As used in sections 236.400 to 236.500 , standards, rules and regulations promulgated hereunder, unless the context otherwise requires the following words and terms mean:
(1) "Agricultural dam" , any dam constructed to impound water for use in irrigation, livestock watering, or commercial fish rearing and sale;
(2) "Alterations" , "repairs" , or either of them, such alterations or repairs as affect the safety of a dam or reservoir, or public safety, life or property;
(3) "Chief engineer" , the head of the dam and reservoir safety program of the department of natural resources or his representative;
(4) "Construction permit" , a written authorization issued by the council giving the owner the right to construct, alter, enlarge, reduce, repair or remove a dam or reservoir or appurtenances thereto, with such conditions as are necessary to adequately protect the public safety, life, property, the dam or reservoir;
(5) "Dam" , any artificial or manmade barrier which does or may impound water, and which impoundment has or may have a surface area of fifteen or more acres of water at the water storage elevation, or which is thirty-five feet or more in height from the natural bed of the stream or watercourse measured at the downstream toe of the barrier or dam, if it is not across a streambed or watercourse, together with appurtenant works. Sections 236.400 to 236.500 shall not apply to any dam which is not or will not be in excess of thirty-five feet in height or to any dam or reservoir licensed and operated under the Federal Power Act;
(6) "Dam and reservoir safety council" , as designated by sections 236.400 to 236.500 and referred to as the "council" shall consist of seven members appointed by the governor according to the provisions of sections 236.400 to 236.500 ;
(7) "Director" , the director of the department of natural resources of the state of Missouri;
(8) "Enlargement" , any change in or addition to an existing dam or reservoir which raises the height of a dam, increases the watershed for a reservoir, or raises the water storage elevation of the water impounded by a dam or reservoir;
(9) "Experienced professional engineer" , an engineer registered in the state of Missouri and experienced in hydraulics, hydrology and civil engineering as applied to dam design and construction;
(10) "Maintenance" , the proper keeping of all aspects of a dam or reservoir and appurtenances thereto, that pertain to safety, in a state of repair and working order as necessary to comply with sections 236.400 to 236.500 , any permit hereunder, and protect public safety, life and property;
(11) "Natural physical changes" , those changes not directly or indirectly caused by man which affect the safety of the dam or reservoir;
(12) "Operation" , the physical changes, natural or manmade that occur or are made to a dam or reservoir, or operation of the mechanisms or appurtenances of the dam or reservoir, which affect or may affect public safety, life or property;
(13) "Owner" , a person who owns, controls, operates, maintains, manages, or proposes to construct a dam or reservoir including:
(a) The state and its departments, institutions, agencies, and political subdivisions, but not the United States government;
(b) A municipal or quasi-municipal corporation;
(c) A district;
(d) A public utility;
(e) A natural person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, political subdivision, or legal entity;
(f) The duly authorized agents, lessees, or trustees of any of the foregoing;
(g) Receivers or trustees appointed by any court for any of the foregoing;
(14) "Permit" , a construction, safety or registration permit;
(15) "Permit applicant" , an owner who applies for a construction, safety or registration permit;
(16) "Reduction" , any decrease in the height of a dam, watershed size, or water storage elevation of the water impounded by a dam or reservoir;
(17) "Registration permit" , a permit issued for a period not to exceed five years by the council to the owner of a dam or reservoir in existence on September 28, 1979, or which becomes subject to the provisions of sections 236.400 to 236.500 for such dams and reservoirs which are in a properly maintained condition or which have made and complied with recommendations for corrections of observed defects of the dam or reservoir and have been * examined and approved in accordance with sections 236.400 to 236.500 and standards, rules and regulations and guidelines issued pursuant to sections 236.400 to 236.500 ;
(18) "Reservoir" , any impoundment which results from a dam as defined in sections 236.400 to 236.500 ;
(19) "Safety permit" , a permit issued to the owner for a period of five years, or less if safety considerations so require, by the council indicating that the dam meets the requirements of sections 236.400 to 236.500 and the guidelines, standards, rules and regulations issued pursuant to sections 236.400 to 236.500 , and containing such conditions as to operations, maintenance and repair as are necessary to adequately protect public safety, life and the dam or reservoir;
(20) "Water" , water, other liquid or tailings;
(21) "Water storage elevation" , that elevation of water surface at the principal spillway which could be obtained by the dam or reservoir were there no outflow and were the reservoir full of water;
(22) "Watershed" , the area, usually expressed in acres of square miles, that contributes or may contribute surface water to a reservoir.