Glossary

EEA Glossary

Glossary

50-year return flood

ATP

Average precipitation

accidental pollution

accounting - Method of recording all the transactions affecting the financial condition of a business or organization.

accumulated precipitation

acid rain - Rain having a pH less than 5.6. The acidity results from chemical reactions occurring when water, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, generally released by industrial processes, are chemically transformed into sulphuric and nitric acids.

acidification - Addition of an acid to a solution until the pH falls below 7.

acidity - The state of being acid that is of being capable of transferring a hydrogen ion in solution.

action programme

activated carbon - A powdered, granular or pelleted form of amorphous carbon characterized by a very large surface area per unit volume because of an enormous number of fine pores. (Source: LANDY)

activated sludge - Sludge that has been aerated and subjected to bacterial action; used to speed breakdown of organism matter in raw sewage during secondary waste treatment. (Source: LANDY)

administration controlling

administrative council

administrative law - Body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, orders and decisions to carry out regulatory powers and duties of such agencies. (Source: BLACK)

administrative organisation

adsorption - The physical or chemical bonding of molecules of gas, liquid or a dissolved substance to the external surface of a solid.

aerator

aerobic stabilization

aerosol - A gaseous suspension of ultramicroscopic particles of a liquid or a solid. (Source: MGH)

age of sludge

aging of installations

agreement (legal) - The coming together in accord of two minds on a given proposition. In law, a concord of understanding and intention between two or more parties with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The consent of two or more persons concerning respecting the transmission of some property, right, or benefits, with the view of contracting an obligation, a mutual obligation. (Source: WESTS)

agricultural association

agricultural cooperative

agricultural exploitation

agricultural hydraulics - Science and technology involved in the management of water resources, in the control of erosion and in the removal of unwanted water. (Source: ECHO2)

agricultural material

agricultural orientation law

agricultural policy - A course of action adopted by government or some other organization that determines how to deal with matters involving the cultivation of land; raising crops; feeding, breeding and raising livestock or poultry; and other farming issues. (Source: RHW)

agricultural pollution - The liquid or solid wastes from farming, including: runoff from pesticides, fertilizers, and feedlots; erosion and dust from plowing; animal manure and carcasses, crop residues, and debris.

agricultural practice

agricultural valorization

agricultural waste water - Water carrying waste material from agricultural activities (animal manure, plant stalks, hulls and leaves, etc.).

agriculture - The production of plants and animals useful to man, involving soil cultivation and the breeding and management of crops and livestock.

agroalimentarial industry

agrometeorology

agronomy - The principles and procedures of soil management and of field crop and special-purpose plant improvement, management, and production. (Source: MGH)

aid

air analysis

air temperature - The temperature of the atmosphere which represents the average kinetic energy of the molecular motion in a small region and is defined in terms of a standard or calibrated thermometer in thermal equilibrium with the air. (Source: MGH)

alarm plan - Part of a global emergency plan which describes mainly the information transfer and the alerting procedures.

alarm station

alcalimetric titration

alkalimetry - The use of standard acid solutions to determine the concentration of basic solutions of unknown normality.

alkalinity - The property of having excess hydroxide ions in solution.

alluvial groundwater - Ground water that is hydrologically connected to a surface stream that is present in permeable geologic material, usually small rocks and gravel.

alluvial plain - A level or gently sloping tract or a slightly undulating land surface produced by extensive deposition of alluvium, usually adjacent to a river that periodically overflows its banks; it may be situated on a flood plain, a delta, or an alluvial fan.

alluviation

amino acid - Organic compounds containing a carboxyl group (-COOH) and an amino group (-NH2). About 30 amino acids are known. They are fundamental constituents of living matter because protein molecules are made up of many amino acid molecules combined together. Amino acids are synthesized by green plants and some bacteria, but some (arginine, histidine, lysine. threonine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, phenylalanine, tryptophane) cannot be synthesized by animals and therefore are essential constituents of their diet. Proteins from specific plants may lack certain amino acids, so a vegetarian diet must include a wide range of plant products. (Source: ALL)

ammonical nitrogen

anaerobic digestion

anaerobic purification

analysis - Examination or determination. (Source: RRDA)

analytical equipment - Equipment employed in analytical techniques. (Source: RRDA)

analytical method

animal evacuation spreading

animal husbandry - A branch of agriculture concerned with the breeding and feeding of domestic animals. (Source: MGH)

animal reproduction - Any of various processes, either sexual or asexual, by which an animal produces one or more individuals similar to itself. (Source: CED)

anoxia

anthropization

antibiotic - A chemical substance, produced by microorganisms and synthetically, that has the capacity to inhibit the growth of, and even to destroy, bacteria and other microorganisms. (Source: MGH)

antiscaling

aquatic ecosystem - Any watery environment, from small to large, from pond to ocean, in which plants and animals interact with the chemical and physical features of the environment.

aqueduct - A channel for supplying water; often underground, but treated architecturally on high arches when crossing valleys or low ground.

aquifer - Permeable water-bearing formation capable of yielding exploitable quantities of water.

aquifer management

aquifer network

arboriculture - The planting and care of woody plants, especially trees. (Source: AMHER)

arch dam - Curved masonry or concrete dam, convex in shape upstream, that depends on arch action for its stability; the load or water pressure is transferred by the arch to the abutments.

arid zone - 1) Zone in which precipitation is lacking to the extent that irrigation must be practised to support cultivation. 2) Zone in which average evaporation exceeds precipitation.

artesian well - Well tapping a confined or artesian aquifer in which the static water level stands above the surface of the ground.

artificial intelligency

artificial lake - Lakes created behind manmade barriers.

artificial rain

artificial water body

association - A body of persons associated for the regulation of a common economic activity by means of a special organization. (Source: SHOOX / ZINZAN)

atmospheric pollution - The presence in the air of one or more contaminants in such a concentration and of such duration as to cause a nuisance or to be injurious to human life, animal life or vegetation. (Source: LANDY)

atmospheric precipitation - The settling out of water from cloud in the form of dew, rain, hail, snow, etc. (Source: ALL)

audiovisual media - Any means of communication transmitted to both the sense of hearing and the sense of sight, especially technologies directed to large audiences. (Source: RHW)

authorized laboratory

autocontrol

automatic station

automatization

automobile industry

backfitting

bacteria

bacterial bed - A device that removes some suspended solids from sewage. Air and bacteria decompose additional wastes filtering through the sand so that cleaner water drains from the bed. (Source: LEE)

bacterial reviviscence

bacteriological pollution - Contamination of water, soil and air with pathogen bacteria.

bank protection

barrage drive away

base measurement

basin authority

bathing water - All waters, inland or coastal, except those intended for therapeutic purposes or used in swimming pools, an area either in which bathing is explicitly authorised or in which bathing is not prohibited and is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers. Water in such areas must meet specified quality standards relating to chemical, microbiological and physical parameters. (Source: GILP96)

bathymetry - The measurement of depths of water in oceans, seas and lakes; also the information derived from such measurements.

beach - The unconsolidated material that covers a gently sloping zone, typically with a concave profile, extending landward from the low-water line to the place where there is a definite change in material or physiographic from (such as a cliff), or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of the highest storm waves); a shore of body of water, formed and washed by waves or tides, usually covered by sand or gravel, and lacking a bare rocky surface. (Source: BJGEO)

bed evolution

belt filter

benthos - Those organisms attached to, living on, in or near the sea bed, river bed or lake floor. (Source: LBC)

bilateral aid

biochemistry - The study of chemical substances occurring in living organisms and the reactions and methods for identifying these substances. (Source: MGH)

biocoenosis - An ecological organization represented by the sum total of all living organisms in a prescribed ecosystem. (Source: SUPREM)

biodegradability - The potential of an organic substance to be broken down into simpler compounds or molecules through the action of microorganisms.

biodiversity - The variability among living organisms from all sources, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. It includes cultivated species and varieties and agricultural ecosystems as well as natural ecosystems and their components. (Source: GOBLUK)

biological analysis - The analysis of a substance in order to ascertain its influence on living organisms. (Source: PHCa)

biological disc - An attached growth waste water treatment system consisting of closely spaced discs up to 3m diameter, or random plastic media in circular wire cages, used in aerobic sewage treatment, that are carried by a horizontal shaft just above the surface of the se

biological fight

biological filtration of water - A biological wastewater treatment technology used in chemical manufacturing facilities, solid waste processing plants, composting operations, and rendering plants. Biological systems use microorganisms that consume and destroy organic compounds as a food source. Source: SEVERN)

biological indicator - A species or organism that is used to grade environmental quality or change.

biological process - Processes concerning living organisms.

biological sludge

biomarker - A normal metabolite that, when present in abnormal concentrations in certain body fluids, can indicate the presence of a particular disease or toxicological condition.

biomass - The mass of living or organic material, usually expressed as dry weight per unit area.

biotechnology

biotest - The laboratory determination of the effects of substances upon specific living organisms.

biotope - A region of relatively uniform environmental conditions, occupied by a given plant community and its associated animal community.

bottled water

brackish water - Water, salty between the concentrations of fresh water and sea water; usually 5-10 parts x thousand.

breaking of dike

brook - A small stream or rivulet, commonly swiftly flowing in rugged terrain, of lesser length and volume than a creek; especially a stream that issues directly from the ground, as from a spring or seep, or that is produced by heavy rainfall or melting snow.

