Code of Colorado Regulations
1000 - Department of Public Health and Environment
1002 - Water Quality Control Commission (1002 Series)
5 CCR 1002-86 - REGULATION NO. 86 - GRAYWATER CONTROL REGULATION
Section 5 CCR 1002-86.8 - Definitions

(1) "Agronomic rate" means the rate of application of nutrients to plants that is necessary to satisfy the nutritional requirements of the plants.

(2) "Agricultural irrigation" means irrigation of crops produced for direct human consumption, crops where lactating dairy animals forage, and trees that produce nuts or fruit intended for human consumption. This definition includes household gardens and fruit trees.

(3) "Backflow Contamination Event" means backflow into a public water system or potable water system from an uncontrolled cross connection such that the water quality no longer meets the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations or presents an immediate health and/or safety risk to the public.

(4) "Backflow Prevention Assembly" means any mechanical assembly installed at a water service line or at a plumbing fixture to prevent a backflow contamination event, provided that the mechanical assembly is appropriate for the identified contaminant at the cross connection and is an in-line field-testable assembly.

(5) "Backflow Prevention Method" means any method and/or non-testable device installed at a water service line or at a plumbing fixture to prevent a backflow contamination event, provided that the method or non-testable device is appropriate for the identified contaminant at the cross connection.

(6) "Base Flood" means the flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. This 1-percent annual chance flood is also referred to as the 100-year flood.

(7) "Base Flood Elevation (BFE)" - The elevation shown on a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map for Zones AE, AH, A1-A30, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/A1-A30, AR/AH, AR/AO that indicates the water surface elevation resulting from a flood that has a one percent chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year.

(8) "Closed sewerage system" means either a permitted domestic wastewater treatment works, which includes a permitted and properly functioning OWTS with a design capacity more than 2,000 gallons per day (gpd), or a properly functioning and approved or permitted OWTS with a design capacity of 2,000 gpd or less.

(9) "Commission" means the Water Quality Control Commission created by section 25-8-201, C.R.S.

(10) "Component" means a subpart of a graywater treatment works which may include multiple devices.

(11) "Cross-Connection" means any connection that could allow any water, fluid, or gas such that the water quality could present an unacceptable health and/or safety risk to the public, to flow from any pipe, plumbing fixture, or a customer's water system into a public water system's distribution system or any other part of the public water system through backflow.

(12) "Design" means the process of selecting and documenting in writing the size, calculations, site specific data, location, equipment specification and configuration of treatment components that match site characteristics and facility use.

(13) "Design flow" means the estimated volume of graywater per unit of time for which a component or graywater treatment works is designed.

(14) "Dispersed subsurface irrigation" means a subsurface irrigation system including piping, pumps, and emitters installed throughout an irrigation area.

(15) "Division" means the Water Quality Control Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

(16) "ENERGY STAR (ENERGY STAR®)" means the Environmental Protection Agency's designation for energy efficient appliance as authorized by 42 U.S.C. Section 6294a. (Note: Determination of whether the appliance is designated, has an IWF and to determine the IWF, visit the Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR Certified Residential Clothes Washers website: https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-clothes-washers/)

(17) "Facility" means any building, structure, or installation, or any combination thereof that uses graywater subject to a local graywater control program, is located on one or more contiguous or adjacent properties, and is owned or operated by the same person or legal entity. Facility is synonymous with the term operation.

(18) "Floodplain (100-year)" means an area adjacent to a river or other watercourse which is subject to flooding as the result of the occurrence of a one hundred (100) year flood, and is so adverse to past, current or foreseeable construction or land use as to constitute a significant hazard to public or environmental health and safety or to property or is designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In the absence of FEMA/NFIP maps, a professional engineer shall certify the floodplain elevations.

(19) "Floodway" means the channel of a river or other watercourse and the adjacent land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the base flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation more than one foot or as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or National Flood Insurance Program. In the absence of FEMA/NFIP maps, a professional engineer shall certify the floodway elevation and location.

(20) "Graywater" means that portion of wastewater that, before being treated or combined with other wastewater, is collected from fixtures within residential, commercial, or industrial buildings or institutional facilities for the purpose of being put to beneficial uses. Sources of graywater are limited to discharges from bathroom and laundry room sinks, bathtubs, showers, and laundry machines. Graywater does not include the wastewater from toilets, urinals, kitchen sinks, dishwashers, or nonlaundry utility sinks.

