Section 216-RICR-50-05-7.3 - DEFINITIONSA. Wherever used in this Part, the following terms shall be construed as follows: 1. "Audit" means the annual formal examination of the water supplier's financial statements including all investments, interest, expenditures, and operating costs.2. "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of the State of Rhode Island.3. "Comprehensive plan" means the Comprehensive Plan adopted and approved in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-22.2, the RI Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act. A document prepared by each local municipality which contains the planning and implementation program for land use, housing, economic development, natural and cultural resources, services and facilities, open space and recreation, and circulation.4. "Department" means the Department of Health (DOH), Division of Drinking Water Quality.5. "Distribution facilities" means the pipes and appurtenant facilities employed specifically to deliver, to dispense, to render or to circulate potable water directly to the consumer.6. "Drinking water" means potable water served to the public.7. "Economic life" means the expected financial lifespan of a component of a public water system which is used to depreciate the capital expense of the component.8. "Eligible expenditures" means those costs and expenses necessary to fund, manage, and implement the infrastructure replacement plan, only. This may include associated accounting fees, consulting fees, replacement construction, etc.9. "Infrastructure" means the permanent underlying framework of the public water system, including but not limited to, supplies, transmission, storage, distribution, pumping, and treatment facilities.10. "Life expectancy" means the expected physical lifespan of a component of a public water system.11. "Maintenance" means a planned program of inspection, adjustment, exercise, lubrication, etc. which allows the maximum continuous service of the equipment in the system at the lowest possible cost to the utility as required in the Water Resources Board "Rules and Procedures for Water Supply Systems Management Planning" §8.07(c) . Routine maintenance expenditures are not eligible for funding from the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.12. "Rate fee" means the charge per unit for public water based upon a ratio, scale, or standard relative to the cost of supplying potable drinking water.13. "Rehabilitation" means rehabilitation which restores existing facilities or components to a condition which extends the physical and economic life of the component. Rehabilitation is an eligible expenditure under the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.14. "Repair" means expenditures to return into service a component of the infrastructure that has failed is not an eligible expenditure under the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.15. "Replacement" means new construction to substitute for existing facilities or components which cannot be rehabilitated or repaired cost effectively is an eligible expenditure under the Infrastructure Replacement Plan.16. "Special account" means an account established by physically opening an account designated as the "Infrastructure Replacement Fund" that is acceptable under this Part. This account shall be self-contained in that deposits and withdrawals are recorded by the financial institution through a fiduciary relationship with the utility. This special account shall be a restricted receipt account dedicated solely for funding of eligible expenditures from the infrastructure replacement program and be administered by the general manager of the water supplier or his designee. All receipts, income, and interest earned on these funds shall be accrued within this special account.17. "Surcharge" means a fee charged in addition to normal system rate fees which is used to fund extraordinary or special conditions of the water system.18. "Transmission facilities" means the pipes, pumping stations, and storage facilities required to carry raw and/or potable water from a water source to or throughout an area served or to be served by a water supply system for the specific purpose of supplying water to support a general population.19. "Water supplier" means any municipality, municipal department, agency, district, authority, or other entity engaged in or authorized to engage in the supply, treatment, transmission, or distribution of drinking water on a wholesale or retail sales basis.20. "Water supply sources" means Department of Health approved sources of supply connected to a water supply system and available for distribution. These sources may be surface waters or groundwater wells.21. "Water supply management plan" means a plan prepared by applicable public water suppliers which plans and implements effective and efficient conservation, development, utilization, and protection of water supply resources consistent with the present and future needs of the State and its people as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws §46-15.4.216 R.I. Code R. 216-RICR-50-05-7.3