budget - A balance sheet or statement of estimated receipts and expenditures. A plan for the coordination of resource and expenditures. The amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose. (Source: WESTS)

budgetary realization

budgetary state

buffer zone

Climatic change - The long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance variations, variations of the Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions, and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal variations of the climate system, e.g., changes in the abundance of greenhouse gases, also may produce fluctuations of sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed climate change through the feedback processes interrelating the components of the climate system. (Source: GSFC)

calcocarbonic balance

camping - Guarded area equipped with sanitary facilities where holiday-makers may pitch a tent and camp by paying a daily rate. (Source: ZINZAN)

canal - An artificial watercourse of uniform dimensions designed for navigation, drainage or irrigation.

capillarity

captive groundwater

carbon dioxide - A colourless gas with a faint tingling smell and taste. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is the source of carbon for plants. As carbon dioxide is heavier than air and does not support combustion, it is used in fire extinguishers. It is a normal constituent of the atmosphere, relatively innocuous in itself but playing an important role in the greenhouse effect. It is produced during the combustion of fossil fuels when the carbon content of the fuels reacts with the oxygen during combustion. It is also produced when living organisms respire. It is essential for plant nutrition and in the ocean phytoplankton is capable of absorbing and releasing large quantities of the gas. (Source: UVAROV / GILP96)

cartography - The making of maps and charts for the purpose of visualizing spatial distributions over various areas of the earth.

cash crop - Crops that are grown for sale in the town markets or for export. They include coffee, cocoa, sugar, vegetables, peanuts and non-foods, like tobacco and cotton. Huge areas of countries in the developing world have been turned over to cash crops. Those countries with no mineral or oil resources depend on cash crops for foreign money, so that they can import materials do develop roads, for construction, or to buy Western consumer goods and, indeed, food. However, critics argue that cash crops are planted on land that would otherwise be used to grow food for the local community and say this is a cause of world famine. Cash crops, such as peanuts, can ruin the land if it is not left fallow after six years of harvests. Moreover, if the best agricultural land is used for cash crops, local farmers are forced to use marginal land to grow food for local consumption, and this has a further dramatic effect on the environment. (Source: WRIGHT)

catalysis - A phenomenon in which a relatively small amount of substance augments the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed. (Source: MGH)

cavitation

centrifugation - Separation of particles from a suspension in a centrifuge: balanced tubes containing the suspension are attached to the opposite ends of arms rotating rapidly about a central point; the suspended particles are forced outwards, and collect at the bottoms of the tubes. (Source: UVAROV)

cereal cultivation

channel clearing - The removal from river channels of silt, sand and gravel brought in by streams and surface runoff in order to re-establish their natural width and depth; sometimes it also involves cutting down by scythe the vegetation growth and grasses on banks.

characterisation - The EU Water Framework Directive imposes as a first step to produce a presentation report on the characteristics of the river basin district, which shall include the following elements: delimitation of water bodies, including identification of artificial water bodies and provisional identification of heavily modified water bodies; analysis of usage (technical and economic data), pressures and their impact on environments, and identification of water use; analysis of pricing practices and the recovery of the costs of services. (WFD)

charges

chart (act) - A formal written record of transactions, proceedings, etc., as of a society, committee, or legislative body. (Source: CED)

chelation

chemical conditionning

chemical engineering - The branch of engineering concerned with industrial manufacture of chemical products. It is a discipline in which the principles of mathematical, physical and natural sciences are used to solve problems in applied chemistry. Chemical engineers design, develop, and optimise processes and plants, operate them, manage personnel and capital, and conduct research necessary for new developments. Through their efforts, new petroleum products, plastics, agricultural chemicals, house-hold products, pharmaceuticals, electronic and advanced materials, photographic materials, chemical and biological compounds, various food and other products evolve. (Source: USTa)

chemical industry - Industry related with the production of chemical compounds. The chemical processing industry has a variety of special pollution problems due to the vast number of products manufactured. The treatment processes combine processing, concentration, separation, extraction, by-product recovery, destruction, and reduction in concentration. The wastes may originate from solvent extraction, acid and caustic wastes, overflows, spills, mechanical loss, etc. (Source: PZ)

chemical pollution - Pollution caused by substances of chemical nature, including chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc.

chemical products stocking

chemical proper state

chemical reaction - A change in which a substance is transformed into one or more new substances. (Source: MGH)

chemical speciation

chemical stabilization

chemical state

chemistry

chlorine

chlorophyll - A green pigment, present in algae and higher plants, that absorbs light energy and thus plays a vital role in photosynthesis. Except in Cyanophyta (blue-green algae), chlorophyll is confined to chloroplasts. There are several types of chlorophyll, but all contain magnesium and iron. Some plants (e.g., brown algae, red algae, copper beech trees) contain additional pigments that masks the green of their chlorophyll. (Source: ALL)

chromatography - A method of separating and analyzing mixtures of chemical substances by selective adsorption in a column of powder or on a strip of paper. (Source: MGH)

chronologic serial/time series

civil engineering - The planning, design, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures and ground facilities for industry, transportation, use and control of water or occupancy.

civil law - Law inspired by old Roman Law, the primary feature of which was that laws were written into a collection; codified, and not determined, as is common law, by judges. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. (Source: DUHA)

classified installation

classified site - Site which is declared protected because of its natural, landscape, artistic or archeological features in order to guarantee its conservation, maintenance and restoration.

clearing sludge

climat

climatology - That branch of meteorology concerned with the mean physical state of the atmosphere together with its statistical variations in both space and time as reflected in the weather behaviour over a period of many years. (Source: MGH)

closed pipe flow - The kind of flow that occurs in a closed channel.

clostridium

coagulation flocculation

coast law

coastal pollution - The presence, release or introduction of polluting substances in or onto the seashore or the land near it. (Source: TOE / DOE / RHW)

coastal water

coating - A material applied onto or impregnated into a substrate for protective, decorative, or functional purposes. Such materials include, but are not limited to, paints, varnishes, sealers, adhesives, thinners, diluents, and inks. (Source: LEE)

coliform determination

collective wastewater treatment

colloid - An intimate mixture of two substances, one of which, called the dispersed phase, is uniformly distributed in a finely divided state through the second substance, called the dispersion medium. (Source: MGH)

colonization

colourimetry - Any technique by which an unknown colour is evaluated in terms of standard colours; the technique may be visual, photoelectric or indirect by means of spectrophotometry. (Source: MGH)

combined approach

combined sewer system

communication

community facility - Buildings, equipment and services provided for a community. (Source: CAMB)

community law - The law of European Community (as opposed to the national laws of the member states.) It consists of the treaties establishing the EC (together with subsequent amending treaties) community legislation, and decisions of the court of justice of the European Communities. Any provision of the treaties or of community legislation that is directly applicable or directly effective in a member state forms part of the law of that state and prevails over its national law in the event of any inconsistency between the two. (Source: DICLAW)

compensation water - That fraction of stream flow released through a hydroelectric dam specifically to meet the needs of downstream users.

complementary measure

complexant

complexometry

conflict - A state of opposition or disagreement between ideas, interests, etc. (Source: CED)

connection

consultation

consummer

continental climate - A climate characterized by hot summers, cold winters, and little rainfall, typical of the interior of a continent. (Source: CED)

continuous measurement

convention - International agreement on a specific topic. (Source: RRDA)

cooling water

copy right

corrosion - A process in which a solid, especially a metal, is eaten away and changed by a chemical action.

cost - In economics, the value of the factors of production used by a firm in producing or distributing goods and services or engaging in both activities. (Source: GREENW)

cost advantage analysis

cost recovery

cost-effectiveness analysis

criminal law - That body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted and punished by the government. (Source: DUHA)

crisis management - Measures that identify, acquire, and plan the use of resources needed to anticipate, prevent, and and/or resolve a threat to public safety.

cross-border relation

crystallography - The branch of science that deals with the geometric description of crystals and their internal arrangement. (Source: MGH)

DNA - The principal material of inheritance. It is found in chromosomes and consists of molecules that are long unbranched chains made up of many nucleotides. Each nucleotide is a combination of phosphoric acid, the monosaccharide deoxyribose and one of four nitrogenous bases: thymine, cytosine, adenine or guanine. The number of possible arrangements of nucleotides along the DNA chain is immense. Usually two DNA strands are linked together in parallel by specific base-pairing and are helically coiled. Replication of DNA molecules is accomplished by separation of the two strands, followed by the building up of matching strands by means of base-pairing, using the two halves as templates. By a mechanism involving RNA, the structure of DNA is translated into the structure of proteins during their synthesis from amino acids. (Source: ALL)

daily precipitation

dam - Structure constructed in a valley across a watercourse or stream channel for impounding water or creating a reservoir.

dam draining - The drawing of water from a reservoir by means of draining pipes located at the bottom of the basin and controlled by a system of sluices which ensure, if necessary, the emptying of the basin in a given period of time in respect of downstream conditions.

dam release - Controlled release of water from a reservoir.

dam sounding

damage - An injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing.

damage assessment - The appraisal or determination of the actual effects resulting from technological or natural disaster.

dangerous substance

data bank

data exchange - A reciprocal transfer of individual facts, statistics or items of information between two or more parties for the purpose of enhancing knowledge of the participants. (Source: RHW)

data processing

dating - Any of several techniques such as radioactive dating, dendrochronology, or varve dating, for establishing the age of rocks, palaeontological or archaeological specimens, etc. (Source: CED)

decantation - Sizing or classifying particulate matter by suspension in a fluid (liquid or gas), the larger particulates tending to separate by sinking.

