15A NCAC 01C .0103      DEFINITIONS

The definition of any word or phrase used in rules of this Subchapter is the same as given in G.S. 113A-9. The following words and phrases have the following meaning.

(1)           "Channel Disturbance" means activities that permanently remove or degrade the natural functions of the stream such as culverting, relocation, channelization, or streambank stabilization methods including gabions, rip rap, or similar hard structures.

(2)           "Cumulative Impacts" means environmental impacts resulting from incremental effects of an activity when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future activities regardless of what entities undertake such other actions. Cumulative impacts are the reasonably foreseeable impacts from individually minor but collectively significant activities.

(3)           "Direct Impacts" mean environmental impacts which are caused by an activity and occurring at the same time and place.

(4)           "Disposal" means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any waste into or on any land or water so that the waste or any constituent part of the waste may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwaters, or beneath or on the surface of the land.

(5)           "Ecosystem" means all the interrelated organisms and their environment within a defined area.

(6)           "Forestry Management Plan" means a document that guides the practical and sustainable application of biological, physical, quantitative, managerial, economic, social, and policy principles to the regeneration, management, utilization, and conservation of forests to meet specified goals, and objectives while maintaining the productivity of the forest. Forest management includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness, wildlife, wood products and other forest resource values.

(7)           "Hazardous Waste" means a waste, or combination of wastes, in any state or form including gas, liquid, or solid, that because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause or contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.

(8)           "High Quality Waters (HQW)" has the same meaning as in 15A NCAC 02B .0224.

(9)           "Inlet" means a waterway between islands connecting a lagoon, estuary, sound, or similar water body with the ocean.

(10)         "Instream Flow" means the amount of water needed in a stream to adequately provide for downstream uses occurring within the stream channel, including some or all of the following: aquatic habitat, recreation, wetlands maintenance, navigation, hydropower, riparian vegetation, and water quality.

(11)         "Land-Disturbing Activity" has the same meaning as in G.S. 113A-52.

(12)         "Lead Division" means the division within DEQ that has been appointed by the Secretary, pursuant to 15A NCAC 01C .0105, to have primary responsibility for preparation of an environmental document when DEQ is the state project agency.

(13)         "Perennial Stream" means a channel that contains water year round during a year of normal rainfall with the aquatic bed located below the water table for most of the year. Groundwater is the primary source of water for a perennial stream, but it also carries stormwater runoff. A perennial stream exhibits the typical biological, hydrological, and physical characteristics commonly associated with the continuous conveyance of water.

(14)         "Prime agricultural and forest land" means lands that possess the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, fiber (including forest products), forage, oilseed, and other agricultural products (including livestock), without intolerable soil erosion. This does not apply to lands that are already in or committed to development projects such as water impoundment, transportation, and urban development.

(15)         "Reclaimed Water" has the same meaning as in 15A NCAC 02U .0103.

(16)         "Resource" means any natural product or value, not necessarily economic, but including trees, minerals, wildlife, clean air and water, fisheries, ecosystems, landscapes, and open space.

(17)         "River Basin" means the watershed of a major river system.

(18)         "Secondary Impacts" mean indirect impacts caused by and resulting from a specific activity that occur later in time or further removed in distance than direct impacts, but are reasonably foreseeable. Indirect impacts may include growth inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density or growth rate, and related effects on air, water, and other natural systems, including ecosystems.

(19)         "Secretary" means the Secretary of DEQ.

(20)         "State Project Agency" means the state department or council of state agency that has been designated pursuant to 01 NCAC 25 .0210(a) for ensuring compliance with NCEPA.

(21)         "Stream Enhancement" means the process of implementing stream rehabilitation practices in order to improve water quality or ecological function. These practices are typically conducted on the stream bank or in the flood prone area. Enhancement activities may also include the placement of in-stream habitat structures.

(22)         "Stream Restoration" means the process of converting an unstable, altered, or degraded stream corridor, including adjacent riparian zone and flood prone areas to its natural or referenced, stable conditions considering recent and future watershed conditions. This process also includes restoring the geomorphic dimension, pattern, and profile as well as biological and chemical integrity, including transport of water and sediment produced by the stream's watershed in order to achieve dynamic equilibrium.

(23)         "Total Design Withdrawal" means the pumping rate at which water can be removed from the contributing stream. It is the sum of any pre-existing withdrawal capacity plus any withdrawal increase.

(24)         "Wetlands" has the same meaning as in 15A NCAC 02B .0202.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 113A‑2; 113A‑6; 113A‑9; 143B‑10;

Eff. April 1, 2003;

Readopted Eff. June 1, 2022.