New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Chapter X - DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES
Subchapter A - GENERAL
Article 2 - CLASSIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS OF QUALITY AND PURITY
Part 700 - Definitions, Samples And Tests
Section 700.1 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 6 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs ยง 700.1

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024

(a) The terms, words, or phrases used in Parts 700-706 of this Title shall have the meanings described below.

(1) Acute toxic effect means an effect that usually occurs shortly after the administration of either a single dose or multiple doses of a chemical or other toxic pollutant.

(2) Administrator means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

(3) Approved treatment as applied to water supplies means treatment accepted as satisfactory by the authorities responsible for exercising supervision over the quality of water supplies.

(4) Aquatic life or aquatic biota means fish, shellfish and those species of wildlife and plants that spend at least part of their life in water.

(5) Best usages as specified for each class of water means those uses as determined by the commissioner in accordance with the considerations prescribed by the Environmental Conservation Law.

(6) Biologially-based dose-response model means a model that describes and quantifies the key events in the molecular, cellular, tissue, or organismal responses to a chemical or other toxic pollutant across a range of doses. Model parameters should represent biological phenomena rather than arbitrary statistically-derived values such as polynomial regression coefficients. Such models, if they accurately describe the relationship between dose and response within the range of experimental observation, may provide biological justification for predicted responses at doses below the range of observation.

(7) Chronic toxic effect means an effect that is irreversible or progressive or occurs because the rate of injury is greater than the rate of repair during prolonged exposure to a chemical or other toxic pollutant.

(8) Coastal waters mean those marine waters within the territorial limits of the State other than estuaries and enclosed bays. Long Island Sound is designated as coastal waters for the purposes of thermal discharges.

(9) Commissioner means the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation.

(10) Consolidated rock or bedrock means the compact or solid hard rock beneath or exposed at the surface of the earth or overlain by surface waters.

(11) Cooling water means water used for contact or noncontact cooling, including water used for equipment cooling, evaporative cooling tower makeup, and dilution of effluent heat content. The intended use of the cooling water is to absorb waste heat rejected from the process or processes used, or from auxiliary operations on the facility's premises.

(12) Cooling water intake structure means the total physical structure and any associated constructed waterways used to withdraw cooling water from waters of the State. The cooling water intake structure extends from the point at which water is withdrawn from the waters of the State up to, and including, the intake pumps.

(13) Department means the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

(14) Disposal system means a system for disposing of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes, including sewer systems and treatment works.

(15) Effluent limitations mean any restriction on quantities, qualities, rates and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, and other constituents of effluents that are discharged into or allowed to run from an outlet or point source or any other discharge within the meaning of section 17-0501 of the Environmental Conservation Law into surface waters, groundwater or unsaturated zones.

(16) Enclosed bays mean those marine waters within the territorial limits of New York State, other than coastal waters or estuaries, in which exchange of sea water is severely limited by barrier beaches. For the purpose of thermal discharges, the following are designated as enclosed bays: Jamaica Bay, Hempstead Bay, Great South Bay, Moriches Bay, Shinnecock Bay and Mecox Bay.

(17) Estuary means the tidal portion of a river or stream.

(18) Fish means all varieties of the super-class Pisces.

(19) Flow means the volume of water passing through the cross-sectional area of stream (or river) per unit of time.

(20) Fresh groundwaters mean those groundwaters having a chloride concentration equal to or less than 250 mg/L or a total dissolved solids concentration equal to or less than 1,000 mg/ L.

(21) Great Lakes System means classified segments identified in Part 805; Parts 835 through 839; Parts 845 through 848; Parts 820 and 821; Parts 895 through 899; and Items 1a, 1b and 441 through 1661 of Part 910 of this Title.

(22) Groundwaters mean those waters in saturated zones.

(23) Groundwater effluent limitations mean those effluent limitations that have been adopted in section 703.6 or developed in accordance with section 702.16(c) of this Title for protection of groundwater.

(24) Guidance value means such measure of purity or quality for any waters in relation to their reasonable and necessary use as may be established by the department pursuant to sections 702.1 and 702.15 of this Title.

(25) Heat of artificial origin means all heat from other than natural sources, including but not limited to cumulative effects of multiple and proximate thermal discharges.

(26) Industrial waste means any liquid, gaseous, solid or waste substance, or a combination thereof, resulting from any process of industry, manufacturing, trade, or business or from the development or recovery of any natural resources, that may cause or might reasonably be expected to cause pollution of the waters of the State in contravention of the standards adopted pursuant to the Environmental Conservation Law, article 17.

(27) Key event means a measurable and necessary step in a mode-of-action or a measurable indicator of such a step.

(28) Land application techniques include the following three basic methods of waste discharge application: irrigation, infiltration-percolation, and overland flow.

