10.1-603.2 - Definitions.
§ 10.1-603.2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Board" means the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board.
"CWA" means the federal Clean Water Act (33 USC § 1251 et seq.), formerlyreferred to as the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or Federal WaterPollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Public Law 92-500, as amended byPublic Law 95-217, Public Law 95-576, Public Law 96-483, and Public Law97-117, or any subsequent revisions thereto.
"Department" means the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
"Director" means the Director of the Department of Conservation andRecreation.
"Flooding" means a volume of water that is too great to be confined withinthe banks or walls of the stream, water body, or conveyance system and thatoverflows onto adjacent lands, thereby causing or threatening damage.
"Land disturbance" or "land disturbing activity" means a man-made changeto the land surface that potentially changes its runoff characteristicsincluding any clearing, grading, or excavation associated with a constructionactivity regulated pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act.
"Linear development project" means a land development project that islinear in nature such as, but not limited to, (i) the construction ofelectric and telephone utility lines, and natural gas pipelines; (ii)construction of tracks, rights-of-way, bridges, communication facilities andother related structures of a railroad company; and (iii) highwayconstruction projects.
"Local stormwater management program" or "local program" means thevarious methods employed by a locality to manage the quality and quantity ofrunoff resulting from land disturbing activities and shall include such itemsas local ordinances, permit requirements, policies and guidelines, technicalmaterials, inspection, enforcement, and evaluation consistent with thisarticle.
"Municipal separate storm sewer" means a conveyance or system ofconveyances otherwise known as a municipal separate storm sewer system or"MS4," including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catchbasins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains:
1. Owned or operated by a federal, state, city, town, county, district,association, or other public body, created by or pursuant to state law,having jurisdiction or delegated authority for erosion and sediment controland stormwater management, or a designated and approved management agencyunder § 208 of the CWA that discharges to surface waters;
2. Designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
3. That is not a combined sewer; and
4. That is not part of a publicly owned treatment works.
"Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Management Program" means amanagement program covering the duration of a permit for a municipal separatestorm sewer system that includes a comprehensive planning process thatinvolves public participation and intergovernmental coordination, to reducethe discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable, usingmanagement practices, control techniques, and system, design and engineeringmethods, and such other provisions that are appropriate.
"Nonpoint source pollution" means pollution whose sources cannot bepinpointed but rather is washed from the land surface in a diffuse manner bystormwater runoff.
"Peak flow rate" means the maximum instantaneous flow from a given stormcondition at a particular location.
"Permit" means an approval issued by the permit issuing authority for theinitiation of a land-disturbing activity, or for stormwater discharges froman MS4.
"Permit issuing authority" means the Board, the Department, or a localitythat is delegated authority by the Board to issue, deny, revoke, terminate,or amend stormwater permits under the provisions of this article.
"Permittee" means the person or locality to which the permit is issued.
"Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, state,municipality, commission, or political subdivision of a state, governmentalbody, any interstate body, or any other legal entity.
"Runoff volume" means the volume of water that runs off the landdevelopment project from a prescribed storm event.
"Stormwater" means precipitation that is discharged across the land surfaceor through conveyances to one or more waterways and that may include stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
"Stormwater management program" means a program established by a localitythat is consistent with the requirements of this article and associatedregulations and guidance documents.
"Subdivision" means the same as defined in § 15.2-2201.
"Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP)" means the Virginia programfor issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring andenforcing permits, and imposing and enforcing requirements pursuant to thefederal Clean Water Act and this article.
"Water quality volume" means the volume equal to the first one-half inch ofrunoff multiplied by the impervious surface of the land development project.
"Watershed" means a defined land area drained by a river or stream orsystem of connecting rivers or streams such that all surface water within thearea flows through a single outlet.
(1989, cc. 467, 499; 1991, c. 84; 1994, cc. 605, 898; 2004, c. 372; 2006, cc.21, 171.)