SECTIONS 13050-13051 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 13050-13051

13050. As used in this division:
(a) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(b) "Regional board" means any California regional water quality
control board for a region as specified in Section 13200.
(c) "Person" includes any city, county, district, the state, and
the United States, to the extent authorized by federal law.
(d) "Waste" includes sewage and any and all other waste
substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, or radioactive, associated with
human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any
producing, manufacturing, or processing operation, including waste
placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for
purposes of, disposal.
(e) "Waters of the state" means any surface water or groundwater,
including saline waters, within the boundaries of the state.
(f) "Beneficial uses" of the waters of the state that may be
protected against quality degradation include, but are not limited
to, domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial supply; power
generation; recreation; aesthetic enjoyment; navigation; and
preservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and other aquatic
resources or preserves.
(g) "Quality of the water" refers to chemical, physical,
biological, bacteriological, radiological, and other properties and
characteristics of water which affect its use.
(h) "Water quality objectives" means the limits or levels of water
quality constituents or characteristics which are established for
the reasonable protection of beneficial uses of water or the
prevention of nuisance within a specific area.
(i) "Water quality control" means the regulation of any activity
or factor which may affect the quality of the waters of the state and
includes the prevention and correction of water pollution and
nuisance.
(j) "Water quality control plan" consists of a designation or
establishment for the waters within a specified area of all of the
following:
(1) Beneficial uses to be protected.
(2) Water quality objectives.
(3) A program of implementation needed for achieving water quality
objectives.
(k) "Contamination" means an impairment of the quality of the
waters of the state by waste to a degree which creates a hazard to
the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease.
"Contamination" includes any equivalent effect resulting from the
disposal of waste, whether or not waters of the state are affected.
(l) (1) "Pollution" means an alteration of the quality of the
waters of the state by waste to a degree which unreasonably affects
either of the following:
(A) The waters for beneficial uses.
(B) Facilities which serve these beneficial uses.
(2) "Pollution" may include "contamination."
(m) "Nuisance" means anything which meets all of the following
requirements:
(1) Is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the
senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to
interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
(2) Affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood,
or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the
annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal.
(3) Occurs during, or as a result of, the treatment or disposal of
wastes.
(n) "Recycled water" means water which, as a result of treatment
of waste, is suitable for a direct beneficial use or a controlled use
that would not otherwise occur and is therefor considered a valuable
resource.
(o) "Citizen or domiciliary" of the state includes a foreign
corporation having substantial business contacts in the state or
which is subject to service of process in this state.
(p) (1) "Hazardous substance" means either of the following:
(A) For discharge to surface waters, any substance determined to
be a hazardous substance pursuant to Section 311(b)(2) of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.).
(B) For discharge to groundwater, any substance listed as a
hazardous waste or hazardous material pursuant to Section 25140 of
the Health and Safety Code, without regard to whether the substance
is intended to be used, reused, or discarded, except that "hazardous
substance" does not include any substance excluded from Section 311
(b)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act because it is
within the scope of Section 311(a)(1) of that act.
(2) "Hazardous substance" does not include any of the following:
(A) Nontoxic, nonflammable, and noncorrosive stormwater runoff
drained from underground vaults, chambers, or manholes into gutters
or storm sewers.
(B) Any pesticide which is applied for agricultural purposes or is
applied in accordance with a cooperative agreement authorized by
Section 116180 of the Health and Safety Code, and is not discharged
accidentally or for purposes of disposal, the application of which is
in compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and
regulations.
(C) Any discharge to surface water of a quantity less than a
reportable quantity as determined by regulations issued pursuant to
Section 311(b)(4) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
(D) Any discharge to land which results, or probably will result,
in a discharge to groundwater if the amount of the discharge to land
is less than a reportable quantity, as determined by regulations
adopted pursuant to Section 13271, for substances listed as hazardous
pursuant to Section 25140 of the Health and Safety Code. No
discharge shall be deemed a discharge of a reportable quantity until
regulations set a reportable quantity for the substance discharged.
(q) (1) "Mining waste" means all solid, semisolid, and liquid
waste materials from the extraction, beneficiation, and processing of
ores and minerals. Mining waste includes, but is not limited to,
soil, waste rock, and overburden, as defined in Section 2732 of the
Public Resources Code, and tailings, slag, and other processed waste
materials, including cementitious materials that are managed at the
cement manufacturing facility where the materials were generated.
(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, "cementitious material"
means cement, cement kiln dust, clinker, and clinker dust.
(r) "Master recycling permit" means a permit issued to a supplier
or a distributor, or both, of recycled water, that includes waste
discharge requirements prescribed pursuant to Section 13263 and water
recycling requirements prescribed pursuant to Section 13523.1.

13051. As used in this division, "injection well" means any bored,
drilled, or driven shaft, dug pit, or hole in the ground into which
waste or fluid is discharged, and any associated subsurface
appurtenances, and the depth of which is greater than the
circumference of the shaft, pit, or hole.