decentralization

dechlorination

decision making support

deeply modified water body

deferment

deforestation - The removal of forest and undergrowth to increase the surface of arable land or to use the timber for construction or industrial purposes. Forest and its undergrowth possess a very high water-retaining capacity, inhibiting runoff of rainwater.

degradation of the environment - The process by which the environment is progressively contaminated, overexploited and destroyed. (Source: RRDA)

delegated management - The process of assigning or transferring authority, decision making or a specific administrative function from one entity to another. (Source: OED)

demesnial water - A body of water that is owned and maintained by a national governmental body or agency. (Source: OED)

demoustication

denitrification - 1) The loss of nitrogen from soil by biological or chemical means. It is a gaseous loss, unrelated to loss by physical processes such as through leachates. 2) The breakdown of nitrates by soil bacteria, resulting in the release of free nitrogen. This process takes place under anaerobic conditions, such as are found in water-logged soil, and it reduces soil fertility. (Source: WRIGHT / ALL)

deoiling

depollution well

depth discharge relation

desertification - Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Patches of degraded land may develop hundreds of kilometres from the nearest desert. But these patches can expand and join together, creating desert-like conditions. Desertification contributes to other environmental crises, such as the loss of biodiversity and global warming. Drought often triggers desertification, but human activities are usually the most significant causes. Over-cultivation exhausts the soil. Overgrazing removes vegetation that prevents soil erosion. Trees that bind the soil together are cut for lumber or firewood for heating and cooking. Poorly drained irrigation turns cropland salty, desertifying 500,000 hectares annually, about the same amount of soil that is newly irrigated each year. (Source: ECOSOC)

desorption - The process of removing a sorbed substance by the reverse of adsorption or absorption. (Source: MGH)

detoxification

developing country

diagnostic study

diffused pollution

digested sludge - Sludge or thickened mixture of sewage solids with water that has been decomposed by anaerobic bacteria. (Source: MGH)

dilution

dimensioning

direct utility management

discharge measurement - The determination of the rate of discharge at a gauging station on a stream, including an observation of `no flow', which is classed as a discharge measurement.

disposal

disposal authorization

disproportionate cost

dissolved gas

dissolved oxygen - The amount of oxygen dissolved in a stream, river or lake is an indication of the degree of health of the stream and its ability to support a balanced aquatic ecosystem. The oxygen comes from the atmosphere by solution and from photosynthesis of water plants. The maximum amount of oxygen that can be held in solution in a stream is termed the saturation concentration and, as it is a function of temperature, the greater the temperature, the less the saturation amount. The discharge of an organic waste to a stream imposes an oxygen demand on the stream. If there is an excessive amount of organic matter, the oxidation of waste by microorganisms will consume oxygen more rapidly than it can be replenished. When this happens, the dissolved oxygen is depleted and results in the death of the higher forms of life. (Source: PORT)

dissolved pollution

documentation - The process of accumulating, classifying and disseminating information, often to support the claim or data given in a book or article. (Source: OED)

domestic pollution

domestic treatment

domestic waste water - Wastewater principally derived from households, business buildings, institutions, etc., which may or may not contain surface runoff, groundwater or storm water. (Source: WWC)

dosage - The amount of a substance required to produce an effect. (Source: CONFER)

drainage - 1) Removal of groundwater or surface water, or of water from structures, by gravity or pumping. 2) The discharge of water from a soil by percolation (the process by which surface water moves downwards through cracks, joints and pores in soil and rocks). (Source: MGH / WHIT)

drilling - The act of boring holes in the earth for finding water or oil, for geologic surveys, etc. (Source: ZINZAN)

drinking water - Water that is agreeable to drink, does not present health hazards and whose quality is normally regulated by legislation.

drought - A period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water causes a serious hydrologic imbalance (such as crop damage, water supply shortage) in the affected area.

dry residue

dry weather urban runoff

drying bed

European Union - The 15 nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Austria, Finland and Sweden) that have joined together to form an economic community with common monetary, political and social aspirations. The EU came into being on 1 November 1993 according to the terms of the Maastricht Treaty; it comprises the three European Communities, extended by the adoption of a common foreign and security policy which requires cooperation between member states in foreign policy and security and cooperation in justice and home affairs. (Source: DICLAW)

European decision

European guideline

European regulation

earth dam - An embankment dam in which more than half of the total volume is formed of compacted fine grained material.

earthquake - The violent shaking of the ground produced by deep seismic waves, beneath the epicentre, generated by a sudden decrease or release in a volume of rock of elastic strain accumulated over a long time in regions of seismic activity (tectonic earthquake). The magnitude of an earthquake is represented by the Richter scale; the intensity by the Mercalli scale. (Source: GUNN)

easement - The rights of use over the property of another; a burden on a piece of land causing the owner to suffer access by another. (Source: DUHA)

ecological good potential

ecological proper state

ecology - The study of the interrelationships between living organisms and their environment.

economic activity - Any effort, work, function or sphere of action pertaining to the production of goods, services or any other resource with exchange value. (Source: RHW / NDECON)

economic analysis - The quantitative and qualitative identification, study, and evaluation of the nature of an economy or a system of organization or operation. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

economic and social development

economic competition - The market condition where an individual or firm that wants to buy or sell a commodity or service has a choice of possible suppliers or customers. (Source: ODE)

economic development - The state of nations and the historical processes of change experienced by them, the extent to which the resources of a nation are brought into productive use; the concept of development subsumes associated social, cultural and political changes as well as welfare measures. (Source: GOOD)

economic evaluation

economic instrument - Any tool or method used by an organization to achieve general developmental goals in the production of, or in the regulation of, material resources. (Source: OED)

economic planning - An economy in which prices, incomes etc. are determined centrally by government rather than through the operation of the free market, and in which industrial production is governed by an overall national plan.

economic policy - A definite course of action adopted and pursued by a government, political party or enterprise pertaining to the production, distribution and use of income, wealth and commodities. (Source: RHW)

economic value

ecosystem - A community of organisms and their physical environment interacting as an ecological unit.

ecotoxicity - Quality of some substances or preparations which present or may present immediate or delayed risks for one or more sectors of the environment.

ecotoxicology - The science dealing with the adverse effects of chemical, physical agents, and natural products on populations and communities of plants, animals and human beings. (Source: GILP96)

edition

effective rainfall

effluent - 1) Liquid flowing out of a container or other system. 2) Water or waste water flowing out of a reservoir or treatment plant. 3) Outflowing branch of a main stream or lake.

egological state

electric power - The rate at which electric energy is converted to other forms of energy, equal to the product of the current and the voltage drop. (Source: MGH)

electrical conductivity

electrodialysis

electrolysis - The production of a chemical reaction by passing an electric current through an electrolyte. In electrolysis, positive ions migrate to the cathode and negative ions to the anode. (Source: DICCHE)

electronic document management

electrophoresis

embankment - A narrow depositional feature, such as a spit, barrier, or bar, built out from the shore of a sea or lake by the action of waves and currents that deposits excess material at its deep end; it may be merged or submerged.

emission control

emission standard - The maximum amount of discharge legally allowed from a single source, mobile or stationary. (Source: LANDY)

endocrine disrupter

energetic cultivation

energy

energy balance - The energetic state of a system at any given time. (Source: WRIGHT)

energy conservation - The strategy for reducing energy requirements per unit of industrial output or individual well-being without affecting the progress of socio-economic development or causing disruption in life style. In temperate developed countries most energy is used in heating and lighting industrial and domestic buildings. Industrial processes, transport and agriculture are the other main users. During the 1970s it was demonstrated that substantial savings could be achieved through appropriate building technologies and the use of energy-efficient equipment for heating, air-conditioning and lighting. Most goods could and should be both manufactured and made to work more efficiently. (Source: WRIGHT)

energy production

environment

environment actor

environment industry

environment management

environment right

environmental citizenship - The state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment. (Source: TOE / RHW)

environmental cost - Expenses incurred as a result of some violation of ecological integrity either by an enterprise that implements a program to rectify the situation, or by society or the ecosystem as a whole when no person or enterprise is held liable. (Source: IEC / ECH)

environmental education - The educational process that deals with the human interrelationships with the environment and that utilizes an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach with value clarification. Concerned with education progress of knowledge, understanding, attitudes, skills, and commitment for environmental problems and considerations. The need for environmental education is continuous, because each new generation needs to learn conservation for itself. (Source: UNUN)

environmental indicator

environmental policy - Official statements of principles, intentions, values, and objective which are based on legislation and the governing authority of a state and which serve as a guide for the operations of governmental and private activities in environmental affairs. (Source: UNUN)

environmental protection - Measures and controls to prevent damage and degradation of the environment, including the sustainability of its living resources. (Source: UNUN)

environmental quality standard

environmental target - Environmental elements of recognized importance which can be modified by the completion of a project. (Source: RRDA)

enzyme - Any of a group of catalytic proteins that are produced by living cells and that mediate and promote the chemical processes of life without themselves being altered or destroyed. (Source: MGH)

epidemiology - 1) The study of the mass aspects of disease. 2) The study of the occurrence and distribution of disease and injury specified by person, place, and time. (Source: MGH / KOREN)

equatorial area

erosion fighting - Methods to control land surface features to prevent erosion by surface water or precipitation runoff.

estrogen

estuary - Area at the mouth of a river where it broadens into the sea, and where fresh and sea water intermingle to produce brackish water. The estuarine environment is very rich in wildlife, particularly aquatic, but it is very vulnerable to damage as a result of the actions of humans. (Source: WRIGHT)

euro

eutrophication - A process of pollution that occurs when a lake or stream becomes over-rich in plant nutrient; as a consequence it becomes overgrown in algae and other aquatic plants. The plants die and decompose. In decomposing the plants rob the water of oxygen and the lake, river or stream becomes lifeless. Nitrate fertilizers which drain from the fields, nutrients from animal wastes and human sewage are the primary causes of eutrophication. They have high biological oxygen demand (BOD). (Source: WRIGHT)

evaluation method

evaporation - Conversion from a liquid or solid state to a vapour.

