WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                         Ch. 196

districts shall be based upon approved State-county master water and sewerage plans or
solid waste disposal plans, if any, adopted pursuant to the Environment Article, but they
may also take account of other plans and studies.

(n) "Service region" means a geographic area which the Maryland Environmental
Service designates and within which the director, after consultation with the
municipalities affected, causes surveys, plans, studies, and estimates to be made for the
purpose of determining the most dependable, effective, and efficient means of providing
services through water supply projects, solid waste disposal projects, or wastewater
purification projects. Service regions shall be based upon needs set forth in approved
State-county master- water and sewerage plans, or solid waste disposal plans, if any,
adopted pursuant to the Environment Article, but they may also take account of other
plans and studies.

(o) "Solid waste disposal project" means any service, facility, or real or personal
property used or useful or having present capacity for future use in connection with the
MEASUREMENT, MANAGEMENT, collection or disposal of solid wastes by any means,
including disposal through the production of energy or products, or otherwise.

(p) "Solid wastes" means all waste materials, whether solid, liquid, or gas,
including liquid wastes. The term includes garbage, rubbish, ashes, incinerator residue,
wastewater treatment residue, street cleanings, DREDGED MATERIALS, dead animals,
demolition and construction debris, household appliances, automobile bodies, offal,
paunch manure, methane or ANY other gases, sewage sludge and solid or gaseous waste
materials from INDIVIDUAL, commercial, agricultural, [or] industrial [activities], or
[from] community activities.

(q) "Wastewater purification project" means any service, facility, or property, real
or personal, used or useful or having present capacity for future use in connection with
the collection or treatment of liquid wastes.

(r) "Water supply project" means any service, facility, or property, real or
personal, used, useful, or having present capacity for future use in connection with water
supply and distribution, including any water treatment facility or property and rights
therein and appurtenances thereto.

3-102.

(a) To assist with the preservation, improvement, and management of the quality
of air, land, and water resources, and to promote the health and welfare of the citizens of
the State, it is the intention of the General Assembly in enactment of this subtitle to
provide for dependable, effective, and efficient water supply and purification and disposal
of liquid and solid wastes, to encourage reductions in the amount of waste generated and
discharged to the environment and the generation of energy and the recovery of useable
resources from such waste to the extent practicable; TO ENCOURAGE PRIVATE SECTOR
PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; and to serve its political
subdivisions and economic interests. For these purposes, the General Assembly creates
an instrumentality of the State constituted as a body politic and corporate to provide
water supply and waste purification and disposal services in compliance with State laws,
regulations, and policies governing air, land, and water pollution to public and private

- 1405 -