---
kind: "section"
citation: "40 C.F.R. § 503.11"
title: "40"
number: "503.11"
heading: "Special definitions."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/40/503.11"
---

# §503.11. Special definitions.

- (a) **Agricultural land—** is land on which a food crop, a feed crop, or a fiber crop is grown. This includes range land and land used as pasture.
- (b) **Agronomic rate—** is the whole sludge application rate (dry weight basis) designed:
  - (1) To provide the amount of nitrogen needed by the food crop, feed crop, fiber crop, cover crop, or vegetation grown on the land; and
  - (2) To minimize the amount of nitrogen in the sewage sludge that passes below the root zone of the crop or vegetation grown on the land to the ground water.
- (c) **Annual pollutant loading rate—** is the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be applied to a unit area of land during a 365 day period.
- (d) **Annual whole sludge application rate—** is the maximum amount of sewage sludge (dry weight basis) that can be applied to a unit area of land during a 365 day period.
- (e) **Bulk sewage sludge—** is sewage sludge that is not sold or given away in a bag or other container for application to the land.
- (f) **Cumulative pollutant loading rate—** is the maximum amount of an inorganic pollutant that can be applied to an area of land.
- (g) **Forest—** is a tract of land thick with trees and underbrush.
- (h) **Land application—** is the spraying or spreading of sewage sludge onto the land surface; the injection of sewage sludge below the land surface; or the incorporation of sewage sludge into the soil so that the sewage sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize crops or vegetation grown in the soil.
- (i) **Monthly average—** is the arithmetic mean of all measurements taken during the month.
- (j) **Other container—** is either an open or closed receptacle. This includes, but is not limited to, a bucket, a box, a carton, and a vehicle or trailer with a load capacity of one metric ton or less.
- (k) **Pasture—** is land on which animals feed directly on feed crops such as legumes, grasses, grain stubble, or stover.
- (l) **Public contact site—** is land with a high potential for contact by the public. This includes, but is not limited to, public parks, ball fields, cemeteries, plant nurseries, turf farms, and golf courses.
- (m) **Range land—** is open land with indigenous vegetation.
- (n) **Reclamation site—** is drastically disturbed land that is reclaimed using sewage sludge. This includes, but is not limited to, strip mines and construction sites.

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: Sections 405 (d) and (e) of the Clean Water Act, as amended by Pub. L. 95-217, sec. 54(d), 91 Stat. 1591 (33 U.S.C. 1345 (d) and (e)); and Pub. L. 100-4, title IV, sec. 406 (a), (b), 101 Stat., 71, 72 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. ).

### Source

Source: 58 FR 9387, Feb. 19, 1993, unless otherwise noted.