# Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.07: Definitions > Wisconsin · Regulations · In force URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_07 ## Section - **Citation:** Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.07 - **Heading:** Definitions - **Jurisdiction:** Wisconsin - **Kind:** Regulations - **Status:** In force - **Text as of:** August 14, 2026 - **Source:** Compiled text - **Location:** Wisconsin Administrative Code / NR / Chapter NR 812 / § NR 812.07 ## Text Definitions. Definitions. The following terms are defined as follows: (1) “Adequate water supply” means a water supply which has a well yield and the pump capacity to provide the quantity and quality, where obtainable, according to s. NR 812.06 , of water necessary for human or sanitary use, or for the preparation of food products and other purposes for which the water is intended to be used. (1p) “Air gap” means the unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank or plumbing fixture and the flood level rim or spill level of the receptacle. (1r) “Alcove” means a pit that shares a wall with a basement and is accessible from the basement. (1t) “Animal barn” means a covered, paved or unpaved area in which animals are kept. This includes an area where an individual animal is kept, but does not include a single pet house or single pet kennel housing 5 or fewer adult pets on a residential lot. (2) “Animal barn pen” means a covered, enclosed concrete area where animals are kept. (3) “Animal yard” means an uncovered, paved or unpaved area in which animals are kept. This includes an area where an individual animal is kept, but does not include a single pet kennel enclosing 5 or fewer adult pets on a residential lot. An animal yard includes any fenced area where animals are kept or have access including pastures, feed lots, pens, calf hutches, lanes, and riding corrals. (4) “Animal shelter” means a covered, paved or unpaved area in which animals are kept. This includes an area where an individual animal is kept, but does not include a single pet house or single pet kennel housing 5 or fewer adult pets on a residential lot. (5) “Annular space” means the space between 2 concentric cylinders or circular objects, such as the space between an upper enlarged drillhole and a well casing pipe. (6) “API” means the American Petroleum Institute. (7) “Approval” means the prior approval of the department. mal is kept, but does not include a single pet house or single pet kennel housing 5 or fewer adult pets on a residential lot. (5) “Annular space” means the space between 2 concentric cylinders or circular objects, such as the space between an upper enlarged drillhole and a well casing pipe. (6) “API” means the American Petroleum Institute. (7) “Approval” means the prior approval of the department. (8) “Approved” means approved by the department. (9) “ASSE” means American society of sanitary engineering. (10) “ASTM” or “ASTM International” means the international technical standards organization originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials. (11) “Aquifer” means a geological layer of either unconsolidated material, usually sand or gravel or both, or bedrock lying below the ground surface, that is all or partially saturated with water and permeable enough to allow water to be extracted as from a well. (12) “Artesian pressure” means water pressure in an aquifer sufficient enough to cause the groundwater level in a well to rise above the level at which it was encountered in the well whether or not the water flows at the ground surface. (14) “AWWA” means American water works association. (15) “AWS” means American welding society. (16) “Bail-down method” means a method for setting a screen whereby the screen is fitted with an open pipe sleeve or a bail-down shoe at its lower end and sediment is removed from below the screen to allow the screen to settle into place. (17) “Basement” means a substructure or foundation of a building that has a floor entirely below grade. (17m) “Batch chlorination” means the process of disinfecting a well by injecting, in one continuous pour, a chlorine solution that equals or exceeds the volume of standing water in the well and by using a process that recirculates the solution through the pump and pump discharge piping system back into the well. eans a substructure or foundation of a building that has a floor entirely below grade. (17m) “Batch chlorination” means the process of disinfecting a well by injecting, in one continuous pour, a chlorine solution that equals or exceeds the volume of standing water in the well and by using a process that recirculates the solution through the pump and pump discharge piping system back into the well. (18) “Bedrock” means any naturally formed consolidated or coherent material of the earth’s crust, composed of one or more minerals, rock fragments or organic material that underlies any soil or other unconsolidated surficial material or is exposed at the surface. Bedrock includes, but is not limited to limestone (dolomite), sandstone, shale and igneous and metamorphic crystalline rock, including granite, rhyolite, quartzite, gabbro, basalt, gneiss, schist, diorite and greenstone. (18m) “Cathodic protection drillhole” means any drillhole that is constructed for the purpose of installing equipment to prevent electrolytic corrosion of metallic equipment or facilities. (19m) “Chemical conditioning” means using department-approved chemicals or products to restore a well to its original capacity, production capability or water quality. (20) “Cistern” means a tank in which rainwater is stored or collected. (22) “Clay slurry” means a fluid mixture of water, clean native clay, and drill cuttings or sand. (23) “Clear water” has the meaning specified in s. SPS 381.01 (56) . (24) “Community water system” has the meaning specified in s. NR 810.02 (6) . (24m) “Comparable protection” means to substitute alternative protective measures to provide similar or equal sanitary protection to that provided by this chapter including the well location requirements of s. NR 812.08 . (25) “Conduit” means piping or tubing used to protect discharge or suction piping or electrical wires. 