South Carolina Code of Laws
Chapter 4 - South Carolina Surface Water Withdrawal, Permitting Use, And Reporting Act
Section 49-4-20. Definitions.

As used in this chapter:
(1) "Affected area" means that portion of a county or counties within a river basin that, under the circumstances, are determined by the department to likely be affected by a proposed surface water withdrawal.
(2) "Agriculture facility" means any land, building, structure, pond, impoundment, appurtenance, machinery, or equipment which is used for the commercial production or processing of crops, trees, livestock, animals, poultry, honeybees, honeybee products, livestock products, poultry products, or products which are used in commercial aquaculture.
(3) "Agricultural use" means:
(a) plowing, tilling, or preparing the soil at an agricultural facility;
(b) planting, growing, fertilizing, or harvesting crops, ornamental horticulture, floriculture, and turf grasses;
(c) application of pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals, compounds, or substances to crops, weeds, or soil in connection with the production of crops, livestock, animals, or poultry;
(d) breeding, hatching, raising, producing, feeding, keeping, slaughtering, or processing livestock, hogs, aquatic animals, equines, chickens, turkeys, poultry, or other fowl normally raised for food, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, rabbits, or similar farm animals for commercial purposes;
(e) producing and keeping honeybees, producing honeybee products, and honeybee processing facilities;
(f) producing, processing, or packaging eggs or egg products;
(g) manufacturing feed for poultry or livestock;
(h) rotation of crops;
(i) commercial aquaculture;
(j) application of existing, changed, or new technology, practices, processes, or procedures to an agricultural use;
(k) the operation of a roadside market; and
(l) silviculture.
(4) "Consumptive use" means any use of water which is not a nonconsumptive use.
(5) "Department" means the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
(6) "Diffuse surface water" means water on the surface of the earth not located in defined courses, streams, or water bodies.
(7) "Drought contingency pond" means a pond or lake designated solely as a supplemental water source in a surface water withdrawer's operational and contingency plan.
(8) "Emergency withdrawal" means the withdrawal of water, for a period not exceeding thirty days, for the purpose of firefighting, hazardous substance waste spill response, or both, or other emergency withdrawal of water as determined by the department.
(9) "Existing surface water withdrawer" means a surface water withdrawer withdrawing surface water as of the effective date of this chapter or a proposed surface water withdrawer with its intakes under construction before the effective date of this chapter or with all necessary applications for its intake permits deemed administratively complete before January first of the year of the effective date of this act.
(10) "Farm pond" means a pond completely situated on private property that is only used for providing water for agricultural uses.
(11) "Impoundment" means a dam, dike, natural structure, or any combination thereof that is designed to hold an accumulation of surface water or impede the flow of surface water.
(12) "Interbasin transfer" means the withdrawal of surface water from a river basin and the movement of that water to a river basin different from the source of the withdrawal.
(13) "Minimal changes in water quantity" means that greater than ninety percent of the water withdrawn by a surface water withdrawer, based upon the previous twenty-four months of historical data, is returned to the waters of origin; provided, that either the amount of water not returned to the water source does not:
(a) exceed three million gallons during any one month; or
(b) significantly reduce the safe yield at the withdrawal point.
(14) "Minimum instream flow" means the flow that provides an adequate supply of water at the surface water withdrawal point to maintain the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the stream taking into account the needs of downstream users, recreation, and navigation and that flow is set at forty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of January, February, March, and April; thirty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of May, June, and December; and twenty percent of the mean annual daily flow for the months of July through November for surface water withdrawers as described in Section 49-4-150(A)(1). For surface water withdrawal points located on a surface water segment downstream of and influenced by a licensed or otherwise flow controlled impoundment, "minimum instream flow" means the flow that provides an adequate supply of water at the surface water withdrawal point to maintain the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the stream taking into account the needs of downstream users, recreation, and navigation and that flow is set in Section 49-4-150(A)(3).
(15) "Minimum water level" means the water level in an impoundment necessary to maintain the biological, chemical, and physical integrity of the surface water in the impoundment taking into account downstream uses, withdrawals from the impoundment, and recreational and navigational needs as established by an existing federal regulatory process or established through consultation between the department and the operator of the impoundment.
(16) "Nonconsumptive use" means a use of surface water withdrawn in such a manner that it is returned to its waters of origin within the boundaries of contiguous property owned by the surface water withdrawer with no or minimal changes in water quantity.
(17) "Permit" or "surface water withdrawal permit" means a written authorization issued to a person by the department that allows the person to hold and exercise a water right to withdraw surface water pursuant to the terms of the permit and this chapter.
(18) "Permitted surface water withdrawer" means a person withdrawing surface water pursuant to a surface water withdrawal permit.
(19) "Permittee" means a person authorized to make withdrawals of surface water pursuant to a surface water withdrawal permit issued by the department.
(20) "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, trust, estate, association, public or private institution, municipality, or political subdivision, governmental agency, public water system, or a private or public corporation or other legal entity organized under the laws of this State or any other state or county.
(21) "Proposed registered surface water withdrawer" means a proposed surface water withdrawer whose planned operations would result in his withdrawals being subject to the reporting but not the permitting requirements of this chapter.
(22) "Public water system" means a water system as defined in Section 44-55-20 of the State Safe Drinking Water Act.
(23) "Registered surface water withdrawer" means a person who makes surface water withdrawals for agricultural uses at an agricultural facility that is filing a report pursuant to Section 49-4-50.
(24) "River basin" means the area drained by a river and its tributaries or through a specified point on a river, as determined in Section 49-4-80(K)(2).
(25) "Safe yield" means the amount of water available for withdrawal from a particular surface water source in excess of the minimum instream flow or minimum water level for that surface water source. Safe yield is determined by comparing the natural and artificial replenishment of the surface water to the existing or planned consumptive and nonconsumptive uses.
(26) "Supplemental water source" means a source of water different from the source of permitted withdrawal that will be used when an adequate amount of water is unavailable for withdrawal from the permitted source, including, but not limited to, ground water wells, aquifer storage and recovery projects, water storage facilities, drought contingency ponds, and connections to other water providers.
(27) "Surface water" means all water that is wholly or partially within the State, including the Savannah River, or within its jurisdiction, which is open to the atmosphere and subject to surface runoff, including, but not limited to, lakes, streams, ponds, rivers, creeks, runs, springs, and reservoirs, but not including water and wastewater treatment impoundments, off-stream supplemental operations related impoundments, or water storage structures constructed by the surface water withdrawer to provide adequate supplies of surface water during low flow conditions.
(28) "Surface water withdrawer" means a person withdrawing surface water in excess of three million gallons during any one month from a single intake or multiple intakes under common ownership within a one mile radius from any one existing or proposed intake.
(29) "Withdrawal" means to remove surface water from its natural course or location, or exercising physical control over surface water in its natural course or location, regardless of whether the water is returned to its waters of origin, consumed, transferred to another river basin, or discharged elsewhere.
HISTORY: 1982 Act No. 282, Section 3; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1245; 2000 Act No. 366, Section 1; 2010 Act No. 247, Section 1, eff January 1, 2011.

Editor's Note
2010 Act No. 247, Section 4.B, provides:
"Chapter 1, Title 49 of the 1976 Code is not affected by and supersedes Chapter 4, Title 49 of the 1976 Code, as amended by SECTION 1 of this act."
Effect of Amendment
The 2010 amendment rewrote the section.