evapotranspiration - Discharge of water from the earth's surface to the atmosphere by evaporation from lakes, streams and soil surfaces and by transpiration from plants. Also known as fly-off. (Source: MGH)

evolution

expert system - A computer configuration of hardware and software that simulates the judgment and behavior of a human or an organization with extensive knowledge in a particular field, often by giving answers, solutions or diagnoses. (Source: RHW / WIC)

exploitation of non renewable water resources

exploitation of renewable water resources

expropriation - To deprive an owner of property, especially by taking it for public use. (Source: CED)

extractive industry

extreme precipitation

fact

faeces

fallow

farmer

fatty acid

feasibility study

fecal coliform - A sub-group of coliforms, found almost exclusively in the intestinal wastes of humans and animals, and seldom found elsewhere in the environment. If detected in water, good indicator that the water has been contaminated by sewage or improperly treated. (Source: SEPTIC)

fecal streptococcus

fertility test

fertilization

fertilizer

field test

filter - A porous material for separating suspended particulate matter from liquids by passing the liquid through the pores in the filter and sieving out the solids.

filter clogging

filter press

filtring sack

financial analysis

financial incentive

financial law

financing - Procurement of monetary resources or credit to operate a business or acquire assets. (Source: WESTS)

fire - The state of combustion in which inflammable material burns, producing heat, flames and often smoke. (Source: CED)

first aid plan - An anticipatory emergency plan to be followed in an expected or eventual disaster, based on risk assessment, availability of human and material resources, community preparedness, local and international response capability, etc.

fish way - A man made structure built to enable fish to swim upstream over obstacles such as weirs. It consists usually of a series of small steps and pools which fish can swim up or jump over.

fishery management

fishing

fissured medium

fixed culture

flame ionization

flood - 1) Rise, usually brief, in the water level in a stream to a peak from which the water level recedes at a slower rate. 2) Relatively high flow as measured by stage height or discharge. 3) Rising tide.

flood channel - Portion of the river bed that is occupied by water only in the event of floods.

flood forecast

flood propagation

flood protection - Protection of land areas from overflow, or minimization of damage caused by flooding.

flood return period

flood routing

flood spillway - Auxiliary spillway designed to carry excess runoff from the design storm once the temporary storage volume is filled. Sometimes referred to as an emergency spillway.

flood wave - Rise in streamflow to a maximum crest, and its subsequent recession, caused by a period of precipitation, snow melt, dam failure or hydroelectric plant releases.

flooding - A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from the overflow of inland and/or tidal waters, and/or the unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source. A great flow along a watercourse or a flow causing inundation of lands not normally covered by water. (Source: LANDY)

flotation - A process used to separate particulate solids by causing one group of particles to float; utilizes differences in surface chemical properties of the particles, some of which are entirely wetted by water, others are not. (Source: MGH)

flow

flow -water law

flow state

flowing water - Moving waters like rivers and streams. (Source: LANDY)

fluid mechanics - The study of the effect of forces on liquids.

fluidised bed - 1) A system for burning solid carbonaceous fuel efficiently and at a relatively low temperature, thus minimizing the emission of pollutants. The fuel is crushed to very small particles or a powder and mixed with particles of an inert material. The mixture is fed into a bed through which air is pumped vertically upwards, agitating the particles so they behave like a fluid. The forced circulation of air and the small size and separation of fuel particles ensures efficient burning. 2) A bed of finely divided solid through which air or a gas is blown in a controlled manner so that it behaves as a liquid. (Source: ALL / BRACK)

fodder culture

fog - Water droplets or, rarely, ice crystals suspended in the air in sufficient concentration to reduce visibility appreciably. (Source: MGH)

food chain - A sequence of organisms on successive trophic levels within a community, through which energy is transferred by feeding; energy enters the food chain during fixation by primary producers (mainly green plants) and passes to the herbivores (primary consumers) and then to the carnivores (secondary and tertiary consumers). (Source: LBC)

forecast

forest - A vegetation community dominated by trees and other woody shrubs, growing close enough together that the tree tops touch or overlap, creating various degrees of shade on the forest floor. It may produce benefits such as timber, recreation, wildlife habitat, etc. (Source: DUNSTE)

forestry - The management of forest lands for wood, forages, water, wildlife, and recreation. (Source: MGH)

fossil aquifer

free groundwater - Ground water vertically in direct contact with atmosphere.

freshwater - Water with salinity less than 0.5 (parts per thousand) dissolved salts.

freshwater interface - Surface separating a body of fresh water and one of brackish or salt water, taken somewhere within the transition zone between the two fluids.

fungus

GIS

Governance - Governance has many dimensions: creating a fair legal, policy and regulatory framework in which the rights of people to access resources are secured; improving the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of government agencies; ensuring the participation of the poor in decision making; enhancing the role of civil society; ensuring basic security and political freedoms; and others.

gallery

gardening

gas - A substance that continues to occupy in a continuous manner the whole of the space in which it is placed, however large or small this place is made, the temperature remaining constant.

gauging site

genetically modified organism - An organism that has undergone external processes by which its basic set of genes has been altered. (Source: LEE)

geographical committee

geophysical prospecting - Any method of several of seeing what is beneath the surface of the ground, without actually disturbing the ground.

geopolitics

geostatistic

geotechnics - The application of scientific methods and engineering principles to civil engineering problems through acquiring, interpreting, and using knowledge of materials of the crust of the earth. (Source: MGH)

geothermal energy - An energy produced by tapping the earth's internal heat. At present, the only available technologies to do this are those that extract heat from hydrothermal convection systems, where water or steam transfer the heat from the deeper part of the earth to the areas where the energy can be tapped. The amount of pollutants found in geothermal vary from area to area but may contain arsenic, boron, selenium, lead, cadmium, and fluorides. They also may contain hydrogen sulphide, mercury, ammonia, radon, carbon dioxide, and methane. (Source: KOREN)

globalization

glucid

golf - A game played on a large open course, the object of which is to hit a ball using clubs, with as few strokes as possible, into each of usually 18 holes.

granulating industry

granulometry - 1) The determination of the different grain size in a granular material. 2) The proportion by weight of particles of different sizes in granular material. (Source: ECHO2)

grassland

gravity dam - A concrete structure proportioned so that its own weight provides the major resistance to the forces exerted on it.

gravity irrigation - An irrigation system in which the water is not pumped but flows in ditches or pipes and is distributed by gravity.

gravity network

grit removal

groudwater vulnerability

ground water body

groundwater artificial recharge - Process by which water is added from outside to the zone of saturation of an aquifer, either directly into a formation, or indirectly by way of another formation.

groundwater catchment - Collecting groundwater into pipes or canals.

groundwater dam - Structures that intercept or obstruct the natural flow of groundwater and provide storage for water underground. Their use is in areas where flows of groundwater vary considerably during the course of the year, from very high flows following rain to negligible flows during the dry season. The basic principle of the groundwater dam is that instead of storing the water in surface reservoirs, water is stored underground. The main advantages of water storage in groundwater dams is that evaporation losses are much less for water stored underground. Further, risk of contamination of the stored water from the surface is reduced because as parasites cannot breed in underground water (CSEIND).

groundwater decontamination

groundwater depression

groundwater level variation

groundwater natural recharge - The filling of groundwater aquifers by rain and melting snow percolating into the ground and saturating the pores between rock and soil particles.

groundwater pollution - Contamination of subsurface water from agricultural, urban, and industrial uses, including fertilizers, pesticides, septic tank systems, street drainage, and air and surface-water pollution.

groundwater recharge

groundwater restoration - The act or activity of restoring groundwater to its original condition, or to certain minimum standards established by federal, state or tribal government.

grounwater protection

growth

habitat - 1) The physical location or type of environment in which an organism or biological population lives or occurs. 2) The place occupied by an organism, population, or community. It is the physical part of the community structure in which an organism finds its home, and includes the sum total of all the environmental conditions present in the specific place occupied by an organism. Often a habitat is defined to include a whole community of organisms. (Source: HABIT)

hardy process

head loss

health - A state of dynamic equilibrium between an organism and its environment in which all functions of mind and body are normal. (Source: MGH)

heat pump - A device which transfers heat from a cooler reservoir to a hotter one, expending mechanical energy in the process, especially when the main purpose is to heat the hot reservoir rather than refrigerate the cold one. (Source: MGH)

heavy metal

hedonistic price method

hill reservoir

hormone

horticulture - The art and science of growing plants. (Source: MGH)

hotel catering

household expenditure - Any spending done by a person living alone or by a group of people living together in shared accommodation and with common domestic expenses. (Source: ODE)

human nourishment

humid zone - Zone in which precipitation exceeds potential evaporation.

humidity meter - A device to measure humidity.

