The definitions provided in this section apply only to this chapter.
"Allocation" means the designation of specific amounts of water for beneficial uses.
"Appropriation" means the process of legally acquiring the right to use specific amounts of water for beneficial uses, consistent with the ground and surface water codes and other applicable water resource statutes.
"Closure" means that water is no longer available for future appropriations without mitigation to offset the use. This is due to a finding by ecology that further appropriations from the closed stream(s) or hydraulically connected groundwaters would impair senior water rights or cause detriment to the public interest.
"Consumptive use" means use of water that diminishes the volume or quality of the water source.
"Control station" means a specific location where stream flows and water levels are measured.
"Critical period" means for a given stream the thirty-day period with the lowest stream flow available to support a critical life stage for fish, as determined by Washington state department of fish and wildlife, ecology, and tribes, typically during the late summer or fall.
"Cubic foot per second" or "cfs" means the rate of flow representing a volume of one cubic foot passing a given point during one second.
"Domestic use" means use of water associated with human health and welfare needs, including water used for drinking, bathing, sanitary purposes, cooking, laundering, and other incidental household uses. The incidental uses must minimize the consumptive use of water. Examples of incidental household uses include, but are not limited to: Washing windows, car washing, cleaning exterior structures, care of household pets, and watering potted plants. Domestic use does not include other uses allowed under the groundwater permit exemption: Outdoor irrigation of up to one-half acre of noncommercial lawn or garden, stockwatering, and industrial use.
"Dungeness water exchange" means a water bank pursuant to the Water Resources Management Act, chapter
90.42 RCW.
"Ecology" means the Washington state department of ecology.
"Existing water right" includes perfected riparian rights, federal Indian and non-Indian reserved rights, or other perfected and inchoate appropriative rights, including water rights established under RCW
90.03.260 through
90.03.290 and
90.44.050.
"Hydraulically connected" means saturated conditions exist that allow water to move between two or more sources of water, either between surface water and groundwater or between groundwater sources.
"Instream flows" means a stream flow level set in rule to protect and preserve fish, wildlife, scenic, aesthetic, recreational, water quality, and other environmental values; and navigational values. The term "instream flow" means "base flow" under chapter
90.54 RCW, "minimum flow" under chapters
90.03 and
90.22 RCW, and "minimum instream flow" under chapter
90.82 RCW.
"Interruption" means a temporary halt or reduction in the rate and volume of withdrawal under water rights established after the effective date of this rule during periods when the flow in the river or stream falls below the instream flow levels set in WAC
173-518-040.
"Maximum depletion amount" means a limit on how much impact to water resources resulting from groundwater withdrawals will be allowable under this rule before ecology declares water is not available.
"Mitigation" means action taken to offset impacts from future water appropriations on closed surface water bodies or senior water rights, including the instream flow levels set in WAC
173-518-040, as provided in WAC
173-518-070.
"Nonconsumptive use" means a type of water use where either there is no diversion from a water source, or where there is no diminishment of the amount or quality of the water source.
"Permit-exempt withdrawals" or
"permit exemption" means a groundwater withdrawal exempted from ecology water right permitting requirements under RCW
90.44.050, but which is otherwise subject to the groundwater code and other applicable regulations.
"Proponent" means the person or entity that seeks a new appropriation of surface or groundwater, including through a permit exempt withdrawal.
"Public water system" means any system that provides water for human consumption or municipal purposes through pipes or other constructed conveyances. This includes both systems that meet the definition of municipal water supplier in RCW
90.03.015(3) and Group B systems as classified by the Washington department of health, and excludes a system serving one single-family residence or a system with four or fewer connections serving residences on the same farm.
"Reserve" means a limited allocation of water for future new uses not subject to interruption when stream flows fall below the levels adopted in this rule.
"Stream flow" means the amount of water flowing down a stream.
"Subbasin management unit" means a stream segment, reach, or tributary basin where a particular instream flow level, reserve, water diversion, or withdrawal limit applies.
"Timely and reasonable" means the timing and cost involved in providing potable water service by a public water system to a property consistent with Washington department of health guidance and local coordinated water system plan definitions.
"Water budget neutral" means either placement of other water rights into the trust water right program or stream flow improvement with appropriate assurances, that are at least equivalent to the amount of impact to surface water resulting from consumptive use of a proposed project.
"Water resource inventory area (WRIA)" means one of the sixty-two areas designated by the state of Washington through chapter
173-500 WAC to delineate area boundaries within the state for water management purposes.
"Water right change or transfer" means a change in the place of use, point of diversion or withdrawal, number of points of diversion or withdrawal, or purpose of use (including season of use), of an existing water right. A water right change application must be filed with ecology for approval. If approved, the modified water right will carry the priority date of the original water right.
"Water right permit" means a permit that represents approval by ecology to appropriate water for a beneficial use.
"Withdrawal" means the extraction and beneficial use of groundwater, or the diversion and beneficial use of surface water.
