Iowa Code
Chapter 455B - JURISDICTION OF DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Section 455B.171 - Definitions.

455B.171 Definitions.
When used in this part 1 of subchapter III, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. “Abandoned well” means a water well which is no longer in use or which is in such a state of disrepair that continued use for the purpose of accessing groundwater is unsafe or impracticable.
2. “Construction” of a water well means the physical act or process of making the water well including but not limited to siting, excavation, construction, and the installation of equipment and materials necessary to maintain and operate the well.
3. “Contractor” means a person engaged in the business of well construction or reconstruction or other well services.
4. “Credible data” means scientifically valid chemical, physical, or biological monitoring data collected under a scientifically accepted sampling and analysis plan, including quality control and quality assurance procedures. Data dated more than five years before the department’s date of listing or other determination under section 455B.194, subsection 1, shall be presumed not to be credible data unless the department identifies compelling reasons as to why the data is credible.
5. “Disposal system” means a system for disposing of sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes, or for the use or disposal of sewage sludge. “Disposal system” includes sewer systems, treatment works, point sources, dispersal systems, and any systems designed for the usage or disposal of sewage sludge.
6. “Effluent standard” means any restriction or prohibition on quantities, rates, and concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, radiological, and other constituents which are discharged from point sources into any water of the state including an effluent limitation, a water quality related effluent limitation, a standard of performance for a new source, a toxic effluent standard, or other limitation.
7. “Federal Water Pollution Control Act” means the federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500, as published in 33 U.S.C. §1251 – 1376, as amended through December 31, 1985.
8. “Food commodity” means any commodity that is derived from an agricultural animal or crop, both as defined in section 717A.1, which is intended for human consumption in its raw or processed state.
a. A food commodity in its raw state for processing includes but is not limited to milk, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, syrup, and honey.
b. A food commodity in its processed state includes but is not limited to dairy products, pastries, pies, and meat or poultry products.
9. “Historical data” means data collected more than five years before the department’s date of listing or other determination under section 455B.194, subsection 1.
10. “Industrial waste” means any liquid, gaseous, radioactive, or solid waste substance resulting from any process of industry, manufacturing, trade, or business or from the development of any natural resource.
11. “Iowa nutrient reduction strategy” means a water quality initiative developed and updated by the department of agriculture and land stewardship, the department of natural resources, and the college of agriculture and life sciences at Iowa state university of science and technology in order to assess and reduce nutrients in this state’s watersheds that utilize a pragmatic, strategic, and coordinated approach with the goal of accomplishing reductions over time.
12. “Manure” means the same as defined in section 459.102.
13. “Manure sludge” means the solid or semisolid residue produced during the treatment of manure in an anaerobic lagoon.
14. “Maximum contaminant level” means the maximum permissible level of any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance in water which is delivered to any user of a public water supply system.
15. “Naturally occurring condition” means any condition affecting water quality which is not caused by human influence on the environment including but not limited to soils, geology, hydrology, climate, wildlife influence on the environment, and water flow with specific consideration given to seasonal and other natural variations.
16. “New source” means any building, structure, facility, or installation, from which there is or may be the discharge of a pollutant, the construction of which is commenced after the publication of proposed federal rules prescribing a standard of performance which will be applicable to such source, if such standard is promulgated.
17. “Nutrient” means total nitrogen and total phosphorus.
18. “On-farm processing operation” means any place located on a farm where the form or condition of a food commodity originating from that farm or another farm is changed or packaged for human consumption, including but not limited to a dairy, creamery, winery, distillery, cannery, bakery, or meat or poultry processor.
19. “Other waste” means heat, garbage, municipal refuse, lime, sand, ashes, offal, oil, tar, chemicals, and all other wastes which are not sewage or industrial waste.
20. a. “Person” means any agency of the state or federal government or institution thereof, any municipality, governmental subdivision, interstate body, public or private corporation, individual, partnership, or other entity and includes any officer or governing or managing body of any municipality, governmental subdivision, interstate body, or public or private corporation.
b. For the purpose of imposing liability for violation of a section of this part, or a rule or regulation adopted by the department of natural resources under this part, “person” does not include a person who holds indicia of ownership in contaminated property from which prohibited discharges, deposits, or releases of pollutants into any water of the state have been or are evidenced, if the person has satisfied the requirements of section 455B.381, subsection 7, paragraph “b”, with respect to the contaminated property, regardless of whether the department has determined that the contaminated property constitutes a hazardous condition site.
21. “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. “Point source” does not include agricultural storm water discharge and return flows from irrigated agriculture.
22. “Pollutant” means sewage, industrial waste, or other waste.
23. “Private sewage disposal system” means a system which provides for the treatment or disposal of domestic sewage from four or fewer dwelling units or the equivalent of less than sixteen individuals on a continuing basis.
24. “Private water supply” means any water supply for human consumption which has less than fifteen service connections and regularly serves less than twenty-five individuals.
25. “Production capacity” means the amount of potable water which can be supplied to the distribution system in a twenty-four-hour period.
26. “Public water supply system” means a system for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption, if the system has at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves at least twenty-five individuals. The term includes any source of water and any collection, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities under control of the operator of the system and used primarily in connection with the system, and any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are used primarily in connection with the system.
27. “Reconstruction” of a water well means replacement or removal of all or a portion of the casing of the water well.
