The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. (1) Boat--Any vessel or other watercraft, whether moved by oars, paddles, sails, or other power mechanism, inboard or outboard, or any other vessel or structure floating on surface water in the state, whether or not capable of self-locomotion, including but not limited to cabin cruisers, houseboats, barges, marinas, and similar floating objects. The term does not include a vessel subject to inspection under 46 United States Code, §3301. (2) Boat pump-out station--Any private or public shoreside, mobile, or floating installation either independent of or in addition to an organized waste collection, treatment, and disposal system used to receive boat sewage. (3) Clear Lake--That body of water located in Harris and Galveston Counties and commonly referred to as "Clear Lake" and its immediate tributaries including: Clear Creek east of Interstate Highway 45; Cow Bayou south of NASA Road 1; Horsepen and Armand Bayous south of Bay Area Boulevard; Taylor Lake south of Red Bluff Road; and to the confluence with Galveston Bay at the navigation light in Kemah. (4) Holding tank--Any tank or receptacle used for retaining sewage. (5) Houseboat--Any boat or floating structure on surface water in the state, capable of being used as a stationary and/or mobile residence that usually, but not necessarily, contains plumbing fixtures. (6) Marine sanitation device--Any sanitation device for use on any boat, which is designed to receive, retain, treat or dispose of sewage. Marine sanitation device Types I, II, and III shall be defined as provided in 33 Code of Federal Regulations Part 159. (7) No discharge zone--Any surface water in the state where the discharge of boat sewage is prohibited. (8) Sewage--Human body wastes and wastes derived from domestic activities, such as washing, bathing, and food preparation, discharged into marine sanitation devices and boat pump-out stations. (9) Shoreside, mobile, or floating installation--Marinas and other installations servicing boats on surface water in the state. (10) Surface water in the state--All lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico out three nautical miles into the Gulf, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state, except waters beyond three nautical miles of any shore in the state. (11) Toilet--Any sanitation device used on a boat which is designed to receive, retain, or dispose of sewage when connected to a marine sanitation device. |
