1In this Act
“air” means the atmosphere but does not include the atmosphere within a building or within the underground workings of a mine;(air)
“alteration” , when it refers to a watercourse or a wetland, means a temporary or permanent change made at, near or to a watercourse or wetland or to the water flow in a watercourse or wetland and includes
(modification)
(a)
any change made to existing structures in the watercourse or wetland including repairs, modifications or removal, whether the water flow in the watercourse or wetland is altered or not,
(b)
the operation of machinery on the bed of a watercourse other than at a recognized fording place,
(c)
the operation of machinery in or on a wetland,
(d)
any deposit or removal of sand, gravel, rock, topsoil, organic matter or other material into or from a watercourse or wetland or within thirty meters of a wetland or the bank of a watercourse,
(e)
any disturbance of the ground within thirty metres of a wetland or the bank of a watercourse, except grazing by animals, the tilling, plowing, seeding and harrowing of land, the harvesting of vegetables, flowers, grains and ornamental shrubs and any other agricultural activity prescribed by regulation for the purposes of this paragraph, that occur more than five metres from a wetland or the bank of a watercourse,
(f)
any removal of vegetation from the bed or bank of a watercourse,
(g)
any removal of trees from within thirty metres of the bank of a watercourse, and
(h)
any removal of vegetation from a wetland or from within thirty metres of a wetland except the harvesting of vegetables, flowers, grains and ornamental shrubs and any other agricultural activity prescribed by regulation for the purposes of this paragraph, that occur more than five metres from a wetland;
“analyst” means an analyst designated under section 21;(analyste)
“animal” means a vertebrate, invertebrate or micro-organism whether living or dead, other than a human;(animal)
“approval” means an approval or certificate of approval granted or issued under this Act or the regulations that has not expired or been suspended or cancelled;(agrément)
“aquifer” means a geological formation from which ground water can be withdrawn;(nappe d’eau)
“body of water” means any body of flowing or standing water whether naturally or artificially created;(eau réceptrice)
“Committee” Repealed: 1992, c.76, s.1
“contaminant” means any solid, liquid, gas, micro-organism, odour, heat, sound, vibration, radiation or combination of any of them, present in the environment,
(polluant)
(a)
that is foreign to or in excess of the natural constituents of the environment,
(b)
that affects the natural, physical, chemical or biological quality or constitution of the environment,
(c)
that endangers the health, safety or comfort of a person or the health of animal life, that causes damage to property or to plant life or that interferes with visibility, the normal conduct of transport or business or the normal enjoyment of life or use or enjoyment of property, or
(d)
that is designated by the Minister of Health or the Minister as a contaminant under section 10,
and includes a pesticide or waste;
“contaminated” Repealed: 1992, c.76, s.1
“contamination” Repealed: 1992, c.76, s.1
“costs” includes expenses, disbursements, losses, damages and charges;(frais)
“danger of pollution” means
(risque de pollution)
(a)
an accumulation of material at a particular location,
(b)
an artificial disturbance of land,
(c)
a material storage or disposal facility,
(d)
a transfer operation,
(e)
a transport facility, or
(f)
a pipeline, tank, drum, excavation, depression, pond or impoundment situated in or on the ground or in a building, whether natural or artificial and whether lined or unlined, for either storage or transport, as the case may be, of useful or waste materials,
that could through use or misuse, seepage, leaching, accidents, leaks, breaks, negligence, acts of animals or persons or acts of God release contaminants directly or indirectly into or upon the waters of the Province and any application or disposal of materials or chemicals that could, directly or indirectly, enter the waters of the Province;
“Designation Order” means an Order made under subsection 14(1), and includes any requirements imposed under subsection 14(3) in relation to that Order and, unless otherwise indicated, any description or plan of the protected area that is published, registered or filed under section 14 in relation to that Order;(décret de désignation)
“domestic wastewater” means the wastewater discharging from a residential building and wastewater of a like nature discharging from other buildings;(eaux usées domestiques)
“environment” means the air, water or soil;(environnement)
“ground water” means any flowing or standing water below the surface of the earth;(eaux souterraines)
“ground water recharge area” means the surface area of land that acts as a catchment to supply a body of water or an aquifer with ground water;(aire d’alimentation d’une nappe souterraine)
“industrial waste” means any liquid, solid or other waste, or any combination of liquid, solid or other waste, resulting from a process of industry or manufacture or the exploration for or development of a natural resource and includes
(matières usées industrielles)
(a)
storm water that has been contaminated through contact with useful or waste materials as a result of human activity, and
(b)
useful or waste material from a danger of pollution that becomes a contaminant;
“inspector” means an inspector designated under section 17;(inspecteur)
“licence” means a licence issued under this Act or the regulations that has not expired or been suspended or cancelled;(licence)
“local government” means a municipality, rural community, regional municipality or rural district and includes a commission that provides water or wastewater services normally provided by a local government;(gouvernement local)
“Minister” means the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and includes any person designated by the Minister to act on the Minister’s behalf;(Ministre)
“Minister of Health” includes a person designated by the Minister of Health to act on that Minister’s behalf;(ministre de la Santé)
