Minnesota Administrative Rules
Agency 158 - Natural Resources Department
Chapter 6115 - PUBLIC WATER RESOURCES
WATER APPROPRIATION AND USE PERMITS
Part 6115.0630 - DEFINITIONS

Subpart 1. Scope; shall.

For the purpose of these rules, the terms or words defined in this part have the meanings given therein, except where the context clearly indicates otherwise. The word "shall" is mandatory, not permissive.

Subp. 2. Aquifer.

"Aquifer" means any water-bearing bed or stratum of earth or rock capable of yielding groundwater in sufficient quantities that can be extracted.

Subp. 3. Appropriation.

"Appropriation" shall have the meaning prescribed in Minnesota Statutes, section 105.37, subdivision 5, "appropriation includes but is not limited to taking, regardless of the use to which the water is put."

Subp. 4. Artesian aquifer or confined aquifer.

"Artesian aquifer" or "confined aquifer" means a water body or aquifer overlain by a layer of material of less permeability than the aquifer. The water is under sufficient pressure so that when it is penetrated by a well, the water will rise above the top of the aquifer. A flowing artesian condition exists when the water flow is at or above the land surface.

Subp. 5. Basin.

"Basin" means a depression capable of containing water which may be filled or partly filled with waters of the state. It may be a natural, altered, or artificial depression.

Subp. 6. Commissioner.

"Commissioner" refers to the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources or the commissioner's authorized representative.

Subp. 7. Consumptive use or consumption.

"Consumptive use" or "consumption" refers to water withdrawn and not directly returned to the same waters as the source for immediate further use in the area.

Subp. 8. Division.

"Division" means the Division of Waters, Department of Natural Resources.

Subp. 9. Domestic use.

"Domestic use" means use for general household purposes for human needs such as cooking, cleaning, drinking, washing, and waste disposal, and uses for on-farm livestock watering excluding commercial livestock operations which use more than 10,000 gallons per day and 1,000,000 gallons per year.

Subp. 10. Dug pit.

"Dug pit" means an artificial excavation such as sump, trench, pond, water hole, or other basin constructed for the purpose of intercepting and capturing surface and ground water, and often involving groundwater under water table or unconfined conditions.

Subp. 11. Groundwater.

"Groundwater" means subsurface water in the saturated zone. The saturated zone may contain water under atmospheric pressure (water table condition), or greater than atmospheric pressure (artesian condition).

Subp. 12. Protected flow.

"Protected flow" is defined as the amount of water required in the watercourse to accommodate instream needs such as water-based recreation, navigation, aesthetics, fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and needs by downstream higher priority users located in reasonable proximity to the site of appropriation.

Subp. 13. Protection elevation.

"Protection elevation" is defined as the water level of the basin necessary to maintain fish and wildlife habitat, existing uses of the surface of the basin by the public and riparian landowners, and other values which must be preserved in the public interest.

Subp. 14. Public water supply.

"Public water supply" refers to the various supplies of water used primarily for domestic supply purposes and obtained from a source or sources by a municipality, a water district, a person, or corporation where water is delivered through a common distribution system, as further defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 144.382, subdivision 4.

Subp. 15. Safe yield for water table condition.

"Safe yield for water table condition" means the amount of groundwater that can be withdrawn from an aquifer system without degrading the quality of water in the aquifer and without allowing the long term average withdrawal to exceed the available long term average recharge to the aquifer system based on representative climatic conditions.

Subp. 16. Safe yield for artesian condition.

"Safe yield for artesian condition" means the amount of groundwater that can be withdrawn from an aquifer system without degrading the quality of water in the aquifer and without the progressive decline in water pressures and levels to a degree which will result in a change from artesian condition to water table condition.

Subp. 17. Water table aquifer or unconfined aquifer.

"Water table aquifer" or "unconfined aquifer" means an aquifer where groundwater is under atmospheric pressure.

Subp. 18. Waters of the state.

"Waters of the state" means any waters, surface or underground, except those surface waters which are not confined but are spread and diffused over the land. "Waters of the state" includes all boundary and inland waters (Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 17).

Subp. 19. Watercourse.

"Watercourse" means any natural, altered, or artificial channel having definable beds and banks capable of conducting confined runoff from adjacent lands (Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivisions 3, 5, and 13).

Subp. 20. Well.

"Well" means any excavation that is drilled, cored, bored, washed, driven, dug, jetted, or otherwise constructed where the intended use is for the location, diversion, or acquisition of groundwater (Minnesota Statutes, section 103I.005, subdivision 21).