Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia
Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Subject 391-3-7 - EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION CONTROL
Rule 391-3-7-.01 - Definitions

(a) "Best Management Practices" means a collection of structural measures and vegetative practices which, when properly designed, installed and maintained, will provide effective erosion and sedimentation control and are designed in accordance with the design specifications contained in the "Manual for Erosion and Sediment Control in Georgia." Best Management Practices also include, but are not limited to, design specifications from the most recent publications of the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual and Coastal Stormwater Supplement to the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual.

(b) "Buffer" and "Buffer Area" each mean the area of land immediately adjacent to the banks of state waters in its natural state of vegetation, which facilitates the protection of water quality and aquatic habitat.

(c) "Certification" means an action by the Division that states in writing that a local issuing authority has met the criteria established in these rules and regulations.

(d) "Certified Personnel" means any person who meets or exceeds the education and training requirements of Code Section 12-7-19.

(e) "Coastal Marshlands" shall have the same meaning as in Code Section 12-5-282.

(f) "Complaint Investigation Process" means a process followed by a local issuing authority or the Division when dealing with inquiries, complaints or concerns about land disturbing activities.

(g) "Decertification" means an action by the Division that states in writing that a local issuing authority has failed to meet the criteria established in these rules and regulations.

(h) "Department" means the Department of Natural Resources of the State of Georgia.

(i) "Director" means the Director of the Environmental Protection Division.

(j) "District" means the appropriate local Soil and Water Conservation District.

(k) "Division" means the Environmental Protection Division of the Department of Natural Resources.

(l) "Erosion" means the process by which land surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity.

(m) "Erosion, Sedimentation and Pollution Control Plan" or "Plan" means a plan for the control of soil erosion and sediment resulting from a land disturbing activity.

(n) "Infrastructure Project" means construction activities that are not part of a common development that include the construction, installation and maintenance of roadway and railway projects and conduits, pipes, pipelines, substations, cables, wires, trenches, vaults, manholes, and similar or related structures or devices for the conveyance of natural gas (or other types of gas), liquid petroleum products, electricity, telecommunications (telephone, data television, etc.), water or sewage.

(o) "Land Disturbing Activity" means any activity which may result in soil erosion and the movement of sediments into State waters or onto lands within the State, including but not limited to clearing, dredging, grading, excavating, transporting, and filling of land, but not including those practices to the extent described in O.C.G.A. 12-7-17.

(p) "Local Issuing Authority" means the governing authority of any county, municipality, water authority, or water and sewer authority that is certified pursuant to these rules and regulations and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. 12-7-8(a).

(q) "Maintenance" means actions necessary or appropriate for retaining or restoring a currently serviceable improvement to the specified operable condition to achieve its maximum useful life. Maintenance includes emergency reconstruction of recently damaged parts of a currently serviceable structure so long as it occurs within a reasonable period of time after damage occurs. Maintenance does not include any modification that changes the character, scope or size of the original design.

(r) "Major Buffer Impact" means any impact that does not meet the definition of "Minor Buffer Impact."

(s) "Minor Buffer Impact" means an impact that upon completion yields no additional above ground, man-made materials or structures within the buffer, maintains the original grade, and results in less than 5,000 square feet of buffer impacts per stream crossing and/or less than 5,000 square feet of buffer impacts per individual area of encroachment for each project.

(t) "Permit" means the authorization necessary to conduct a land disturbing activity under the provisions of these rules and regulations.

(u) "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, State agency, municipality or other political subdivision or the State, any interstate body or any other legal entity.

(v) "Project" means the entire area of the proposed development site, regardless of the size of the area to be disturbed.

(w) "Sediment" means solid material, both organic and inorganic, that is in suspension, is being transported, or has been moved from its site of origin by wind, water, ice, or gravity as a product of erosion.

(x) "Sedimentation" means the action or process of forming or depositing sediment.

(y) "Serviceable" means usable in its current state or with minor maintenance but not so degraded as to essentially require reconstruction.

(z) "Soil and Water Conservation District Approved Plan" means an erosion, sedimentation and pollution control plan approved in writing by the Soil and Water Conservation District in which the proposed land disturbing activity will take place.

(aa) "Stabilization" means the process of establishing an enduring soil cover of vegetation and/or mulch or other ground cover and/or installing temporary or permanent structures for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the erosion process and the resultant transport of sediment by wind, water, ice or gravity.

(bb) "State Waters" means any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and other bodies of surface or subsurface water, natural and artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the State which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single individual, partnership, or corporation, except as may be defined in O.C.G.A. 12-7-17(7).

(cc) "Stream Bank" means the confining cut of a stream channel and is usually identified as the point where the normal stream flow has wrested the vegetation. For nontrout waters, the normal stream flow is any stream flow that consists solely of base flow or consists of both base flow and direct runoff during any period of the year. Base flow results from groundwater that enters the stream channel through the soil. This includes spring flows into streams. Direct runoff is the water entering stream channels promptly after rainfalls or snow melts.

(dd) "Trout Streams" means all streams or portions of streams within the watershed as designated by the Division under the provisions of the Georgia Water Quality Control Act, O.C.G.A. 12-5-20 et seq. Streams designated as primary trout waters are defined as water supporting a self-sustaining population of rainbow, brown or brook trout. Streams designated as secondary trout waters are those in which there is no evidence of natural trout reproduction, but are capable of supporting trout throughout the year. First order trout waters are streams into which no other streams flow except springs.

(ee) "Water authority" or "water and sewer authority" means a "local government authority", as that term is defined in O.C.G.A. § 36-80-16, that has been properly formed in accordance with applicable Georgia law and that provides water services or water and sewer services to the public.

(ff) "Watercourse" means any natural or artificial waterway, stream, river, creek, channel, ditch, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, gully, ravine, or wash in which water flows either continuously or intermittently, having a definite channel, bed and bank, and includes any area adjacent thereto which is subject to inundation by reason of overflow or floodwater.

(gg) "Water Quality" means the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of the State's water resources.