58:29-3 Definitions relative to watershed protection and management.

3. As used in this act:

"Department" means the Department of Environmental Protection;

"Federal Act" means the federal "Clean Water Act" (33 U.S.C. s.1251 et seq.);

"Total maximum daily load" means the sum of individual point and nonpoint sources of pollution, other sources such as tributaries or adjacent segments, and allocations to a reserve or margin of safety for an individual pollutant or as defined in subsequent rules and regulations of the department;

"Watershed" means a geographic area within which water, sediments, and dissolved materials drain to a particular receiving waterbody;

"Watershed management activity" means activities or projects undertaken by the department, the Pinelands Commission established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1979, c.111 (C.13:18A-4), or a watershed management group to improve the condition or prevent further degradation of a watershed, and may include, but need not be limited to, public meetings to discuss and exchange information on watershed issues, the establishment and operation of a stakeholders advisory group or groups dedicated to preserving and protecting a watershed, the monitoring, water quality modeling or assessment of the condition of a watershed, the development of policy goals to reduce the amount of pollutants discharged into a watershed, the development of projects designed to enhance or restore a watershed, the development, in consultation with the department, of a watershed management plan, or the reassessment of a watershed to determine whether the policy goals or the objectives of a watershed management plan have been attained;

"Watershed management area" means a geographic area in the State, as designated by the department, within which may be found one or more watersheds;

"Watershed management group" means a group recognized by the department as the entity representing the various interests within one or more watersheds located in a watershed management area and whose purpose is to improve the condition or prevent further degradation of a watershed or watersheds. A watershed management group shall include, but need not be limited to, local and county government officials, a representative of water purveyors, a representative of wastewater utilities or authorities, a representative of the business community, a representative of the development community, and a representative of the environmental community; except that a watershed management group need not include all such officials or representatives if any such officials or representatives decline or are unable to participate in the watershed management group as may be determined by the department in accordance with guidelines or rules and regulations adopted by the department. Where a regional planning agency has been created for all or part of the watershed management area to be represented by the watershed management group, an official of that regional planning agency shall be included in the watershed management group; and

"Watershed management plan" means a plan developed by the department, or by the Pinelands Commission or a watershed management group in consultation with the department, designed to improve the condition or prevent further degradation of a watershed or watersheds, and shall include consideration of groundwater quality and quantity, consideration of water supply quality and quantity, a determination of the total maximum daily load amount of pollutants that can be discharged into the watershed or watersheds targeted by the plan, the implementation of water quality-based effluent limits for point sources, and regulatory and best management practices to control nonpoint sources of pollution.

L.1997,c.261,s.3.