“monitoring” means auditing of or obtaining and analyzing samples;(surveillance)
“municipality” Repealed: 2017, c.20, s.23
“order” means an order issued under this Act or the regulations, but does not include
(arrêté)
(a)
an order issued under section 10 or 13, and
“permit” means a permit issued under this Act or the regulations that has not expired or been suspended or cancelled;(permis)
“person” , in addition to the meaning ascribed to it by the Interpretation Act, includes a local government, the Crown in right of Canada and the Crown in right of the Province;(personne)
“pesticide” means a pesticide as defined in the Pesticides Control Act;(pesticide)
“potable water” means water at a point of consumption that is being supplied from a well, public water supply system or water supply system and is intended to be used for cooking or drinking by humans;(eau potable)
“private well” means a well from which the water is used only by the owner or the owner’s immediate family for the purposes of the owner or the owner’s immediate family;(puits privé)
“public water supply system” means a public water supply system as defined by regulation;(installation d’approvisionnement public en eau)
“recognized fording place” means a ford as indicated on the most recent 1 to 50,000 scale maps of the National Topographic System or a place where persons have been fording a river, stream, creek or other flowing body of water for a period of at least five consecutive years;(endroit reconnu comme passage à gué)
“registration” means a registration under this Act or the regulations that has not expired or been suspended or cancelled;(immatriculation)
“release” , when used with reference to a contaminant or other matter regardless of form, includes the discharging, emitting, leaving, depositing or throwing of the contaminant or other matter and the doing of or the omission to do any other activity in respect of the contaminant or other matter, with the direct or indirect result that the contaminant or other matter enters into or upon water, whether or not the contaminant or other matter previously existed in or upon the water;(déversement)
“sewage” Repealed: 1993, c.19, s.1
“sewage treatment facility” Repealed: 1993, c.19, s.1
“sewer” means a drain, pipe or conduit intended to convey wastewater or storm water;(égout)
“significant health risk” , when it refers to a risk posed by water, means the presence in water of a contaminant or a class of contaminant, the amount, concentration or level of which, when attained in water by itself or in combination with another contaminant or any substance, in the opinion of the Minister of Health, endangers the health of a person in the circumstances;(risque important pour la santé)
“soil” includes land, earth and the terrain;(sol)
“solid waste” means waste with insufficient liquid content to be free-flowing;(matières usées solides)
“source” , when it refers to water, means the body of water from which the water is obtained for a well, public water supply system or water supply system;(source)
“source of contaminant” means any activity or any real or personal property that releases or might release a contaminant directly or indirectly into or upon water and includes a danger of pollution;(source de pollution)
“storm water” means rain water, or water resulting from the melting of snow and ice, that may contribute to the flow in a sewer;(eaux pluviales)
“surface water” means any flowing or standing water on the surface of the earth;(eau de surface)
“waste” includes rubbish, slimes, tailings, effluent, wastewater, fumes, smoke, other waste products of any kind and any other matter that is prescribed by regulation to be waste;(matières usées)
“wastewater” includes any industrial wastewater or domestic wastewater, whether treated or untreated, containing human, animal, vegetable or mineral matter in liquid or solid form, in suspension or in solution;(eaux usées)
“wastewater treatment facility” means all or any part of a structure or device or any combination of structures or devices that are used or intended to be used for the purpose of treating, monitoring or holding wastewater and includes pumps, buildings, piping, controls, other equipment and their appurtenances;(usine d’épuration des eaux usées)
“water” includes
(eau)
(a)
flowing or standing water whether on or below the surface of the earth, and
(b)
the ice of any body of water;
“water supply system” means a works that conveys or is able to convey water for human consumption;(installation d’approvisionnement en eau)
“watercourse” means the full width and length, including the bed, banks, sides and shoreline, or any part, of a river, creek, stream, spring, brook, lake, pond, reservoir, canal, ditch or other natural or artificial channel open to the atmosphere, the primary function of which is the conveyance or containment of water whether the flow be continuous or not;(cours d’eau)
“waters of the Province” means all water in the Province of New Brunswick and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, includes coastal water within the jurisdiction of the Province, ground water and surface water;(eaux de la Province)
“watershed” means the surface area contained within a divide above a specific point on a river, stream, creek or other flowing body of water;(bassin hydrographique)
“waterworks” means all or any part of a private, public, commercial or industrial works for the collection, production, treatment, storage, supply or distribution of water;(ouvrage d’adduction d’eau)
“well” means an artificial opening in the ground from which water is obtained or an opening made for the purpose of exploring for or obtaining water.(puits)
“wetland” means land that
(terre humide)
(a)
either periodically or permanently, has a water table at, near or above the land’s surface or that is saturated with water, and
(b)
sustains aquatic processes as indicated by the presence of hydric soils, hydrophytic vegetation and biological activities adapted to wet conditions.
1989, c.53, s.1; 1989, c.55, s.25; 1992, c.76, s.1; 1993, c.19, s.1; 2000, c.26, s.44; 2002, c.26, s.1; 2003, c.5, s.1; 2005, c.7, s.11; 2006, c.16, s.30; 2006, c.16, s.31; 2012, c.39, s.39; 2017, c.2, s.3; 2017, c.20, s.23; 2020, c.25, s.25; 2021, c.44, s.34; 2023, c.17, s.29