4) “Community water system” has the meaning specified in s. NR 810.02 (6) . (24m) “Comparable protection” means to substitute alternative protective measures to provide similar or equal sanitary protection to that provided by this chapter including the well location requirements of s. NR 812.08 . (25) “Conduit” means piping or tubing used to protect discharge or suction piping or electrical wires. (26) “Confining bed” means a geological layer of either unconsolidated material, usually clay or hardpan, or bedrock, usually shale, that is all or partially saturated with water and having permeability low enough relative to the aquifer to give the water in the aquifer artesian head. (27) “Contaminant” means any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water. (27m) “Crawl space” means the space below a building having no basement; the space being at ground grade, in a depression or in an excavation. (27t) “Cross connection” has the meaning specified in s. NR 810.02 (9) . (28) “DHS” means the department of health services. (30) “Department” means the department of natural resources. (30f) “Detention basin” means an excavation into soils having low permeability or installed with a liner having low permeability, not having a permanent pool of water, designed and constructed to temporarily hold storm water to reduce peak discharges of storm water for flood control and to allow for the physical settling of pollutants. (30m) “Detention pond” means an impoundment that has a permanent pool of water and is designed to have the capacity to temporarily store storm water runoff to provide flood control and to allow for the physical settling of pollutants. (30p) “Dewatering well” means a well that is used to lower groundwater levels for construction or use of underground space. “Dewatering well” does not include a drain tile, perforated pipe, sump, or pit less than 10 feet deep or less than 10 feet below the floor of a basement city to temporarily store storm water runoff to provide flood control and to allow for the physical settling of pollutants. (30p) “Dewatering well” means a well that is used to lower groundwater levels for construction or use of underground space. “Dewatering well” does not include a drain tile, perforated pipe, sump, or pit less than 10 feet deep or less than 10 feet below the floor of a basement. (30r) “Dielectric union” means a special adapter or fitting used to isolate the connection of 2 dissimilar metals. (30t) “Ditch” means a long narrow excavation dug in the earth for the drainage of surface water. (31) “Drawdown” means the extent to which the water level or hydraulic head in and near a well is lowered when water is pumped or flows from the well. (32) “Drilled well” means a well constructed by boring, drilling, jetting, driving or similar methods. “Drilled well” includes a well constructed by driving a point in combination with a process to remove material below the 10-foot depth, or by a combination of jetting and driving. (33) “Drillhole” means an excavation or opening deeper than it is wide that extends more than 10 feet below the ground surface constructed for any purpose other than to obtain groundwater. (34) “Drilling mud” means a fluid mixture of water, sodium bentonite, drill cuttings and any approved additives. (35) “Driven point well” means a well constructed by joining a drive point with lengths of pipe, and driving the assembly into the ground with percussion equipment or by hand, but without first removing material below the 10-foot depth. “Driven point well” does not include a well constructed by driving a point in combination with a process to remove material below the 10-foot depth or by a combination of jetting and driving. (35g) “DSPS” means the department of safety and professional services nd driving the assembly into the ground with percussion equipment or by hand, but without first removing material below the 10-foot depth. “Driven point well” does not include a well constructed by driving a point in combination with a process to remove material below the 10-foot depth or by a combination of jetting and driving. (35g) “DSPS” means the department of safety and professional services. (35m) “Dug well” means a well consisting of a large diameter hole, deeper than it is wide, constructed into the ground, usually by hand, but if by mechanical means, by methods other than drilling, jetting or boring; and within which the side walls are supported by a curbing. (36) “Entry point” has the meaning specified in s. NR 809.04 (29) . (37) “Established ground surface” means the permanent elevation of the surface of the site of a well. (38) “Existing” when referring to an installation, well, water system, reservoir, spring, pit, or alcove means an installation, well, water system, reservoir, spring, pit, or alcove that was constructed, reconstructed, or installed before March 1, 2026. (40) “FDA” means U.S. food and drug administration. ## Nearby sections - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.01 Purpose](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_01.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.02 Applicability](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_02.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.03 Cooperation with the department](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_03.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.04 Contracts for noncomplying installations](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_04.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.05 Disposal of pollutants; injection prohibition](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_05.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.06 Drinking water standards](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_06.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.07 Definitions](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_07.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.09 Department approvals](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_09.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.10 Well driller and well constructor requirements](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_10.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.11 Well construction equipment and materials](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_11.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.12 General drilled type well construction requirements](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_12.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.13 Drilled wells terminating in unconsolidated formations](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_13.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.14 Drilled wells in bedrock formations](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_14.md) - [Wis. Admin. Code NR § 812.15 Flowing wells](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_15.md) --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_WI_ADC_NR_812_07. Check the current official text before relying on it. Not legal advice.