(a) “Access roads” means any temporary roadways built for installation of underground utility construction as per the terms of the underground utility erosion and sediment control permitting authority of the Commission.

(b) “Applicant” means any person(s) who executes the necessary forms to procure official approval of underground utility construction or a permit to construct an underground utility.

(c) “Authorized inspection agency” means a county, bi-county or state agency that has erosion and sediment control enforcement authority within the Washington Suburban Sanitary District. In addition to the Commission, such agencies include the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation, and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

(d) “Best management practices (BMP)” means the most effective techniques for protecting the environment from detrimental impact.

(e) “Clear, clearing” means any activity that removes the vegetative ground cover while leaving the root mat intact.

(f) “Commission” means the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

(g) “Critical area” means all lands and waters defined in the Natural Resources Article, § 8-1807, Annotated Code of Maryland.

(h) “Department” means the Maryland Department of the Environment.

(i) “Department of Permitting Services” means the Montgomery County approval agency for erosion and sediment control plans.

(j) “District” means the Prince George’s County Soil Conservation District, approval agency for erosion and sediment control plans.

(k) “Drainage area” means that area contributing runoff to a single point of interest, measured in a horizontal plain, which is enclosed by a ridge line.

(l) “Enforcement official” means an employee of the Commission authorized to issue enforcement notices including violations, citations, and stop work orders.

(m) “Erosion” means the process by which the land surface is worn away by the action of wind, water, ice or gravity.

(n) “Erosion and sediment control” means a system of structural and vegetative measures that minimize soil erosion and off-site sedimentation by containing sediment on site or by filtering sediment-laden runoff through a sediment control device.

(o) “Erosion and sediment control plan” means an erosion and sediment control strategy or a series of engineered drawings showing the means to minimize soil erosion and prevent off-site sedimentation by containing sediment through erosion and sediment control measures that are prepared and approved in accordance with the specific requirements of the Commission.

(p) “Exemption” means any underground utility construction and maintenance activity that is not subject to the erosion and sediment control requirements as contained in these regulations.

(q) “Federal project” means any project on federally owned land that involves land disturbance or any project that involves land disturbance and is administered by a federal agency.

(r) “Floodplain” means the flat areas along the course of a waterway that are subject to flooding by 100-year frequency storm events and are so designated in the Natural Resources Article, § 8-101, Annotated Code of Maryland, and COMAR 26.17.01.01.

(s) “Grade, grading” means to cause land disturbance.

(t) “Land disturbance” means any earth movement or land changes that may result in soil erosion from wind and water and the movement of sediment into state waters or onto state lands, including, but not limited to, tilling, clearing, excavating, trenching, stripping, filling, stockpiling of earth materials, root mat or topsoil removal, the covering of land with an impermeable material, or any combination of these activities.

(u) “Major utility construction” means any clearing, grubbing, trenching, or other land disturbance for underground utility construction in excess of 125 linear feet of utility corridor, and which exceeds one or more of the following parameters: trench width generally greater than 20 inches, trench depth generally greater than 42 inches, or trench gradient generally greater than 40 percent for a distance of 75 feet anywhere along the project site.

(w) “Minor utility construction” means any clearing, grubbing, trenching, or other land disturbance for underground utility construction that is less than or equal to 125 linear feet of utility corridor, or is in excess of 125 linear feet and does not exceed any of the following parameters: trench width generally greater than 20 inches, trench depth generally greater than 42 inches, or trench gradient generally greater than 40 percent for a distance of 75 feet anywhere along the project site.

(x) “Permit” means the utility erosion and sediment control permit for underground utility construction in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties issued by the Commission.

(y) “Permittee” means any person to whom a utility erosion and sediment control permit has been issued.

(z) “Person” includes the federal government, the state, any county, municipal corporation or other political subdivision of the state, or any of their units; or an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, or representative of any kind and any partnership, firm, association, corporation or other entity.

(aa) “Project” means any major utility construction as defined in this section.

(bb) “Repeated infraction” means a recurring violation of the same provision of this utility erosion and sediment control regulation or permit by the same person.

(cc) “Responsible person” means any Foreman, Superintendent, Crew Chief, Construction Inspector, Contract Manager, Project Engineer or other person who is in charge of on-site clearing and grading operations or erosion and sediment control associated with land disturbance for utility construction.

(dd) “Sediment” means soils or other materials transported or deposited by the action of wind, water, ice, gravity or artificial means.

(ee) “Site” means any tract, lot or parcel of land, or combination of tracts, lots or parcels of land that together comprise the total area upon which a utility is constructed or maintained, and is subject to a permit.

(ff) “Special protection area (SPA)” means those areas defined in Montgomery County Bill 26-94, entitled “Water Quality Review – Special Protected Areas.”

(gg) “Stabilization” means the prevention of soil movement by utilizing specified and approved vegetative or structural means.

(hh) “Standards and Specifications” means the “2011 Maryland Standards and Specifications for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control” or any subsequent revisions.

(ii) “State project” means any utility construction on state-owned land that involves land disturbance and is administered by a state agency.

(jj) “Stockpile areas” means any portion(s) of the underground utility construction zone used for temporary storage of construction materials, equipment or backfill soil materials.

(kk) “Upper Patuxent River watershed” means all land areas and waterways that drain to the Patuxent River above T. Howard Duckett Dam.

(ll) “Utility” means a company that generates, transmits and/or distributes electricity, water and/or gas from facilities that it owns and/or operates.

(mm) “Utility construction” means any underground construction or maintenance work subject to the Commission’s utility erosion and sediment control permitting authority related to water or wastewater systems, underground or buried pipelines, ducts, conduits, or cables including access roads and stockpile areas.

(nn) “Variance” means relief from or modification of the criteria set forth in the Standards and Specifications.

(oo) “Waterway” means any natural or artificial stream, river, creek, ditch, channel, canal, conduit, culvert, drain, gully, ravine or wash, including any area adjacent thereto, which is subject to inundation by reason of overflow of flood water or storm runoff. (REG-IFSM-EC-2014-002 § II)