(29) Land utilization practices entail the use of plants, the soil surface, and soil matrix for removal of certain wastewater constituents.

(30) Liner at low doses means the frequency or severity of a molecular, cellular, tissue, or organismal response (i.e., key event) to a chemical or other toxic pollutant varies proportionally with dose at human doses that are at or near the standard or guidance value for that chemical or toxic pollutant.

(31) Lowest-observed-effect level (LOEL) means the lowest dose or exposure level of a chemical or other toxic pollutant at which a statistically or biologically significant change in the frequency or severity of any effect is observed in the exposed population compared with an appropriate unexposed control population.

(32) Micrograms per liter (ug/L) means the weight in micrograms of any specific substance or substances contained in one liter of liquid.

(33) Milligrams per liter (mg/L) means the weight in milligrams of any specific substance or substances contained in one liter of liquid.

(34) Model means a mathematical function with parameters that can be adjusted so that the function closely describes a set of empirical data.

(35) Mode-of-action means a sequence of key events that provides a biologically-plausible explanation for how a chemical or other toxic pollutant interacts with a biological target in humans or experimental animals to cause a given effect.

(36) New York/New Jersey harbor means saltwater classified segments identified in Part 859; Part 864; Part 890, except Item 1 and its tributaries; Part 891; and Items 1, 2 and 3 and their tributaries of Part 935 of this Title.

(37) No-observed-effect level (NOEL) means the highest dose or exposure level of a chemical or other toxic pollutant at which there are not statistically or biologically significant changes in the frequency or severity of any observed effect in the exposed population compared with an appropriate unexposed control population.

(38) Nonlinear at low doses means the frequency or severity of a molecular, cellular, tissue, or organismal response (i.e., key event) to a chemical or other toxic pollutant does not vary proportionally with dose at human doses that are at or near the standard or guidance value for that chemical or toxic pollutant.

(39) Oncogenic effect means the induction of tumors that has been demonstrated in:
(i) humans;

(ii) two mammalian species;

(iii) one mammalian species, independently reproduced;

(iv) one mammalian species, to an unusual degree with respect to incidence, latency period, site, tumor type or age at onset;

(v) one mammalian species, supported by positive results in short-term tests that are indicative of potential oncogenic activity; or

(vi) one mammalian species, supported by positive results for another substance for which similar oncogenic effects are anticipated because of similarity of functional groups or metabolic or toxicologic pathways.

(40) Other wastes means garbage, refuse, decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, sand, lime, cinders, ashes, offal, oil, tar, dyestuffs, acids, chemicals, leachate, sludge, salt and all other discarded matter not sewage or industrial waste that may cause or might reasonably be expected to cause pollution of the waters of the State in contravention of the standards adopted pursuant to the Environmental Conservation Law, article 17.

(41) Outlet means the terminus of a sewer system, or the point of emergence of any water- borne sewage, industrial waste or other wastes or the effluent therefrom, into the waters of the State.

(42) Pathogenic organism means any disease-producing organism.

(43) Person or persons means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, co-partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other legal entity whatsoever.

(44) Point-of-departure means a point on a dose-reponse curve for an effect of a chemical or other toxic pollutant that is within or near the range of experimental or observational data for the effect. It shall be the lower 95 percent confidence limit on a dose for an estimated level of excess risk for an effect, or it can be a NOEL or LOEL for an effect. It is the starting point for the extrapolation from the range of observation in human or animal studies to the human doses at or near the standard or guidance value for that chemical or toxic pollutant.

(45) Point source means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

(46) Pollutant means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.

(47) Pollution means the presence in the environment of conditions and/or contaminants in quantities of characteristics that are or may be injurious to human, plant or animal life or to property or that unreasonably interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property throughout such areas of the State as shall be affected thereby.

(48) Potable waters mean those fresh waters usable for drinking, culinary or food processing purposes.

(49) Primary contact recreation means recreational activities where the human body may come in direct contact with raw water to the point of complete body submergence. Primary contact recreation includes, but is not limited to, swimming, diving, water skiing, skin diving and surfing.

(50) Principal organic contaminant classes means the classes of organic chemicals listed below.
(i) Halogenated alkane: compound containing carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and halogen (X) where X = fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br) and/or iodine (I), having the general formula C nH yX z, where y + z = 2n + 2; n, y and z are integer variables; n and z are equal to or greater than one and y is equal to or greater than zero. Specifically excluded from this class are chloroform, bromoform, bromodichloromethane and dibromochloromethane.

(ii) Halogenated ether: compound containing carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O) and halogen (X) (where X = F, Cl, Br and/or I) having the general formula C nH yX zO, where y + z =2n + 2; the oxygen is bonded to two carbons; n, y and z are integer variables; n is equal to or greater than two, y is equal to or greater than zero and z is equal to or greater than one.

