The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Words defined in Chapter 15 of the Texas Water Code and not defined here shall have the meanings provided by Chapter 15.

1. (1) Act--The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. §§1251 et seq.
2. (2) Applicant--The entity applying for financial assistance from the CWSRF including the entity that receives the financial assistance, the entity that owns the project funded under this chapter or an entity authorized to act on behalf of another eligible Applicant.
3. (3) Application--The forms provided by the executive administrator that must be completed for consideration for financial assistance from the CWSRF.
4. (4) Authorized representative--The signatory agent of the Applicant authorized and directed by the Applicant's governing body to file the application and to sign documents relating to the project, on behalf of the Applicant.
5. (5) Board--The Texas Water Development Board.
6. (6) Bonds--All bonds, notes, certificates of obligation, and book-entry obligations authorized to be issued by any political subdivision.
7. (7) Bypass--The selection of a project for funding independent of the project's ranking based on factors delineated in the applicable IUP.
8. (8) Capitalization grant--The federal grant funds awarded annually by the EPA to the State for capitalization of the CWSRF.
9. (9) Certification of Trust--An instrument executed by a home rule municipality pursuant to Chapter 104, Local Government Code, governing the management of the financial assistance proceeds in accordance with §114.086, Texas Property Code.
10. (10) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)--The financial assistance program authorized by Texas Water Code, Chapter 15, Subchapter J in accordance with the Act.
11. (11) Closing--The exchange of the Applicant's approved debt instruments for CWSRF financial assistance.
12. (12) Commission--The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
13. (13) Commitment--An offer by the Board to provide financial assistance to an Applicant who timely fulfills the conditions in a Board resolution.
14. (14) Commitment term--The amount of time, after the Board commitment, within which the commitment for financial assistance must be closed.
15. (15) Construction--The erection, acquisition, alteration, remodel, rehabilitation, improvement, extension or other man-made change necessary for an eligible project or activity.
16. (16) Construction account--A separate account created and maintained for the deposit of financial assistance and utilized by the Applicant to pay eligible expenses of the project.
17. (17) Contract documents--The engineering documentation relating to the project including engineering drawings, maps, technical specifications, design reports, instructions and other contract conditions and forms that are in sufficient detail to allow contractors to bid on the work.
18. (18) Davis Bacon Act--The federal statute at 40 U.S.C. §§3141 et seq. and in conformance with the U.S. Department of Labor regulations at 29 CFR Part 5 (Labor Standards Provisions Applicable to Contracts Covering Federally Financed and Assisted Construction) and 29 CFR Part 3 (Contractors and Subcontractors on Public Work Financed in Whole or in Part by Loans or Grants from the United States).
19. (19) Debt--All bonds or other documents issued or to be issued by any political subdivision or eligible Applicant pledging repayment of the Board's financial assistance.
20. (20) Design--The project phase during which the Applicant prepares the project design documents including design surveys, plans, working drawings, specifications and any procedures and protocols to be used during the construction of the project.
21. (21) Disadvantaged community--The service area or portion of a service area that has an adjusted median household income that is no more than 75% of the State median household income for the most recent year for which statistics are available; and if the service area is only charged for one type of service, water or sewer, with a household cost factor for water or sewer rates that is greater than or equal to one percent; or if the service area is charged for both water and sewer services, with a combined household cost factor for water and sewer rates that is greater than or equal to two percent. The Board may provide financial assistance to an entity that cannot otherwise afford financial assistance under the CWSRF based on considerations other than household cost factors if such considerations clearly warrant financial assistance.
22. (22) Disaster--The occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man-made cause, including fire, flood, earthquake, wind, storm, wave action, oil spill or other water contamination, volcanic activity, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation, explosion, riot, hostile military or paramilitary action, other public calamity requiring emergency action, or energy emergency as defined in Texas Government Code, §418.004.

23. (23) Eligible Applicant--Any of the following entities:

    1. (A) a waste treatment management agency including any interstate agencies, or any city, commission, county, district, river authority, or other public body created by or pursuant to state law that has authority to dispose of sewage, industrial wastes, or other waste;
    2. (B) an authorized Indian tribal organization;
    3. (C) any person applying for financial assistance to build a nonpoint source pollution control project pursuant to the Act, §319; or
    4. (D) any person applying for financial assistance for an estuary management project pursuant to the Act, §320.
24. (24) Engineering feasibility report--Those necessary plans and studies that directly relate to the project and that are needed in order to assure compliance with the enforceable requirements of the Act and state statutes.
25. (25) Environmental affirmation--The Board's acceptance of the environmental determination made prior to the release of funds for design or construction for an equivalency project receiving pre-design financial assistance.
26. (26) EPA--The United States Environmental Protection Agency or a designated representative.
27. (27) Equivalency projects--Those projects funded from financial assistance in an equivalent amount of the annual federal capitalization grant and match that must follow all federal cross cutter requirements.
28. (28) Escrow account--A separate account maintained by an escrow agent until such funds are eligible for release to the construction account.

