The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Conservation—Those practices, techniques, and technologies that reduce the consumption of water, reduce the loss or waste of water, improve the efficiency in the use of water or increase the recycling and reuse of water so that a water supply is made available for future or alternative uses.
2. (2) Drought contingency plan—A strategy or combination of strategies for temporary supply management and demand management responses to temporary and potentially recurring water supply shortages and other water supply emergencies. A drought contingency plan may be a separate document identified as such or may be contained within another water management document(s).
3. (3) Industrial use—The use of water in processes designed to convert materials of a lower order of value into forms having greater usability and commercial value, including commercial feedlot operations, commercial fish production, and the development of power by means other than hydroelectric.
4. (4) Irrigation use—The use of water for the irrigation of crops, trees, and pastureland, including, but not limited to, golf courses and parks which do not receive water through a municipal distribution system.
5. (5) Irrigation water use efficiency—The percentage of that amount of irrigation water which is beneficially used by agriculture crops or other vegetation relative to the amount of water diverted from the source(s) of supply. Beneficial uses of water for irrigation purposes include, but are not limited to, evapotranspiration needs for vegetative maintenance and growth and salinity management and leaching requirements associated with irrigation.
6. (6) Mining use—The use of water for mining processes including hydraulic use, drilling, washing sand and gravel, and oil field repressuring.
7. (7) Municipal per capita water use—The sum total of water diverted into a water supply system for residential, commercial, and public and institutional uses divided by actual population served.
8. (8) Municipal use—The use of potable water within or outside a municipality and its environs whether supplied by a person, privately owned utility, political subdivision, or other entity as well as the use of sewage effluent for certain purposes, including the use of treated water for domestic purposes, fighting fires, sprinkling streets, flushing sewers and drains, watering parks and parkways, and recreational purposes, including public and private swimming pools, the use of potable water in industrial and commercial enterprises supplied by a municipal distribution system without special construction to meet its demands, and for the watering of lawns and family gardens.
9. (9) Pollution—The alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical, or biological quality of, or the contamination of, any water in the state that renders the water harmful, detrimental, or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property, or to the public health, safety, or welfare, or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or reasonable purpose.
10. (10) Public Water Supplier—An individual or entity that supplies water to the public for human consumption.
11. (11) Regional Water Planning Group—A group established by the Texas Water Development Board to prepare a regional water plan pursuant to Texas Water Code §16.053.
12. (12) Retail Public Water Supplier—An individual or entity that for compensation supplies water to the public for human consumption. The term does not include an individual or entity that supplies water to itself or its employees or tenants as an incident of that employee service or tenancy when that water is not resold to or used by others.
13. (13) Reuse—The authorized use for one or more beneficial purposes of use of water that remains unconsumed after the water is used for the original purpose of use and before that water is either disposed of or discharged or otherwise allowed to flow into a watercourse, lake, or other body of state-owned water.
14. (14) Water conservation plan—A strategy or combination of strategies for reducing the volume of water withdrawn from a water supply source, for reducing the loss or waste of water, for maintaining or improving the efficiency in the use of water, for increasing the recycling and reuse of water, and for preventing the pollution of water. A water conservation plan may be a separate document identified as such or may be contained within another water management document(s).
15. (15) Wholesale Public Water Supplier—An individual or entity that for compensation supplies water to another for resale to the public for human consumption. The term does not include an individual or entity that supplies water to itself or its employees or tenants as an incident of that employee service or tenancy when that water is not resold to or used by others.

Source Note:The provisions of this §288.1 adopted to be effective May 3, 1993, 18 TexReg 2558; amended to be effective February 21, 1999, 24 TexReg 949.