The following words and terms have the following meanings when
used in this chapter, 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) Acquisition--The Applicant obtaining interests
in land that are necessary for construction or land that will be an
integral part of the treatment process (including land use for the
storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems prior to land
application) or will be used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting
from such treatment and acquisition of other land.
(2) Act--The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33
U.S.C. §§1251 et seq.
(3) Alternative Delivery Guidance--A document prepared
by the Board after public review and comment and reviewed periodically
that identifies alternative methods of project delivery available
to applicants for financial assistance and the requirements for utilizing
an alternative delivery method.
(4) Applicant--The entity applying for financial assistance
from the CWSRF including:
(A) the entity that receives the financial assistance,
and
(B) the entity legally responsible to repay the debt.
(5) Application--The information and supporting documentation
submitted by or on behalf of the Applicant that may be used in consideration
for financial assistance from the CWSRF or that the executive administrator
determines must be completed for consideration for financial assistance
from the CWSRF.
(6) Authorized representative--The signatory agent
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.
(7) Board--The Texas Water Development Board.
(8) Bonds--All bonds, notes, certificates of obligation,
and book-entry obligations authorized to be issued by any political
subdivision.
(9) Bypass--To pass over a higher ranked project in
favor of a lower ranked project to ensure that funds available are
utilized in a timely manner, to select an interrelated project, or
to meet statutory and capitalization grant requirements as delineated
in the applicable IUP.
(10) Capitalization grant--The federal grant funds
awarded annually by the EPA to the State for capitalization of the
CWSRF.
(11) 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.
(12) Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF)--The
financial assistance program authorized by Texas Water Code, Chapter
15, Subchapter J in accordance with the Act.
(13) Closing--The exchange of the Applicant's approved
debt instruments for CWSRF financial assistance.
(14) Commission--The Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality.
(15) Commitment--An offer by the Board to provide financial
assistance to an Applicant as evidenced by a Board resolution.
(16) Construction--Any one or more of the following:
preliminary planning to determine the feasibility of treatment works,
engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal, or economic investigations
or studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications,
procedures, field testing of innovative or alternative wastewater
treatment processes and techniques meeting guidelines promulgated
under 33 U.S.C. §1314(d)(3), or other necessary actions, erection,
building, acquisition, alteration, remodeling, improvement, or extension
of treatment works or the inspection or supervision of any of the
foregoing items.
(17) 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.
(18) Construction phase--The erection, acquisition,
alteration, remodel, rehabilitation, improvement, extension, or other
man-made change necessary for an eligible project or activity.
(19) 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.
(20) Cost and Effectiveness Analysis--The study and
evaluation of the cost and effectiveness of the processes, materials,
techniques, and technologies for carrying out the proposed project
or activity; and the selection, to the maximum extent practicable,
of a project or activity that maximizes the potential for efficient
water use, reuse, recapture, and conservation, and energy conservation;
taking into account (i) the cost of constructing the project or activity,
(ii) the cost of operating and maintaining the project or activity
over the life of the project or activity, and (iii) the cost of replacing
the project or activity.
(21) 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).
(22) 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.
(23) Design--The project phase during which the project
design documents are prepared by the Applicant. Documents may include
design surveys, plans, working drawings, specifications and any procedures
and protocols to be used during the construction phase of the project.
(24) Disadvantaged community--A community that meets
the affordability criteria based on income, unemployment rates, and
population trends. Specifically, the service area of an eligible applicant,
the service area of a community that is located outside the entity's
service area, or a portion within the entity's service area if the
proposed project is providing new service to existing residents in
unserved areas; and meets the following affordability criteria: (a)
has an annual median household income that is no more than 75 percent
of the state median household income using an acceptable source of
socioeconomic data, and (b) the household cost factor that considers
income, unemployment rates, and population trends must be greater
than or equal to one percent if only water or sewer service is provided
or greater than or equal to two percent if both water and sewer service
are provided. The required data and calculations of the household
cost factor are specified in the Intended Use Plan under which the
project would receive funding.
(25) 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, extreme
heat, other public calamity requiring emergency action, or energy
emergency as defined in Texas Government Code, §418.004.
(26) Eligible Applicant--Any of the following entities:
(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, or a special purpose district that finances, on behalf of its
members, waste disposal projects;
(B) an authorized Indian tribal organization;
(C) any person applying for financial assistance to
build a nonpoint source pollution control project pursuant to 33 U.S.C. §1329;
(D) any person applying for financial assistance for
an estuary management project pursuant to 33 U.S.C. §1330;
(E) any entity or person applying for financial assistance
as authorized under 33 U.S.C. §1383(c); or
(F) any other entity eligible under federal law to
receive funds from the CWSRF.
(27) 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.
(28) EPA--The United States Environmental Protection
Agency or a designated representative.
(29) Equivalency projects--Those projects funded that
must follow all federal cross cutter requirements.
(30) Escrow account--A separate account maintained
by an escrow agent until such funds are eligible for release to the
construction account.
Cont'd... |