humus - The more or less decomposed organic matter in the soil. Besides being the source of most of the mineral salts needed by plants, humus improves the texture of the soil and holds water, so reducing the loss of nutrients by leaching. (Source: ALL)

hundred-year flood - Flood magnitude which has a one chance in one hundred of being exceeded in any future one-year period. The occurrence of floods is assumed to be random in time, or a regularity of occurrence is implied. The exceeding of a one percent chance flood is no guarantee, therefore, that a similar size flood will not occur next week. The risk of epxerienceing a large flood within time periods longer than one year increases in a nonadditive fashion. For example, the risk of exceeding a one percent chance flood (i.e., a one hundred year flood) one or more times during a thirty-year period is 25 percent and during a seventy-year period is 50 percent. (Source: SRHNOA)

hunting - The pursuit and killing or capture of wild animals, regarded as a sport. (Source: CED)

hydraulic characteristic

hydraulic constant

hydraulic equipment

hydraulic works

hydraulics - The branch of science and technology concerned with the mechanics of fluids, especially liquids.

hydro-biological analysis

hydrodynamic characteristic

hydrodynamics - The study of the motion of a fluid and of the interactions of the fluid with its boundaries, especially in the incompressible inviscid case.

hydroelectric dam - A dam and associated reservoir used to produce electrical power by letting the high-pressure water behind the dam flow through and drive a turbogenerator.

hydroelectric energy - The free renewable source of energy provided by falling water that drives the turbines. Hydropower is the most important of the regenerable energy sources because of its highest efficiency at the energy conversion. There are two types of hydroelectric power plants: a) run-of-river power plants for the use of affluent water; b) storage power plants (power stations with reservoir) where the influx can be regulated with the help of a reservoir. Mostly greater differences in altitudes are being used, like mountain creeks. Power stations with reservoirs are generally marked by barrages with earth fill dam or concrete dams. Though hydropower generally can be called environmentally acceptable, there exist also some problems: a) change of groundwater level and fill up of the river bed with rubble. b) Risk of dam breaks. c) Great demand for land space for the reservoir. d) Diminution, but partly also increase of value of recreation areas. As the hydropowers of the world are limited, the world energy demand however is rising, finally the share of hydropower will decrease. (Source: PORT / PHC / PZ)

hydrographic basin - 1) The drainage basin of a stream. 2) An area occupied by a lake and its drainage basin.

hydrographic district

hydrographic network - The configuration or arrangement in plan view of the natural stream courses in an area. It is related to local geologic and geomorphologic features and history. Synonym: drainage pattern.

hydrologic balance - An accounting of all water inflows to, water outflows from, and changes in water storage within a hydrologic unit over a specified period of time.

hydrologic profile - The water characteristic of an area.

hydrology - 1) Science that deals with the waters above and below the land surfaces of the Earth, their occurrence, circulation and distribution, both in time and space, their biological, chemical and physical properties, their reaction with their environment, including their relation to living beings. 2) Science that deals with the processes governing the depletion and replenishment of the water resources of the land areas of the Earth, and treats the various phases of the hydrological cycle. (Source: UNESCO)

hydrolysis - 1) Decomposition or alteration of a chemical substance by water. 2) In aqueous solutions of electrolytes, the reactions of cations with water to produce a weak base or of anions to produce a weak acid. (Source: MGH)

hydrometry - Science of the measurement and analysis of water including methods, techniques and instrumentation used in hydrology.

hydromorphology

hydroregion

hydroxide sludge

hygiene - The science that deals with the principles and practices of good health. (Source: MGH)

hygrometry - That branch of physics which relates to the determination of the humidity of bodies, particularly of the atmosphere, with the theory and use of the instruments constructed for this purpose.

ice break-up

ice jam - The choking of a stream channel by the piling up of ice against an obstruction, forming a temporary dam; an accumulation of ice at a given location which, in a river, restricts the flow of water.

immunoenzymatical test

impact study

impermeabilisation

impounding dam

impounding reservoir

indemnity - Financial compensation, reimbursement or security for damages or loss offered by a government, insurance policy or contractual agreement under specified conditions and for specific casualties. (Source: BLD)

individual wastewater treatment - The process of using a natural system or mechanical device to collect, treat and discharge or reclaim wastewater from an individual dwelling without the use of community-wide sewers or a centralised treatment facility. (Source: DWT)

industrial building - A building directly used in manufacturing or technically productive enterprises. Industrial buildings are not generally or typically accessible to other than workers. Industrial buildings include buildings used directly in the production of power, the manufacture of products, the mining of raw materials, and the storage of textiles, petroleum products, wood and paper products, chemicals, plastics, and metals. (Source: JJK)

industrial effluent - Materials generally discarded from industrial operations or derived from manufacturing processes.

industrial ownership

industrial pilot

industrial pollution - Pollution as a result of industrial processes and manufacturing.

industrial risk

industrial storage

industrial use water

industrial waste water - Any wastewater which is discharged from trade or industrial premises, other than domestic waste water and run-off rain water.

industry - A group of establishments engaged in the same or similar kinds of economic activities. Industries produce commodities that are sold with the expectation of recovering the total cost of production. A single industry can produce many different commodities.

informatics - Science and technique of data elaboration and of automatic treatment of information. (Source: ZINZAN)

information

information processing - A systematic series of actions performed by a person or computer on data elements including classifying, sorting, calculating, summarizing, transmitting, retrieving and receiving. (Source: JON)

infrared

infrastructures

inhabitant equivalent

inland water

integrated water resource management

intellectual ownership

intensely exploited groundwater

intensive farming - Farming in which as much use is made of the land as possible by growing crops close together or by growing several crops in a year or by using large amounts of fertilizers. (Source: PHC)

intercalibration

intercommunality

intermediate cultivation

international co-operation - The collaboration between governments, businesses or individuals in which it is agreed to work together on similar objectives or strategies, particularly in research or in setting industrial standards. (Source: ODE)

international convention

international hydrographic district

international organization

international politics - The use of methods, strategy, intrigue, decision making and power by governments and their representatives to achieve goals in policy making or governmental affairs in a worldwide or international arena. (Source: RHW)

international right

international trade - The flow of commodities and goods between nations. (Source: GOOD)

international water

internet - A global consortium of local computer networks that uses the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol to connect machines to each other, providing access to the World Wide Web, Gopher, electronic mail, remote login and file transfer. (Source: WON)

intranet

investment cost

irrigation - 1) To supply land with water so that crops and plants will grow or grow stronger. (Source: CAMB / WRIGHT)

irrigation canal - A permanent irrigation conduit constructed to convey water from the source of supply to one or more farms. (Source: NALMS)

irrigation material

irrigation pipeline

isotope - One or two or more atoms with the same atomic number that contain different numbers of neutrons. (Source: CED)

jar test

juridical recovery

jurisprudence - The science or philosophy of law. (Source: CED)

Kjeldahl nitrogen

karst - 1) A German rendering of a Serbo-Croat term referring to the terrain created by limestone solution and characterized by a virtual absence of surface drainage, a series of surface hollows, depressions and fissures, collapse structures, and an extensive subterranean drainage network. 2) A type of topography that is formed on limestone, gypsum, and other rocks by dissolution, and that is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage. Etymology: German, from the Yugoslavian territory Krs; type locality, a limestone plateau in the Dinaric Alps of northwestern Yugoslavia and northeastern Italy. (Source: WHIT / BJGEO)

laboratory - A room or building with scientific equipment for doing scientific tests or for teaching science, or a place where chemicals or medicines are produced. (Source: CAMB)

laboratory test

labour right

lagooning - The process in which sunlight, bacterial action and oxygen cause self-purification in waste water, Usually taking place in a shallow pond, or system of such ponds. (Source: TOEa)

lake restoration - Any action taken to prevent lake deterioration or return a lake system to an unimpaired state or condition.

laminar flow

land - A specified geographical tract of the Earth's surface including all its attributes, comprising its geology, superficial deposits, topography, hydrology, soils, flora and fauna, together with the results of past and present human activity, to the extent that these attributes exert a significant influence on the present and future land utilization. (Source: WHIT)

land and property register - The system of registering certain legal estates or interests in land. It describes the land and any additional rights incidental to it, such as rights of way over adjoining land. (Source: DICLAW)

land pollution - The presence of one or more contaminants upon or within an area of land, or its constituents. (Source: Landy)

land spreading

landed property

laundry

leaching - 1) The process of separating a liquid from a solid (as in waste liquid by percolation into the surrounding soil. 2) Extraction of soluble components of a solid mixture by percolating a solvent through it. 3) To lose or cause to lose soluble substances by the action of a percolating liquid. (Source: HARRIS / DICCHE / CED)

leakage detection

leisure activity

leisure area

limit value

limnimetry - The measurement of variations of level in lakes.

limnology - The study of bodies of fresh water with reference to their plant and animal life, physical properties, geographical and geological features.

lipid - One of a class of compounds which contain long-chain aliphatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives, such as fatty acids, alcohols, amines, amino alcohols, and aldehydes; includes waxes, fats, and derived compounds. (Source: MGH)

litigation - A judicial contest, a judicial controversy, a suit at law. (Source: BLACK)

littoral - The intertidal zone of the seashore. (Source: LBC)

lixiviation test

loan

local development - A stage of growth or advancement in any aspect of a community that is defined by or restricted to a particular and usually small district or area. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

local government - An administrative body or system in which political direction and control is exercised over the community of a city, town or small district. (Source: RHW)

lock - Vertical sliding gate or valve to regulate the flow of water in a channel or lock. (Source: MGH)

low water

low water support

low-flow channel - Stream channel occupied during periods of low flow.

luminescence

lysimetry - The measurement of the water percolating through soils and the determination of the materials dissolved by the water.

