Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22a-38 (2026)

(1) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection;

(2) “Person” means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, company, organization or legal entity of any kind, including municipal corporations, governmental agencies or subdivisions thereof;

(3) “Municipality” means any town, consolidated town and city, consolidated town and borough, city and borough;

(4) “Inland wetlands agency” means a municipal board or commission established pursuant to and acting under section 22a-42;

(5) “Soil scientist” means an individual duly qualified in accordance with standards set by the federal Office of Personnel Management;

(6) “Material” means any substance, solid or liquid, organic or inorganic, including, but not limited to soil, sediment, aggregate, land, gravel, clay, bog, mud, debris, sand, refuse or waste;

(7) “Waste” means sewage or any substance, liquid, gaseous, solid or radioactive, which may pollute or tend to pollute any of the waters of the state;

(8) “Pollution” means harmful thermal effect or the contamination or rendering unclean or impure of any waters of the state by reason of any waste or other materials discharged or deposited therein by any public or private sewer or otherwise so as directly or indirectly to come in contact with any waters;

(9) “Rendering unclean or impure” means any alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of any of the waters of the state, including, but not limited to change in odor, color, turbidity or taste;

(10) “Discharge” means the emission of any water, substance or material into waters of the state whether or not such substance causes pollution;

(11) “Remove” includes, but shall not be limited to drain, excavate, mine, dig, dredge, suck, bulldoze, dragline or blast;

(12) “Deposit” includes, but shall not be limited to, fill, grade, dump, place, discharge or emit;

(13) “Regulated activity” means any operation within or use of a wetland or watercourse involving removal or deposition of material, or any obstruction, construction, alteration or pollution, of such wetlands or watercourses, but shall not include the specified activities in section 22a-40;

(14) “License” means the whole or any part of any permit, certificate of approval or similar form of permission which may be required of any person by the provisions of sections 22a-36 to 22a-45a, inclusive;

(15) “Wetlands” means land, including submerged land, not regulated pursuant to sections 22a-28 to 22a-35, inclusive, which consists of any of the soil types designated as poorly drained, very poorly drained, alluvial, and floodplain by the National Cooperative Soils Survey, as may be amended from time to time, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture;

(16) “Watercourses” means rivers, streams, brooks, waterways, lakes, ponds, marshes, swamps, bogs and all other bodies of water, natural or artificial, vernal or intermittent, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon this state or any portion thereof, not regulated pursuant to sections 22a-28 to 22a-35, inclusive. Intermittent watercourses shall be delineated by a defined permanent channel and bank and the occurrence of two or more of the following characteristics: (A) Evidence of scour or deposits of recent alluvium or detritus, (B) the presence of standing or flowing water for a duration longer than a particular storm incident, and (C) the presence of hydrophytic vegetation;

(17) “Feasible” means able to be constructed or implemented consistent with sound engineering principles;

(18) “Prudent” means economically and otherwise reasonable in light of the social benefits to be derived from the proposed regulated activity provided cost may be considered in deciding what is prudent and further provided a mere showing of expense will not necessarily mean an alternative is imprudent.

(1972, P.A. 155, S. 4; P.A. 73-571, S. 2, 9; P.A. 87-533, S. 1, 14; P.A. 95-79, S. 92, 189; 95-313, S. 1; P.A. 96-157, S. 1; 96-269, S. 3, 4; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 73-571 replaced definition of “conservation commission” with definition of “inland wetlands agency” in Subdiv. (4); P.A. 87-533 amended the definition of “municipality” to exclude metropolitan districts, village, fire and sewer districts, sewer districts and municipal organizations having authority to levy and collect taxes or make charges for its authorized functions; P.A. 95-79 redefined “person” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995; P.A. 95-313 redefined “wetlands” to make spelling and nomenclature corrections and redefined “watercourses” to include vernal or intermittent bodies of water; P.A. 96-157 amended the definition of “soil scientist” to update the reference to the federal Office of Personnel Management, amended the definition of “watercourses” to require evidence of two of the specified characteristics and added the definitions of “feasible” and “prudent”; P.A. 96-269 changed effective date of P.A. 96-157 from October 1, 1996, to January 1, 1997, effective June 12, 1996; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subdiv. (1), effective July 1, 2011.

Cited. 179 C. 250; 180 C. 421; Id., 692; 183 C. 532; 186 C. 67; 192 C. 591; 193 C. 414; 196 C. 218; 203 C. 525; 209 C. 544; Id., 652; 211 C. 416; 212 C. 710; Id., 727; 213 C. 604; 215 C. 616; 216 C. 320; 217 C. 164; 218 C. 703; 219 C. 404; 220 C. 362; Id., 476; 226 C. 579; 227 C. 175; 228 C. 95; 229 C. 247; Id., 627; Id., 654; 242 C. 335. Definitions of “watercourses” and “wetlands” are limited to physical characteristics and do not include reference to wildlife protection or biodiversity. 266 C. 150.

Cited. 4 CA 271; 5 CA 70; 6 CA 715; 12 CA 47; 15 CA 336; 18 CA 440; 19 CA 713; 20 CA 309; 26 CA 564; 27 CA 590; 29 CA 12; Id., 105; 30 CA 85; 31 CA 105; Id., 599; judgment reversed, see 229 C. 627; 32 CA 799; 34 CA 385; 36 CA 270; 37 CA 166; 43 CA 239. Subdiv. (18): Access way that would more than double the impact to the wetlands is not a prudent alternative. 79 CA 49. Review of movement of motor vehicles within the scope of examination and evaluation by inland wetlands agency of impact that construction of subdivision might have on wetlands and watercourses. 103 CA 354.

Cited. 35 CS 145; 36 CS 1; 41 CS 444; 42 CS 57.