(21) "Graywater treatment works" means an arrangement of devices and structures used to:

(22) "Indirect connection" means a waste pipe from a graywater treatment works that does not connect directly with the closed sewerage system, but that discharges into the closed sewerage system though an air break or air gap into a trap, fixture, receptor, or interceptor.

(23) "Integrated Water Factor (IWF)" means a measure of water efficiency in gallons of water consumed per cubic foot of capacity.

(24) "Laundry to Landscape" means a form of graywater treatment works designed to reuse water from a laundry machine for mulch basin subsurface irrigation.

(25) "Legally responsible party"

(26) "Limited local graywater control program" is a local graywater control program limited to existing graywater treatment works and which does not accept new graywater treatment works.

(27) "Local agency" means any local city, city or county, county agency including, but not limited to, a department, local public health agency, or district which is delegated the authority to administer all or a portion of the responsibilities of the local graywater control program.

(28) "Local graywater control program" is a local ordinance or resolution and, if applicable, rule, including implementation practices, authorized by a city, city and county or county which is in compliance with the minimum requirements of this regulation.

(29) "Local public health agency" means any county, district, or municipal public health agency and may include a county, district, or municipal board of health.

(30) "Modification" means the alteration or replacement of any component of a graywater treatment works that can affect the quality of the finished water, the rated capacity of a graywater treatment works, the graywater use, alters the treatment process of a graywater treatment works, or compliance with this regulation and the local graywater control program. This definition does not include normal operations and maintenance of a graywater treatment works.

(31) "Mulch" means organic material including but not limited to leaves, prunings, straw, pulled weeds, and wood chips.

(32) "Mulch basin" means a type of subsurface irrigation or treatment field filled with mulch or other approved permeable material of sufficient depth, length, and width to prevent ponding or runoff. A mulch basin may include a basin around a tree, a trough along a row of plants, or other shapes necessary for irrigation.

(33) "On-site wastewater treatment system" or "OWTS" means an absorption system of any size or flow or a system or facility for treating, neutralizing, stabilizing, or dispersing sewage generated in the vicinity, which system is not a part of or connected to a sewage treatment works.

(34) "Percolation test" means a subsurface soil test at the depth of a proposed irrigation area to determine the water absorption capability of the soil, the results of which are normally expressed as the rate at which one inch of water is absorbed. The rate is expressed in minutes per inch.

(35) "Potable water system" means a system for the provision of water to the public for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, where such system has less than fifteen service connections or regularly serves less than an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days per year.

(36) "Professional engineer" means an engineer licensed in accordance with section 12-25-1, C.R.S.

(37) "Public nuisance" means the unreasonable, unwarranted and/or unlawful use of property, which causes inconvenience or damage to others, including to an individual or to the general public.

(38) "Public water system" means a system for the provision of water to the public for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, if such system has at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days per year. A public water system is either a community water system or a non-community water system. Such term does not include any special irrigation district. Such term includes:

(39) "Single family" means a detached or attached structure, arranged and designed as a single family residential unit intended to be occupied by not more than one family and that has separate water and sewer service connections from other dwelling units.

(40) "Site evaluation" means an analysis of soil and site conditions for a graywater subsurface irrigation or mulch basin area to achieve requirements in Section 86.12(B) - Design criteria for subsurface irrigation systems, including mulch basins.

(41) "Soil horizon" means layers in the soil column differentiated by changes in texture, color, redoximorphic features, bedrock, structure, consistence, and any other characteristic that affects water movement.

(42) "Soil profile test pit" means a trench or other excavation used for access to evaluate the soil horizons for properties influencing effluent movement, bedrock, evidence of seasonal high ground water, and other information to be used in locating and designing a graywater subsurface irrigation or mulch basin area.

(43) "Soil structure" means the naturally occurring combination or arrangement of primary soil particles into secondary units or peds; secondary units are characterized on the basis of shape, size class, and grade (degree of distinctness).

(44) "Suitable soil" means unsaturated soil in which the movement of water, air, and growth of roots is sustained to support healthy plant life and conserve moisture. Soil criteria for graywater subsurface irrigation are further defined in section 86.12.

(45) "Subsurface irrigation" means a discharge of graywater into soil a minimum of two inches (2") and no deeper than twelve inches (12") below the finished grade.

(46) "State waters" means any and all surface and subsurface waters which are contained in or flow in or through this state, but does not include waters in sewage systems, waters in treatment works of disposal systems, waters in potable water distribution systems, and all water withdrawn for use until use and treatment have been completed.

(47) "WaterSense" means the Environmental Protection Agency's designation for water efficient fixtures or an analogous successor program.

Table 8-1 Abbreviations and Acronyms