143-350. Definitions.

As used in this Article:

(1) "Commission" means the Environmental Management Commission.

(2) "Department" means the Department of Environmental Quality.

(3) "Essential water use" means the use of water necessary for firefighting, health, and safety; water needed to sustain human and animal life; and water necessary to satisfy federal, State, and local laws for the protection of public health, safety, welfare, the environment, and natural resources; and a minimum amount of water necessary to support and sustain the economy of the State, region, or area.

(3a) "Gray water" means water that is discharged as waste from bathtubs, showers, wash basins, and clothes washers. "Gray water" does not include water that is discharged from toilets or kitchen sinks.

(3b) "Gray water system" means a water reuse system that is contained within a single family residence or multiunit residential or commercial building that filters gray water or captured rain water and reuses it for nonpotable purposes such as toilet flushing and irrigation.

(4) "Large community water system" means a community water system, as defined in G.S. 130A-313(10), that regularly serves 1,000 or more service connections or 3,000 or more individuals.

(4a) "Pretreatment mixing basin" means a basin created from lands that do not include waters of the State and in which raw water is mixed with reclaimed water before it is treated to the standards to make it suitable for potable water supply.

(5) "Unit of local government" means a county, city, consolidated city-county, sanitary district, or other local political subdivision or authority or agency of local government.

(6) "U.S. Drought Monitor" means the national drought map that designates areas of drought using the following categories D0-Abnormally Dry, D1-Moderate, D2-Severe, D3-Extreme, and D4-Exceptional. The U.S. Drought Monitor is developed and maintained by the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility, the Climate Prediction Center, the National Climatic Data Center, and the National Drought Mitigation Center with input from the United States Geological Survey, the National Water and Climate Center, the Climate Diagnostics Center, the National Weather Service, state climatologists, and state water resource agencies.

(7) "Water shortage emergency" means a water shortage resulting from prolonged drought, contamination of the water supply, damage to water infrastructure, or other unforeseen causes that presents an imminent threat to public health, safety, and welfare or to the environment.