28. “Schedule of compliance” means a schedule of remedial measures including an enforceable sequence of actions or operations leading to compliance with any effluent standard, water quality standard, or any other requirement of this part 1 of subchapter III or any rule promulgated pursuant to this subchapter.
29. “Section 303(d) list” means any list required under 33 U.S.C. §1313(d).
30. “Section 305(b) report” means any report required under 33 U.S.C. §1315(b).
31. “Semipublic sewage disposal system” means a system for the treatment or disposal of domestic sewage which is not a private sewage disposal system and which is not owned by a city, a sanitary district, or a designated and approved management agency under §1288 of the federal Water Pollution Control Act, codified at 33 U.S.C. §1288.
32. “Septage” means the liquid and solid material pumped from a septic tank, cesspool, or similar domestic sewage treatment system, or from a holding tank, when the system is cleaned or maintained.
33. “Sewage” means the water-carried waste products from residences, public buildings, institutions, or other buildings, including the bodily discharges from human beings or animals together with such groundwater infiltration and surface water as may be present.
34. “Sewage sludge” means any solid, semisolid, or liquid residue removed during the treatment of municipal waste water or domestic sewage. “Sewage sludge” includes but is not limited to solids removed during primary, secondary, or advanced waste water treatment, scum septage, portable toilet pumpings, type III marine device pumpings as defined in
33 C.F.R. ch. 1, subch. O, pt. 159
, and sewage sludge products. “Sewage sludge” does not include grit, screenings, or ash generated during the incineration of sewage sludge.
35. “Sewer extension” means pipelines or conduits constituting main sewers, lateral sewers, or trunk sewers used for conducting pollutants to a larger interceptor sewer or to a point of ultimate disposal.
36. “Sewer system” means pipelines or conduits, pumping stations, force mains, vehicles, vessels, conveyances, injection wells, and all other constructions, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto used for conducting sewage or industrial waste or other wastes to a point of ultimate disposal or disposal to any water of the state. To the extent that they are not subject to section 402 of the federal Water Pollution Control Act, ditches, pipes, and drains that serve only to collect, channel, direct, and convey nonpoint runoff from precipitation are not considered as sewer systems for the purposes of this part 1 of subchapter III.
37. “Toilet unit” means a portable or fixed tank or vessel holding untreated human waste without secondary wastewater treatment that is emptied for disposal. “Toilet unit” does not include a portable or fixed tank or vessel holding untreated human waste that is part of a recreational vehicle or marine vessel.
38. “Total maximum daily load” means the same as in the federal Water Pollution Control Act.
39. “Treatment works” means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, holding or flow-regulating basin, pumping station, or other works installed for the purpose of treating, stabilizing, or disposing of sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes.
40. “Viable” means a disposal system or a public water supply system which is self-sufficient and has the financial, managerial, and technical capability to reliably meet standards of performance on a long-term basis, as required by state and federal law, including the federal Water Pollution Control Act and the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
41. “Water of the state” means any stream, lake, pond, marsh, watercourse, waterway, well, spring, reservoir, aquifer, irrigation system, drainage system, and any other body or accumulation of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon the state or any portion thereof.
42. “Water pollution” means the contamination or alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, or radiological integrity of any water of the state by a source resulting in whole or in part from the activities of humans, which is harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare, to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or recreational use or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish, or other aquatic life.
43. “Water supply distribution system extension” means any extension to the pipelines or conduits which carry water directly from the treatment facility, source or storage facility to the consumer’s service connection.
44. “Water well” means an excavation that is drilled, cored, bored, augered, washed, driven, dug, jetted, or otherwise constructed for the purpose of exploring for groundwater, monitoring groundwater, utilizing the geothermal properties of the ground, or extracting water from or injecting water into the aquifer. “Water well” does not include an open ditch or drain tiles or an excavation made for obtaining or prospecting for oil, natural gas, minerals, or products mined or quarried.
[C66, 71, §455B.2; C73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §455B.30; 82 Acts, ch 1050, §1, 2, ch 1199, §6, 7, 8, 96]
C83, §455B.171
83 Acts, ch 137, §2; 84 Acts, ch 1121, §1, 2; 85 Acts, ch 176, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1144, §1; 86 Acts, ch 1237, §29; 91 Acts, ch 224, §3; 92 Acts, ch 1041, §1; 93 Acts, ch 42, §1; 95 Acts, ch 195, §20; 96 Acts, ch 1079, §13; 97 Acts, ch 137, §1, 2; 98 Acts, ch 1209, §22; 2000 Acts, ch 1068, §9; 2000 Acts, ch 1232, §72; 2002 Acts, ch 1137, §25, 68, 71; 2002 Acts, ch 1138, §3, 5
; 2002 Acts, 2nd Ex, ch 1003, §249, 260, 262
; 2003 Acts, ch 44, §66; 2005 Acts, ch 153, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 126, §74; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §132; 2011 Acts, ch 31, §1; 2012 Acts, ch 1023, §56; 2018 Acts, ch 1001, §18, 19; 2021 Acts, ch 76, §86, 150
Referred to in §16.1, 135.39E, 161A.42, 331.382, 427.1(19)(e), 455B.172, 455B.176A, 455B.190, 455B.190A, 455B.194, 455B.266, 455B.291, 455E.2, 459.102, 459A.102, 459A.205, 466B.2
Legislative intent relating to changes to "point source" definition by
2018 Iowa Acts, ch 1001, §19
;
2018 Acts, ch 1001, §26
Code editor directive applied
Subsections 28 and 36 amended

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