Water Assessment Program Work Plan" means the strategy plan prepared by the Department of Public Health to implement the provisions of the Source Water Assessment Program.

    (37) "Source Water Assessment Report" means the official document created by the Department of Public Health pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1996, 42 U.S.C. Section 300j-13;

    (38) "Source water protection area" means an area of land delineated by the state Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP), and identified in the Connecticut Source Water Assessment Program Work Plan, that contributes water to any public water supply source where significant potential contaminant sources (SPCS) are identified, evaluated, and inventoried in order to protect the purity of any public water supply source;

    (39) "Stabilization" means a condition measured during a pumping test when no more than a total of 0.25 feet of drawdown occurs over the last twelve hours prior to completion of the test or, where drawdown cannot be determined to that accuracy due to equipment inadequacy, no more than a total of 1.0 foot;

    (40) "State agency" means the Department of Public Health, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Public Utility Control, or the Office of Policy and Management, as applicable;

    (41) "Supply deficient" means a supply of available water insufficient to meet average daily demand, maximum month demand, or peak day demand;

    (42) "Supply management" means conservation measures which improve the efficiency of and eliminate waste in the production and distribution of water within a system;

    (43) "Usable storage" means the difference between total storage volume of a water supply reservoir and the remaining volume below the minimum operational level, intake pipe elevation, or water elevation above which water can be treated to meet water quality standards, whichever is least;

    (44) "User category" means metered residential, metered commercial, metered industrial, metered public authorities, unmetered residential, unmetered commercial, unmetered industrial, unmetered public authorities, and non-revenue water. Residential includes apartments and condominiums;

    (45) "Water company" or "company" means a water company as defined in Section 25-32a of the Connecticut General Statutes;

    (46) "Water supply emergency contingency plan" means response procedures and preparations for water supply emergencies due to contamination, power outages, drought, flood or failure of any or all critical system components by natural or manmade events;

    (47) "Water supply emergency" means any event that may adversely impact the quality or quantity of potable water supplies such that it may not be sufficient to serve customers in accordance with the provisions of the Public Health Code;

    (48) "Water supply system" means any combination of interconnected sources and facilities for the purposes of supplying potable water which are owned and operated by the same water company; and

    ((49))

(Adopted effective August 10, 2000; Amended August 3, 2006)