| (a) The Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board
(State Board) is the lead agency in this state for activity relating
to abating agricultural and silvicultural nonpoint source pollution.
(1) Nonpoint source pollution is pollution caused by
diffuse sources that are not regulated as point sources and normally
is associated with, but is not limited to agricultural, silvicultural,
and urban runoff including construction activities. Such pollution
is the result of human-made or human-induced alteration of the chemical,
physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water. In practical
terms nonpoint source pollution does not result from a discharge at
a specific, single location (such as a single pipe) but generally
results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, or
percolation. Pollution from nonpoint sources occurs when the rate
at which pollutant materials entering water bodies or groundwater
exceeds natural rates or total loadings exceed natural loadings.
(A) Possible nonpoint source pollutants associated
with agricultural and silvicultural activities include nutrients,
pesticides, organic matter, sediment, and animal wastes. These pollutants
may be transported to surface waters in solution with runoff water,
suspended in runoff water, or adsorbed on eroded soil particles. The
primary concern about agricultural and silvicultural impacts on groundwater
relate to use of pesticides, nutrients and potential leaching of these
compounds to groundwater or surface runoff entering groundwater through
avenues such as abandoned and improperly constructed wells.
(B) Animal feeding operations, in their entirety as
a single functioning facility, may be considered a point or a nonpoint
source depending on size, location, and other considerations. For
the purposes of this chapter, all animal feeding operations not required
to obtain a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
are nonpoint sources.
(2) Agriculture includes, but is not limited to, the
following activities: cultivating the soil; producing crops for human
food, animal feed, planting seed, or fiber; floriculture; viticulture;
horticulture; aquaculture; raising or keeping livestock or poultry;
and planting cover crops or leaving land idle for the purpose of participating
in any governmental program or normal crop or livestock rotation procedure.
(3) Silviculture includes, but is not limited to, the
following activities: practices to establish, nurture, protect, and
enhance the desired growth of trees for human and/or wildlife benefit;
natural or planted afforestation; the propagation and culture of tree
seedlings, tree saplings, and Christmas trees; controlling, suppressing,
or culling unwanted woody or herbaceous vegetation in a forested area;
establishing and/or maintaining strips or belts of trees for purposes
of providing wildlife habitat, wind breaks, or riparian buffers; construction
and maintenance of roads and fire lanes; practices and operations
that facilitate the harvesting, handling, and removing timber products
from a site where they were grown.
(b) As the lead agency, the State Board shall plan,
implement, and manage programs and practices for abating agricultural
and silvicultural nonpoint source pollution. At a minimum, these programs
shall include:
(1) a water quality management plan certification program
required by Agriculture Code §201.026(g);
(2) a nonpoint source grant program funded by §319(h)
of the federal Clean Water Act, as well as available non-federal appropriations
provided by the Texas Legislature, to initiate planning, assessment,
education, demonstration, research, or implementation projects and
programs associated with the effective administration of the Texas
Nonpoint Source Management Program;
(3) a total maximum daily load program in cooperation
with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and as required
by §303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act; the State Board may
enter into an agreement with the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality regarding the effective coordination of agricultural and silvicultural
nonpoint source pollution components of total maximum daily loads
and total maximum daily load implementation plans; and;
(4) a coastal nonpoint source pollution control program
as required by §6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization
Amendments of 1990 in cooperation with the Coastal Coordination Council
and the Texas Coastal Management Program as required by Natural Resources
Code §33.052.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §523.1 adopted to be effective December 22, 1993, 18 TexReg 9106; amended to be effective March 21, 2004, 29 TexReg 2652; amended to be effective June 21, 2006, 31 TexReg 4867; amended to be effective December 23, 2008, 33 TexReg 10325; amended to be effective July 8, 2013, 38 TexReg 4384 |
