S.L. 549.22 Art. 3Interpretation.

For the purpose of these regulations and unless the context otherwise requires:

"agglomeration" means an area where the population and, or economic activities are sufficiently concentrated for urban waste water to be collected and conducted to an urban waste water treatment plant or to a final discharge point; "appropriate treatment" means treatment of urban waste water by any process and, or disposal system which after discharge allows the receiving waters to meet the relevant quality objectives and the relevant provisions of these and other regulations; "coastal waters" means the waters outside the low-water line or the outer limit of an estuary; "collecting system" means a system of conduits which collects and conducts urban waste water; "competent authority" means the Department for Environment Protection under the guidance of the Director for Environment Protection and such other body or person as the Minister responsible for the environment may by order in the Gazette prescribe and different bodies or persons may be designated as the competent authority for different provisions and different purposes of these regulations;

"domestic waste water" means waste water from residential settlements and services which originates predominantly from the human metabolism and from household activities; "estuary" means the transitional area between fresh-water and coastal waters; the authorities shall establish the outer (seaward) limits of estuaries for the purposes of these regulations; "eutrophication" means the enrichment of water by nutrients, especially compounds of nitrogen and, or phosphorus, causing an accelerated growth of algae and higher forms of plant life to produce an undesirable disturbance to the balance of organisms present in the water and to the quality of the water concerned;

"industrial waste water" means any waste water which is discharged from premises used for carrying on any trade or industry, other than domestic waste water and run-off rain water; "population equivalent" means the organic biodegradable load having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BODS) of 60g of oxygen per day; "primary treatment" means treatment of urban waste water by a physical and, or chemical process involving settlement of suspended solids, or other processes in which the BODS of the incoming waste water is reduced by at least 20% before discharge and the total suspended solids of the incoming waste water are reduced by at least 50%;

"secondary treatment" means treatment of urban waste water by a process generally involving biological treatment with a secondary settlement or other process in which the requirements established in Table 1 of Annex I are respected; "sludge" means:

(i) residual lodge from sewage plants treating domestic or urban waste waters and from other sewage plants treating waste waters of a composition similar to domestic and urban waste waters;

(ii) residual sludge from septic tanks and other similar installations for the treatment of sewage;

(iii) residual sludge from sewage plants other than those referred to in paragraphs (i) and (ii); "urban waste water" means domestic waste water or the mixture of domestic waste water with industrial waste water and, or run-off rain water.