For purposes of this part, the following terms and phrases have the meanings provided. Some definitions differ from those provided in regulations of one or more agencies of the Commission's member states and the Federal Government. Other definitions are consistent with terms defined by the Delaware River Basin Compact.

Basin is the area of drainage into the Delaware River and its tributaries, including Delaware Bay.

Commission is the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) created and constituted by the Delaware River Basin Compact.

Discharge of wastewater from HVHF and HVHF-related activities is an intentional or unintentional action or omission resulting in the releasing, spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, spreading, spraying, injecting, leaching, dumping, or disposing of such wastewater to waters or land within the Basin, and including the abandonment or discarding of barrels, containers, and other receptacles containing such wastewater.

Fracturing fluid(s) is a mixture of water (whether fresh or recycled) and/or other fluids and chemicals or other additives, which are injected into the subsurface and which may include chemicals used to reduce friction, minimize biofouling of fractures, prevent corrosion of metal pipes or remove drilling mud damage within a wellbore area, and propping agents such as silica sand, which are deposited in the induced fractures.

High volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) is hydraulic fracturing using a combined total of 300,000 or more gallons of water during all stages in a well completion, whether the well is vertical or directional, including horizontal, and whether the water is fresh or recycled and regardless of the chemicals or other additives mixed with the water.

HVHF-related activities are:

(1) Construction of an oil or natural gas production well that is to be stimulated using HVHF as defined in this section;

(2) Chemical mixing or storage of proppant, chemicals and other additives to make fracturing fluid; and

(3) Management of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, including storage, disposal, treatment, or reuse in hydraulic fracturing operations or other uses.

Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used to stimulate the production of oil and natural gas from a well by injecting fracturing fluids down the wellbore under pressure to create and maintain induced fractures in the hydrocarbon-bearing rock of the target geologic formation.

Person is any natural person, corporation, partnership, association, company, trust, Federal, state, or local governmental unit, agency, or authority, or other entity, public or private.

Wastewater from HVHF and HVHF-related activities is:

(1) Any wastewater, brine, or sludge containing chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive materials, heavy metals or other contaminants that have been used for or generated by high volume hydraulic fracturing or HVHF-related activities;

(2) Leachate from solid wastes associated with HVHF-related activities, except if the solid wastes were lawfully disposed of in a landfill within the Basin prior to March 6, 2023; and

(3) Any products, co-products, byproducts, or waste products resulting from the treatment, processing, or modification of the wastewater described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this definition.

Water resource(s) is, in accordance with section 1.2(i) of the Delaware River Basin Compact, water and related natural resources in, on, under, or above the ground, including related uses of land, which are subject to beneficial use, ownership or control within the Delaware River Basin.