North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 33.1 - Department of Environmental Quality
Article 33.1-16 - Control, Prevention, and Abatement of Pollution of Surface Water
Chapter 33.1-16-02.1 - Standards of Quality for Waters of the State
Section 33.1-16-02.1-04 - Definitions

1. "Acute standard" means the one-hour average concentration does not exceed the listed concentration more than once every three years.

2. "Best management practices" are methods, measures, or procedures selected by the department to control nonpoint source pollution. Best management practices include structural and nonstructural measures and operation and maintenance procedures.

3. "Chronic standard" means the four-day average concentration does not exceed the listed concentration more than once every three years.

4. "Consecutive thirty-day average" is the average of samples taken during any consecutive thirty-day period. It is not a requirement for thirty consecutive daily samples.

5. "Department" means the department of environmental quality.

6. A standard defined as "dissolved" means the total quantity of a given material present in a filtered water sample, regardless of the form or nature of its occurrence.

7. "Eutrophication" means the process of enrichment of rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands with nutrients needed to maintain primary production.

8. "Nutrients" mean the chemical elements, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, which are critical to the growth of aquatic plants and animals.

9. "Pollution" means such contamination, or other alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties, of any waters of the state, including change in temperature, taste, color, turbidity, or odor. Pollution includes discharge of any liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive, or other substance into any waters of the state that will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such waters harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare; domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, or other legitimate beneficial uses; or livestock, wild animals, birds, fish, or other aquatic biota.

10. "Site-specific standards" mean water quality criteria developed to reflect local environmental conditions to protect the uses of a specific water body.

11. A standard defined as "total" means the entire quantity of a given material present in an unfiltered water sample regardless of the form or nature of its occurrence. This includes both dissolved and suspended forms of a substance, including the entire amount of the substance present as a constituent of the particulate material. Total recoverable is the quantity of a given material in an unfiltered aqueous sample following digestion by refluxing with hot dilute mineral acid.

12. "Water usage". The best usage for the waters shall be those uses determined to be the most consistent with present and potential uses in accordance with the economic and social development of the area. Present principal best uses are those defined in subdivisions a, b, c, d, and e. These are not to be construed to be the only possible usages.