Mediterranean climate - A type of climate characterized by hot, dry, sunny summers and a winter rainy season; basically, this is the opposite of a monsoon climate. Also known as etesian climate. (Source: MGH)

macrophyte bed

major risk - The high probability that a given hazard or situation will yield a significant amount of lives lost, persons injured, damage to property , disruption of economic activity or harm to the environment; or any product of the probability of occurrence and the expected magnitude of damage beyond a maximum acceptable level. (Source: TOE / HMD)

management plan - A program of action designed to reach a given set of objectives. (Source: LANDY)

marine ecosystem - Any marine environment, from pond to ocean, in which plants and animals interact with the chemical and physical features of the environment. (Source: GILP96)

marine pollution

market gardening - The business of growing fruit and vegetables on a commercial scale. (Source: CED)

market study - The gathering and studying of data to determine the projection of demand for an item or service. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

master plan

meander - One curved portion of a sinuous or winding stream channel, consisting of two consecutive loops, one turning clockwise and the other anticlockwise.

meandre drain - Breaking through the banks of a stream, thus forming a new channel or a cut-off.

measurement channel

measuring instrument

measuring programme

media

medical use water

membrane - A thin tissue that encloses or lines biological cells, organs, or other structures. It consists of a double layer of lipids with protein molecules between the two layers. Membranes are permeable to water and fat-soluble substances but not to such polar molecules as sugars. (Source: UVAROV)

membrane bioreactor

mesocosme

metabolism - All the chemical reactions that take place in a living organism, comprising both anabolism and catabolism. Basal metabolism is the energy exchange of an animal at rest. Catabolism is the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones. Catabolism is the breaking down by organisms of complex molecules into simpler ones with the liberation of energy. (Source: ALL)

metal pollution

meteorology - The science concerned with the atmosphere and its phenomena.

methodology - The system of methods and principles used in a particular discipline. (Source: CED)

metrology - The science of measurement. (Source: MGH)

microbiological analysis - Analysis for the identification of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites.

microfiltration - The separation or removal from a liquid of particulates and microorganisms in the size range of 0.1 to 0.2 microns in diameter.

microirrigation

micropollutant - Pollutant which exists in very small traces in water. (Source: PHC)

mill - A building where grain is crushed into flour. (Source: CAMB)

mineral chemistry

mineral matter - Inorganic materials having a distinct chemical composition, characteristic crystalline structure, colour, and hardness.

mineral micropollutant

mineral water - Water containing naturally or artificially supplied minerals or gases.

mining industry - Industry related to the extraction of solid mineral resources from the earth.

mixed sludge

mixted waste water

modelling - An investigative technique using a mathematical or physical representation of a system or theory that accounts for all or some its known properties. Models are often used to test the effect of changes of system components on the overall performance of the system. (Source: LEE)

momentary water shortage

monitoring - To check regularly in order to perceive change in some quality or quantity. (Source: BRACK)

monitoring network - Interconnected group of monitoring stations for the surveillance of pollution. (Source: RRDA)

monitoring station - Station where the presence, effect, or level of any polluting substance in air or water, noise and blasting, radiation, transport movements, land subsidence, or change in the character of vegetation are measured quantitatively or qualitatively.

monthly precipitation

moor

motive force

mountain - A feature of the earth's surface that rises high above the base and has generally steep slopes and a relatively small summit area. Mountains are an important source of water, energy, minerals, forest and agricultural products, and recreation. They are storehouses of biological diversity and endangered species and an essential part of the global ecosystem. About 10% of the world's population depend on mountain resources and nearly half of these people are affected by the degradation of mountain watershed areas. (Source: MGH / WRIGHT)

mountain law

mountain resort - A place in the mountains where people spend their holidays and enjoy themselves. (Source: CAMB)

multicriteria analysis

multiple-objective planning

multiple-purpose project

mutagenicity testing - Testing the property of a substance of being able to induce genetic mutation. (Source: CONFERa)

nanofiltration - A specialty membrane filtration process which rejects solutes larger than approximately one nanometer (10 angstroms) in size.

national organization

natural catastrophe - Violent, sudden and destructive change in the environment without cause from human activity, due to phenomena such as floods, earthquakes, fire and hurricanes.

natural environment - The complex of atmospheric, geological and biological characteristics found in an area in the absence of artifacts or influences of a well developed technological, human culture. (Source: LANDY)

natural heritage - Generally, the world's natural resources as handed down to the present generation, and specifically, the earth's outstanding physical, biological and geological formations, and habitats of threatened species of animals and plants and areas with scientific, conservation or aesthetic value. (Source: WHC / OED)

natural risk - The vulnerability of the area in terms of expected number of lives lost, persons injured, damage to property and disruption of economic activity due to a natural hazard. In other words, a natural azard becomes a natural risk when population and property might be affected. (Source: ILWIS)

natural risks prevention

nautical sport

navigation dam - Dams designed to maintain water levels high enough for navigation. They are not designed for flood control purposes and have little effect on high water. The dams impound water that would naturally flow away. They divide the river into large flat reaches that cause permanent covering of floodplain areas that otherwise would flood only seasonally or occasionally. (Source: ASSRM)

needle -shaped dam

network diagnostic

network dysfunction

network exploitation

network maintenance

network physical degradation

network pollution

network rehabilitation

network yield

networks pipes

nitrate - Any salt or ester of nitric acid, such as sodium nitrate. (Source: CED)

nitrate guideline

nitrite - A salt or ester of nitric acid, included in compounds such as potassium nitrite, sodium nitrite and butyl nitrite. (Source: RHW)

nitrogen - An essential nutrient in the food supply of plants and the diets of animals. Animals obtain it in nitrogen-containing compounds, particularly amino acids. Although the atmosphere is nearly 80% gaseous nitrogen, very few organisms have the ability to use it in this form. The higher plants normally obtain it from the soil after micro-organisms have converted the nitrogen into ammonia or nitrates, which they can then absorb. (Source: WRIGHT)

nitrogen fertilizer

nitrogen removal

non-demesnial water - A body of water that is owned and maintained by an individual or entity other than the national government. (Source: OED)

non-renewable water resource

nuclear energy - Energy released by nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. (Source: MGH)

nutrient - Substance, element or compound necessary for the growth and development of plants and animals.

oceanic climate - A regional climate which is under the predominant influence of the sea, that is, a climate characterized by oceanity; the antithesis of a continental climate.

odour - The property of a substance affecting the sense of smell; any smell; scent; perfume. (Source: LEE)

offsite cost

oligoelement

on site measurement

open channel flow - Flowing water having its surface exposed to the atmosphere.

operating cost

operating system

operational control

opportunity cost

organic chemistry - A branch of chemistry dealing with the study of composition, reaction, properties, etc. of organic compounds. (Source: LEE)

organic farming - Farming without the use of industrially made fertilizers or pesticides. (Source: ALL)

organic fertilizer

organic matter - Plant and animal residue that decomposes and becomes a part of the soil.

organic micropollutant

organic nitrogen - Essential nutrient of the food supply of plants and the diets of animals. Animals obtain it in nitrogen-containing compounds, particularly aminoacids. Although the atmosphere is nearly 80% gaseous nitrogen, very few organisms have the ability to use it in this form. The higher plants normally obtain it from the soil after microorganisms have converted the nitrogen into ammonia or nitrates, which they can then absorb. This conversion of nitrogen, known as nitrogen fixation, is essential for the formation of amino acids which, in turn, are the building blocks of proteins. (Source: WRIGHT)

organoleptic analysis - An examination using one or more of the senses (e.g. sight, smell, etc.).

organoleptic characteristic - Properties relating to the senses (taste, color, odor, feel).

organoleptic pollution

organonitrogen compound

organophosphorous compound

oxbow lake - A small arc-shaped lake that represents part of the former course of a river. It is an abandoned meander. Oxbows are only found on river floodplains.

oxidation - A chemical reaction that increases the oxygen content of a compound. (Source: MGH)

oxidation-reduction - An oxidizing chemical change, where an element's positive valence is increased (electron loss), accompanied by a simultaneous reduction of an associated element (electron gain). (Source: MGH)

oxydizer

oxygenation - Treating with oxygen.

pH-metry

paddy field - A heavily irrigated or lightly flooded piece of land in which rice is grown.

palm grove

parasite - Organism which lives and obtains food at the expense of another organism, the host. (Source: ALL)

parasite water

participative management

partnership

pastry industry

pathogenic microorganism - Microorganism known to be or is suspected of causing infection in humans, animals, or plants.

pathway arrangement

patrimonial management - A type of leadership and management style attempting to gain the loyalty and support of subordinates by excessively providing for their needs and interests.

pedology

percolation test

pesticide - A general term for chemical agents that are used in order to kill unwanted plants, animals pests or disease-causing fungi, and embracing insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, nematicides, etc. Some pesticides have had widespread disruptive effects among non-target species. (Source: ALL)

petroleum industry

phosphate fertilizer

phosphate removal - Replacement of phosphate in detergents by environmentally safer substances, such as zeolite. The substitute will not act as a nutrient, and so will not cause eutrophication as a result of the accelerated growth of plants and microorganisms if it is released into waterways. (Source: WRIGHTa)

phosphorus - A nonmetallic element used to manufacture phosphoric acid, in phosphor bronzes, incendiaries, pyrotechnics, matches, and rat poisons; the white or yellow allotrope is a soft waxy solid, soluble in carbon disulfide, insoluble in water and alcohol, and is poisonous and self-igniting in air; the red allotrope is an amorphous powder, insoluble in all solvents and is nonpoisonous; the black allotrope comprises lustrous crystals similar to graphite, and is insoluble in most solvents. (Source: MGH)

photo laboratory

photography - The process of forming visible images directly or indirectly by the action of light or other forms of radiation on sensitive surfaces. (Source: MGH)

photosynthesis - The process by which plants transform carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and other compounds, using energy from the sun captured by chlorophyll in the plant. Oxygen is a by-product of the process. Photosynthesis is the essence of all plant life (autotrophic production) and hence of all animal life (heterotrophic production) on the planet Earth. The rate of photosynthesis depends on climate, intensity and duration of sunlight, available leaf area, soil nutrient availability, temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, and soil moisture regimes. (Source: DUNSTE)

physical environment

physical process

physicochemical analysis - Analysis based on the physical changes associated with chemical reactions.