29. (29) Escrow agent--Any of the following:

    1. (A) a state or national bank designated by the comptroller as a state depository institution in accordance with Texas Government Code, Chapter 404, Subchapter C;
    2. (B) a custodian of collateral in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 404, Subchapter D; or
    3. (C) a municipal official responsible for managing the fiscal affairs of a home-rule municipality in accordance with Local Government Code, Chapter 104.
30. (30) Estuary management plan--A plan for the conservation and management of an estuary of national significance as described in the Act, §320.
31. (31) Estuary management project--A project to develop or implement an estuary management plan.
32. (32) Executive administrator--The executive administrator of the Board or a designated representative.
33. (33) Financial assistance--Loan funds, including principal forgiveness and negative interest loans, provided to eligible Applicants.
34. (34) Force majeure--Acts of god, strikes, lockouts or other industrial disturbances, acts of the public enemy, war, blockades, insurrections, riots, epidemics, landslides, lightning, earthquakes, fires, storms, floods, washouts, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, arrests and restraints of government and people, explosions, breakage or damage to machinery, pipelines or canals, and any other inabilities of either party, whether similar to those enumerated or otherwise, and not within the control of the party claiming such inability, which by the exercise of due diligence and care such party could not have avoided.
35. (35) Green project--A project or components of a project that, when implemented, will result in energy efficiency, water efficiency, green infrastructure or environmental innovation and that are characterized as green projects either categorically or by utilizing a business case as approved by the executive administrator.
36. (36) Green project reserve--A federal directive requiring a specified portion of the capitalization grant to be used for green projects.
37. (37) Intended use plan (IUP)--A document prepared annually by the Board, after public review and comment, which identifies the intended uses of all CWSRF program funds and describes how those uses support the overall goals of the CWSRF.
38. (38) Invited Projects List--That portion of the IUP listing eligible projects ranked according to their rating which will be invited to submit applications in accordance with procedures and deadlines as detailed in the applicable IUP.
39. (39) Lending rate--The rate of interest applicable to a particular financial assistance under the CWSRF.
40. (40) Market interest rate--Interest rates comparable to those attained for municipal securities in an open market offering.
41. (41) Municipality--A city, town, or other public body created by or pursuant to state law.
42. (42) Non-equivalency projects--Those projects funded from financial assistance that follow all state requirements and are not subject to compliance with applicable federal cross cutter requirements.
43. (43) Nonpoint source pollution plan--A plan for managing nonpoint source pollution as described in the Act, §319. Nonpoint source pollution is any source of water pollution that does not enter water from a point source and includes pollution generally resulting from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification.
44. (44) Nonpoint source pollution project--A project implemented pursuant to a nonpoint source pollution plan.
45. (45) Outlay report--The Board's form used to report costs incurred on the project.
46. (46) Permit--Any permit, license, registration and other legal document required from any local, regional, state or federal government for construction of the project.
47. (47) Person--An individual, corporation, partnership, association, State, municipality, commission or political subdivision of the State, or any interstate body.
48. (48) Point source--Any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.
49. (49) Political subdivision--A municipality, intermunicipal, interstate, or state agency, or any other public entity eligible for assistance.

50. (50) Population--The number of people who reside within the territorial boundaries of or receive wholesale or retail wastewater service from the Applicant based upon data that is acceptable to the executive administrator and which includes the following:

    1. (A) acceptable demographic projections or other information in the engineering feasibility report or the latest official census for an incorporated city; or
    2. (B) information on the population for which the project is designed, where the Applicant is not an incorporated city or town.
51. (51) Private Placement Memorandum (PPM)--A document functionally similar to an official statement used in connection with an offering of municipal securities in a private placement.
52. (52) Project--The planning, acquisition of land and permits, environmental review, design, construction and other activities designed to improve, extend, rehabilitate and construct wastewater treatment facilities and nonpoint source or national estuary program projects eligible for funding under the Act.
53. (53) Project engineer--The engineer retained by the Applicant to provide professional engineering services during any phase of a project.
54. (54) Project information form--The form that must be submitted by Applicants for rating and ranking in an IUP.
55. (55) Project Priority List--That portion of the IUP listing eligible projects ranked according to their rating and that may be further prioritized as described in the applicable IUP.
56. (56) Ready to proceed--A project that has completed design and obtained all permits, all legally required authorizations and all land, and has complied with all engineering and environmental planning review requirements, along with other Board requirements as applicable.
57. (57) Release of funds--The sequence and timing for Applicant's release of financial assistance funds from the escrow account to the construction account.
58. (58) Small systems--Those systems that serve a population of not more than ten thousand individuals.
59. (59) State--The State of Texas.
60. (60) Subsidy--Any special financial terms and conditions available including loan forgiveness, negative interest rates, or other financial incentives as detailed in an IUP.
61. (61) Treatment works--Any devices, facilities and systems that are used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of waste or that are necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the estimated life of the works, including intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of, or used in connection with, the treatment process (including land used for the storage of treated water in land treatment systems prior to land application) or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment; or facilities to provide for the collection, control, and disposal of waste. The term also means any other method or system for preventing, abating, reducing, storing, treating, separating, or disposing of municipal waste, including storm water runoff; and waste combined in storm water and sanitary sewer systems, the type of projects that often arise in response to emergency events.
62. (62) Water conservation plan--A report outlining the methods and means by which water conservation may be achieved within a particular facilities planning area.
63. (63) Water conservation program--A comprehensive description and schedule of the methods and means to implement and enforce a water conservation plan.
64. (64) Water quality management plan--A plan prepared and updated annually by the State and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency that determines the nature, extent, and causes of water quality problems in various areas of the State and identifies cost-effective and locally acceptable facility and nonpoint measures to meet and maintain water quality standards.

Source Note:The provisions of this §375.1 adopted to be effective September 8, 2010, 35 TexReg 8126; amended to be effective July 30, 2012, 37 TexReg 5615.