(a) “Department” means the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.
(b) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources or his authorized representative.
(c) “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, the Government of the United States, the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, or any department, agency, or authority of such governments.
(d) “Water” shall be construed to include ponds, springs, wells, and streams and all other bodies of surface or underground water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or private.
(e) “Well” shall be construed to mean any hole drilled, dug, or bored for the purpose of obtaining water or knowledge of water bearing formations or for disposal of waste materials.
(f) “Domestic use” means the use of water for household purposes, the watering of livestock, poultry and domestic animals, and the irrigation of not more than ½ acre of gardens and lawns.
(g) “Vested right” means the right to continue the use of water having actually been applied to any beneficial use at the time of passage of this chapter or within three years prior thereto to the extent of the existing beneficial use made thereof.
(h) “Appropriation” means an amount of water authorized and allotted by permit issued by the Commissioner, to be withdrawn from a designated source and applied to a specified beneficial use or uses within stated limits as to quantity, rate and period of withdrawal or diversion.