physicochemical process

piezometry - The measurement of the compressibility of liquids.

pilot test

pipe - A tube made of metal, clay, plastic, wood, or concrete and used to conduct a fluid, gas, or finely divided solid.

piping solide deposite

piscicultural inventory

piscicultural repopulation

pleasure boat

point (source) pollution

polarography

policy

pollutant - Any substance, usually a residue of human activity, which has an undesirable effect upon the environment. (Source: LANDY)

pollutant transfer

polluter-pays principle - The principle that those causing pollution should meet the costs to which it gives rise. (Source: BRACK)

pollution - The indirect or direct alteration of the biological, thermal, physical, or radioactive properties of any medium in such a way as to create a hazard or potential hazard to human health or to the health, safety or welfare of any living species.

pollution abatement - Technology applied or measure taken to reduce pollution and/or its impacts on the environment. The most commonly used technologies are scrubbers, noise mufflers, filters, incinerators, waste-water treatment facilities and composting of wastes.

pollution control - Chemical and physical methods to lessen discharges of most pollutants.

pollution load - A measurement of the amount of pollution entering an ecosystem.

pollution measurement - The assessment of the concentration of pollutants for a given time in a given point.

pollution of rainwater - Contamination of rain by atmospheric and soil pollutants.

pollution prevention - The use of materials, processes, and practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants or wastes at the source. Examples of pollution prevention activities include inventory management/purchasing procedures, source reduction, process modifications, ousekeeping/good operating practices, material substitutions, redesign of product, pollution prevention education/outreach, and in-process recycling. Disposal, off site recycling or reprocessing of astes is not pollution prevention. (Source: P2AD)

pollution reservoir

polyaromatic hydrocarbon

porous medium

potassium fertilizer

precipitation (chemical)

prefabricated

preliminary study

pressure network

pressures - Physical expression of human activities that could change the status of the environment in space and time (discharge, abstraction, environmental changes, etc...).

pretreatment

price - The amount of money paid per unit for a good or service. (Source: ODE)

primary sludge

priority dangerous substance

priority substance

privatization

probability

programmation language

proper state

prospect

prospective

protected area - Portions of land protected by special restrictions and laws for the conservation of the natural environment. They include large tracts of land set aside for the protection of wildlife and its habitat; areas of great natural beauty or unique interest; areas containing rare forms of plant and animal life; areas representing unusual geologic formation; places of historic and prehistoric interest; areas containing ecosystems of special importance for scientific investigation and study; and areas which safeguard the needs of the biosphere. (Source: DODERO / WPR)

protected area

protected area regime

protected species - Threatened, vulnerable or endangered species which are protected from extinction by preventive measures.

protection expenses method

protein - Any of a class of high-molecular weight polymer compounds composed of a variety of alfa-amino acids joined by peptide linkages. (Source: MGH)

pruning - The cutting off or removal of dead or living parts or branches of a plant to improve shape or growth. (Source: AMHERa)

public authority

public discussion - Consideration, commentary by argument or informal debate on some issue that is open and of concern to the general populace. (Source: RHW)

public expenditure - Spending by national or local government, government-owned firms or quasi-autonomous non-government organizations. (Source: ODE)

public inquiry - An investigation, especially a formal one conducted into a matter of public utility by a body constituted for that purpose by a government, local authority, or other organization. (Source: CED)

public market

public opinion - The purported, collective view of the public on some issue or problem, typically formulated by selective polling or sampling, and frequently used as a guide to action or decision. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

public participation

public private partnership

public right

public service - An enterprise concerned with the provision to the public of essentials, such as electricity or water. (Source: CED)

public works - Structures, as roads, dams, or post offices, paid for by government funds for public use.

pump - A machine that draws a fluid into itself through an entrance port and forces the fluid out through an exhaust port. (Source: MGH)

pumping station

purification effluent

purification plant - Installation where impurities are removed from waste water. (Source: PHC)

purification through the soil - The act or process in which a section of the ground is freed from pollution or any type of contamination, often through natural processes. (Source: RHW)

purification yield

quality index - A measure of water quality based on biological diversity and water quality-including levels of dissolved oxygen, coliform bacteria, oxygen-demanding substances, and nutrients.

quality inventory

quality objective - Any goal or target established for a product, service or endeavor that aspires to attain a relatively high grade or level of excellence. (Source: RHW)

quality parameter

quantitative proper state

quantitative state

radar - A system using beamed and reflected radiofrequency energy for detecting and locating objects, measuring distance or altitude, navigating, homing, bombing and other purposes. (Source: MGH)

rain - Precipitation in the form of liquid water drops with diameters greater than 0.5 millimeter.

rain gauging

rain water - Water which falls as rain from clouds.

rainfall - discharge relationship

rainwater pollution

rating

rational fertilization

raw sludge

raw water - Water which has received no treatment whatsoever, or water entering a plant for further treatment.

reach - Length of open channel between two defined cross-sections.

reaction inhibition

reaction kinetics

reasonable agriculture

recreation water

recycling material

red sludge

redox potential (rh)

reduction

reference hydrographical unit

reference network

reference site

region - A designated area or an administrative division of a city, county or larger geographical territory that is formulated according to some biological, political, economic or demographic criteria. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

regional cooperation

regulation

remote control

remote sensing - 1) The scientific detection, recognition, inventory and analysis of land and water area by the use of distant sensors or recording devices such as photography, thermal scanners, radar, etc. 2) Complex of techniques for the remote measure of electromagnetic energy emitted by objects. (Source: LANDY / ZINZAN)

renewable energy

renewable water resource

rentability

reporting process

reproduction area - Safe places where animals escape from predators, find shelter from weather extremes, and bear and raise offspring.

residential building - A building allocated for residence. (Source: CED)

residual waste sludge - The excess, unusable semi-solids or sediment resulting from a wastewater treatment or industrial process. (Source: RHW / TOE)

resource, collecting and water distribution

responsibility - The obligation to answer for an act done, and to repair or otherwise make restitution for any injury it may have caused. (Source: WESTS)

restocking

resurgence - Reappearance above ground, at the end of its underground course, of a surface water flow which disappeared underground.

reverse osmosis - A method of obtaining pure water from water containing a salt, as in desalination. Pure water and the salt water are separated by a semipermeable membrane and the pressure of the salt water is raised above the osmotic pressure, causing water from the brine to pass through the membrane into the pure water. This process requires a pressure of some 25 atmospheres, which makes it difficult to apply on a large scale. (Source: DICCHE)

right

ripisylve

risk - The expected number of lives lost, persons injured, damage to property and disruption of economic activity due to a particular natural phenomenon, and consequently the product of the probability of occurrence and the expected magnitude of damage. (Source: GUNN / RRDA)

risk of conflict

risk study

river corridor - Stretch of river, its banks and the land nearby. The width of the its banks and the land nearby. The width of the corridor depends on how much surrounding land is affected by the river and vice versa.

river derivation

river hydraulics

river maintenance - Mesures including annual river inspections, removal of obstructions, vegetative management and minor erosion control works.

river morphology

river physical arrangement

river recalibration

river rectification

river restoration - The return of a degraded waterway to the original state in regard to physical structure and stability, functionality, water quality, flow regime, and plant and animal communities.

river training - River engineering measures taken to realign a natural water course (straightening, diversion, meander cut-off).

river-groundwater exchange

riverbed maintenance

riverside rights

road pollution

road system

rotative cultivation

Summer precipitation

safety - The state of being secure from harm, injury, danger or risk, often as a result of planned measures or preparations. (Source: RHW)

salt pollution - Contamination of soil or groundwater from irrigation, from overuse of de-icing salt, overexploitation of underground water, etc.

sampling

sampling - The obtaining of small representative quantities of material for the purpose of analysis. (Source: MGH)

sand filter - A water filter which uses fine silica sand as a filter media.

sand removal

sanitary regulation

sanitary risk

sanitary sewer

sanitation

sanitation plan

sanitation process

saturated medium

savannah

scenario

sea water - Aqueous solution of salts in more or less constant ratio, whose composition depends on several factors among which predominate living organisms, detrital sedimentation and the related chemical reactions. Sea-water accounts for more than 98% of the mass of the hydrosphere and covers just over 70% of the globe. Because of the composition and stability of the oceans, and the way they are controlled, they are of great importance to the climate, and great attention has been given to studying the effects of pollution. Man's activities are believed to be accelerating the change in the composition of sea-water. (Source: DODERO / WRIGHT)

seaside resort - A place near the sea where people spend their holidays and enjoy themselves. (Source: CAMB)

seasonal pollution

sediment - Any material transported by water which will ultimately settle to the bottom after the water loses its transporting power.

sediment analysis

sediment discharge - Discharge of sediment material of a stream at a given cross section.

sedimentation - The act or process of forming or accumulating sediment in layers, including such processes as the separation of rock particles from the material from which the sediment is derived, the transportation of these particles to the site of deposition, the actua

semi arid area

sensible area - Areas of a country where special measures may be given to protect the natural habitats which present a high level of vulnerability.