(iii) Halobenzenes and substituted halobenzenes: derivatives of benzene which have at least one halogen atom attached to the ring and which may or may not have straight or branched chain hydrocarbon, nitrogen or oxygen substituents.

(iv) Benzene and alkyl- or nitrogen-substituted benzenes: benzene or a derivative of benzene which has either an alkyl- and/or a nitrogen-substituent.

(v) Substituted, unsaturated hydrocarbons: a straight or branched chain unsaturated hydrocarbon compound containing one of the following: halogen, aldehyde, nitrile or amide.

(vi) Halogenated nonaromatic cyclic hydrocarbons: a nonaromatic cyclic compound containing a halogen.

(51) Reference dose (RfD) means an estimate of a daily oral exposure of the human population (including sensitive subgroups) to a chemical or other toxic pollutant that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.

(52) Saline groundwater means groundwater having a chloride concentration of more than 250 mg/L or a total dissolved solids concentration of more than 1,000 mg/L.

(53) Saline surface waters mean all waters that are so designated by the commissioner.

(54) Salmonids, see trout.

(55) Saturated zones means any extensive portion of the earth's crust that contains sufficient water to fill all interconnected voids or pore spaces.

(56) Secondary contact recreation means recreational activities where contact with the water is minimal and where ingestion of the water is not probable. Secondary contact recreation includes, but is not limited to, fishing and boating.

(57) Sewage means the water-carried human or animal wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places, together with such groundwater infiltration and surface water as may be present.

(58) Shellfish includes oysters, scallops, clams, mussels, and other aquatic mollusks, and lobsters, shrimp, crayfish, crabs, and other aquatic crustaceans.

(59) Source of water supply for drinking, culinary or food processing purposes means any water source, either public or private, that is used for domestic consumption or used in connection with the processing of milk, beverages or food.

(60) Specific MCL means a maximum contaminant level (MCL) included in 10 NYCRR 5-1.51, 5-1.52 or 5-1.55 for either an individual substance or group of substances. A Specific MCL does not include the 10 NYCRR Part 5 MCLs for principal organic contaminants or unspecified organic contaminants.

(61) Standards mean such measures of purity or quality for any waters in relation to their reasonable and necessary use as may be established by the department pursuant to section 17-0301 of the Environmental Conservation Law.

(62) Subsurface sewage disposal system means a disposal system that discharges sewage beneath the surface of the ground.

(63) Thermal discharge means a discharge that results or would result in a temperature change of the receiving water.

(64) Toxic pollutant means those pollutants, or combination of pollutants, including disease-causing agents, that after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly through food chains, will, on the basis of information available to the department, cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions, including malfunctions in reproduction, or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring.

(65) Treatment works means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, pumping station, constructed drainage ditch or surface water intercepting ditch, incinerator, area devoted to sanitary landfills or other works not specifically mentioned here, installed for the purpose of treating, neutralizing, stabilizing or disposing of sewage, industrial waste or other wastes.

(66) Trout means any fish in the following genera: Coregonus, Oncorhynchus, Prosopium, Salmo, Salvelinus and Thymallus.

(67) Trout waters are waters that provide habitat in which trout can survive and grow within a normal range on a year-round basis, or on a year-round basis excepting periods of time during which almost all of the trout inhabiting such waters could and would temporarily retreat into and survive in adjoining or tributary waters due to natural circumstances. When these conditions exist or have been met a water may be classified as a trout water and identified with the symbol (T), appearing in an entry in the "standards" column in the classification tables of parts 800 through 941 of this Title.

(68) Trout spawning waters are trout waters in which trout eggs can be deposited and be fertilized by trout inhabiting such waters (or connecting waters) and in which those eggs can develop and hatch, and the trout hatched therefrom could survive and grow to a sufficient size and stage of development to enable them to either remain and grow to adult trout therein, or migrate into and survive in other trout waters. When these conditions exist or have been met a water may be classified as a trout spawning water and identified with the symbol (TS), appearing in an entry in the "standards" column in the classification tables of Parts 800 through 941 of this Title.

(69) Unconsolidated deposits means all non- or poorly indurated soil materials above the bedrock.

(70) Waste management system includes the management of mechanical equipment, crops, irrigation and monitors as an operational unit.

(71) Water quality-based effluent limitations means effluent limitations for surface waters that are derived from water quality standards or guidance values.

(72) Wildlife means wild game and all other animal life existing in a wild state, except fish, shellfish and crustacea.

(73) Coastal recreation waters mean the Great Lakes and marine coastal waters (including coastal estuaries) that are designated under section 303(c) of the federal Clean Water Act by the State for use for swimming, bathing, surfing, or similar water contact activities. Coastal recreation waters do not include inland waters or waters upstream of the mouth of a river or stream having an unimpeded natural connection with the Great Lakes or open marine waters.

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