[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 24]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR230.3]



[Page 256-258]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)

 

PART 230_SECTION 404(b)(1) GUIDELINES FOR SPECIFICATION OF DISPOSAL SITES 

FOR DREDGED OR FILL MATERIAL--Table of Contents

 

                            Subpart A_General

 

Sec.  230.3  Definitions.



    For purposes of this part, the following terms shall have the 

meanings indicated:

    (a) The term Act means the Clean Water Act (also known as the 

Federal Water Pollution Control Act or FWPCA) Pub. L. 92-500, as amended 

by Pub. L. 95-217, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.

    (b) The term adjacent means bordering, contiguous, or neighboring. 

Wetlands separated from other waters of the United States by man-made 

dikes or barriers, natural river berms, beach dunes, and the like are 

``adjacent wetlands.''

    (c) The terms aquatic environment and aquatic ecosystem mean waters 

of the United States, including wetlands, that serve as habitat for 

interrelated and interacting communities and populations of plants and 

animals.

    (d) The term carrier of contaminant means dredged or fill material 

that contains contaminants.

    (e) The term contaminant means a chemical or biological substance in 

a form that can be incorporated into, onto or be ingested by and that 

harms aquatic organisms, consumers of aquatic organisms, or users of the 

aquatic environment, and includes but is not limited to the substances 

on the 307(a)(1) list of toxic pollutants promulgated on January 31, 

1978 (43 FR 4109).

    (f)-(g) [Reserved]

    (h) The term discharge point means the point within the disposal 

site at which the dredged or fill material is released.

    (i) The term disposal site means that portion of the ``waters of the 

United



[[Page 257]]



States'' where specific disposal activities are permitted and consist of 

a bottom surface area and any overlying volume of water. In the case of 

wetlands on which surface water is not present, the disposal site 

consists of the wetland surface area.

    (j) [Reserved]

    (k) The term extraction site means the place from which the dredged 

or fill material proposed for discharge is to be removed.

    (l) [Reserved]

    (m) The term mixing zone means a limited volume of water serving as 

a zone of initial dilution in the immediate vicinity of a discharge 

point where receiving water quality may not meet quality standards or 

other requirements otherwise applicable to the receiving water. The 

mixing zone should be considered as a place where wastes and water mix 

and not as a place where effluents are treated.

    (n) The term permitting authority means the District Engineer of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or such other individual as may be 

designated by the Secretary of the Army to issue or deny permits under 

section 404 of the Act; or the State Director of a permit program 

approved by EPA under section 404(g) and section 404(h) or his delegated 

representative.

    (o) The term pollutant means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator 

residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, 

biological materials, radioactive materials not covered by the Atomic 

Energy Act, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar 

dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into 

water. The legislative history of the Act reflects that ``radioactive 

materials'' as included within the definition of ``pollutant'' in 

section 502 of the Act means only radioactive materials which are not 

encompassed in the definition of source, byproduct, or special nuclear 

materials as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and 

regulated under the Atomic Energy Act. Examples of radioactive materials 

not covered by the Atomic Energy Act and, therefore, included within the 

term ``pollutant'', are radium and accelerator produced isotopes. See 

Train v. Colorado Public Interest Research Group, Inc., 426 U.S. 1 

(1976).

    (p) The term pollution means the man-made or man-induced alteration 

of the chemical, physical, biological or radiological integrity of an 

aquatic ecosystem.

    (q) The term practicable means available and capable of being done 

after taking into consideration cost, existing technology, and logistics 

in light of overall project purposes.

    (q-1) Special aquatic sites means those sites identified in subpart 

E. They are geographic areas, large or small, possessing special 

ecological characteristics of productivity, habitat, wildlife 

protection, or other important and easily disrupted ecological values. 

These areas are generally recognized as significantly influencing or 

positively contributing to the general overall environmental health or 

vitality of the entire ecosystem of a region. (See Sec.  230.10(a)(3))

    (r) The term territorial sea means the belt of the sea measured from 

the baseline as determined in accordance with the Convention on the 

Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone and extending seaward a distance 

of three miles.

    (s) The term waters of the United States means:

    (1) All waters which are currently used, or were used in the past, 

or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, 

including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;

    (2) All interstate waters including interstate wetlands;

    (3) All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams 

(including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, 

sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, 

the use, degradation or destruction of which could affect interstate or 

foreign commerce including any such waters:

    (i) Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers 

for recreational or other purposes; or

    (ii) From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in 

interstate or foreign commerce; or

    (iii) Which are used or could be used for industrial purposes by 

industries in interstate commerce;



[[Page 258]]



    (4) All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the 

United States under this definition;

    (5) Tributaries of waters identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through 

(4) of this section;

    (6) The territorial sea;

    (7) Wetlands adjacent to waters (other than waters that are 

themselves wetlands) identified in paragraphs (s)(1) through (6) of this 

section; waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons 

designed to meet the requirements of CWA (other than cooling ponds as 

defined in 40 CFR 423.11(m) which also meet the criteria of this 

definition) are not waters of the United States.



Waters of the United States do not include prior converted cropland. 

Notwithstanding the determination of an area's status as prior converted 

cropland by any other federal agency, for the purposes of the Clean 

Water Act, the final authority regarding Clean Water Act jurisdiction 

remains with EPA.

    (t) The term wetlands means those areas that are inundated or 

saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration 

sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a 

prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil 

conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar 

areas.



[45 FR 85344, Dec. 24, 1980, as amended at 58 FR 45037, Aug. 25, 1993]