sensor - The generic name for a device that senses either the absolute value or a change in a physical quantity such as temperature, pressure, flow rate, or pH, or the intensity of light, sound, or ratio waves and converts that change into a useful input signal for an information-gathering system. (Source: MGH)

services providing company

sewage farm - Area of land on which sewage or any other type of waste water is distributed in order to purify it; it is a kind of waste water treatment. (Source: RRDA / ECHO2)

sewer connecting

sewer system

sieving

sill - A low transverse structure built in order to prevent bed erosion or raise the upstream water level.

silo - A large round tower on a farm for storing grain or winter food for cattle. (Source: CAMB)

silting up - The filling or partial filling with silt of a reservoir that receives fine-grained sediment brought in by streams and surface runoff.

simulation - A representation of a problem, situation in mathematical terms, especially using a computer. (Source: CED)

sludge - 1) A soft, soupy, or muddy bottom deposit, such as found on tideland or in a stream bed. 2) A semifluid, slushy, murky mass of sediment resulting from treatment of water, sewage, or industrial and mining wastes, and often appearing as local bottom deposits in polluted bodies of water. (Source: BJGEO)

sludge analysis

sludge composting

sludge conditionning

sludge decantation

sludge dewatering

sludge filtration

sludge flotation

sludge incineration

sludge recycling

sludge reuse

sludge stabilization

sludge stocking

sludge thickening

sludge treatment

smell of water

snow - The most common form of frozen precipitation, usually flakes or starlike crystals, matted ice needles, or combinations, and often rime-coated.

snow melting

socio-economic added value

software - Software is the general term used to describe all of the various programs that may be used on a computer system. Software can be divided into four main categories: systems software, development software, user interface software, applications software. (Source: POPTEL)

soil

soil analysis

soil aptitude

soil decontamination

soil erosion - Detachment and movement of topsoil or soil material from the upper part of the profile, by the action of wind or running water, especially as a result of changes brought about by human activity, such as unsuitable or mismanaged agriculture.

soil leaching - The removal of water or any soluble constituents from the soil. Leaching often occurs with soil constituents such as nitrate fertilizers with the result that nitrates end up in potable waters.

soil self purificaiton

solar energy - The energy transmitted from the sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The most successful examples of energy extraction from the sun are so far solar cells used in satellites and solar collectors used to heat water. (Source: MGH / ALL)

solubility - The ability of a substance to form a solution with another substance. (Source: MGH)

solvent - Substance, generally a liquid, capable of dissolving another substance. (Source: CED)

specifications

spectral analysis method

spectrometry

spectroscopy - The branch of physics concerned with the production, measurement, and interpretation of electromagnetic spectra arising from either emission or absorption of radiant energy by various substances. (Source: MGH)

sport - The complex of individual or group activities pursued for exercise or pleasure, often taking a competitive form. (Source: CED)

spray irrigation

spreading

spreading material

spreading planning

spring

spring water - Water obtained from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface, or would flow naturally to the surface if it were not collected underground.

statistical analysis - The body of techniques used in statistical inference concerning a population. (Source: MGH)

statistics - A branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data. (Source: LANDY)

steady flow - A flow in which the velocity of the fluid at a particular fixed point does not change with time.

steep bank maintenance

steep bank stabilization

storage

storage lake

storm - An atmospheric disturbance involving perturbations of the prevailing pressure and wind fields on scales ranging from tornadoes to extratropical cyclones; also the associated weather and the like.

storm overflow

strategy

straw

stream impounding

stream pollution

streambank - The side slopes of a channel between which the streamflow is normally confined.

strength of materials

strict treatment process (drinking water)

structural water scarcity

subsidy - Any monetary grant made by the government to a private industrial undertaking or charitable organization, but especially one given to consumers or producers in order to lower the market price of some service or product and make it readily affordable to the public. (Source: MGHME / RHW)

substitution product

subsurface hydraulics

subsurface irrigation - An irrigation method in which water is applied below the ground surface either by raising the water table within or near the root zone or by using a buried perforated or porous pipe system that discharged directly into the root zone.

subterranean stream

subwatershed

surface irrigation

surface runoff - Water that travels over the soil surface to the nearest surface stream; runoff of a drainage basin that has not passed beneath the surface since precipitation.

surface tension - The force acting on the surface of a liquid, tending to minimize the area of the surface; quantitatively, the force that appears to act across a line of unit length on the surface. Also known as interfacial force; interfacial tension; surface intensity. (Source: MGH)

surface water - All waters on the surface of the Earth found in streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, marshes or wetlands, and as ice and snow. (Source: LANDY / BJGEO)

surface water body

surveillance control

surveillance programme

survey - A critical examination of facts or conditions to provide information on a situation. Usually conducted by interviews and/or on-site visitations. (Source: LANDY)

survey control

suspended growth

suspended matter - Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by filtering.

suspended pollutant - Pollution caused by small solid particles which are held in suspension in water.

sustainable development - Development that provides economic, social and environmental benefits in the long term having regard to the needs of living and future generations. Defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 as: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (Source: GILP96)

sustainable development strategy

sustainable tourism

swallow-hole - Closed depression or doline into which all or part of a stream disappears underground.

swimming pool

systems analysis

tax - An amount of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, most frequently levied upon income, property or sales. (Source: RHW)

tax system - A co-ordinated body of methods or plan of procedures for levying compulsory charges for the purpose of raising revenue. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

technology survey

telecommunications - The conveyance of images, speech and other sounds, usually over great distances, through technological means, particularly by television, telegraph, telephone or radio. (Source: RHW)

telemetry

telluric pollution

temperate area

ten-year flood

tendancy scenario

tensiometry

terrestrial ecosystem - Any terrestrial environment, from small to large, in which plants and animals interact with the chemical and physical features of the environment. (Source: GILP96)

territorial water

tertiary treatment - The process which remove pollutants not adequately removed by secondary treatment, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus; accomplished by means of sand filters, microstraining, or other methods (referring to wastewater treatment). (Source: WQA)

thalassotherapy

thermal pollution - A reduction in water quality caused by increasing its temperature, often due to disposal of waste heat from industrial or power generation processes. Thermally polluted water can harm the environment because plants and animals can have a hard time adapting to it. (Source: WEBRIV)

thermalism

thermic conditionning

thermic energy

thermic sludge drying

thunderstorm - A storm caused by strong rising air currents and characterized by thunder and lightning and usually heavy rain or hail. (Source: CED)

tidal hydraulic

tidal power - Mechanical power, which may be converted to electrical power, generated by the rise and fall of ocean tides. The possibilities of utilizing tidal power have been studied for many generations, but the only feasible schemes devised so far are based on the use of one or more tidal basins, separated from the sea by dams (known as barrages), and of hydraulic turbines through which water passes on its way between the basins and the sea. (Source: ALL)

tightness test

torrent - A fast, short stream of water with strong changes in flow.

torrential hydraulics

total nitrogen

tourism

touristic activity management - The administration, promotion, organization and planning for the business or industry of providing information, transportation, entertainment, accommodations and other services to travelers or visitors. (Source: RHW)

toxic pollution - Pollution by toxic substances that produce a harmful effect on living organisms by physical contact, ingestion, or inhalation.

toxicity - The degree of danger posed by a substance to animal or plant life. (Source: LANDY)

toxicity test - Analytical determination of the nature and degree of toxicity. It is usually carried out by tests on laboratory animals (mostly mice and rats), bacteria, and cell tissue cultures and by studying the effects on human populations exposed to high levels at work or by accidents. The results of animal tests are extrapolated to humans. (Source: EPAGLO)

toxicology - A science that deals with poisons, their actions, their detection, and the treatment of the conditions they produce. (Source: LANDY)

tracer - A minute quantity of radioactive isotope used in medicine or biology to study the chemical changes within living tissues. (Source: KOREN)

tracing

transition water

transitional flow - Flow between laminar and turbulent flow, usually between a pipe Reynolds number of 2000 and 4000.

transport cost system

treatment plant

treatment process

trend - The general drift, tendency, or bent of a set of statistical data as related to time or another related set of statistical data. (Source: MGH)

tropical area

turbidity - Cloudy or hazy appearance in a naturally clear liquid caused by a suspension of colloidal liquid droplets or fine solids.

turbulent state

ultrafiltration - Separation of colloidal or very fine solid materials by filtration through microporous or semipermeable mediums.

uncertainty

under vaccum evaporation

underground river

underground water - Water in the lithosphere in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. It includes all water beneath the land surface and beneath bodies of surface water.

unsaturated medium

urban effluent - The liquid wastes deriving from domestic, commercial and industrial activities of an urban settlement.

urban waste water

urine

usage conflict

vacuum network

valley - Any low-lying land bordered by higher ground; especially an elongate, relatively large, gently sloping depression of the Earth's surface, commonly situated between two mountains or between ranges of hills or mountains, and often containing a stream with an outlet. It is usually developed by stream erosion, but may be formed by faulting. (Source: BJGEO)

value analysis

variable

vegetation - 1) The plants of an area considered in general or as communities, but not taxonomically; the total plant cover in a particular area or on the Earth as a whole. 2) The total mass of plant life that occupies a given area. (Source: ALL / MGH)

virus - Submicroscopic agents that infect plants, animals and bacteria, and are unable to reproduce outside the tissues of the host. A fully formed virus consists of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein and lipid (fat) coat. The nucleic acid of the virus interferes with nucleic acid-synthesizing mechanism of the host cell, organizing it to produce more viral nucleic acid. Viruses cause many diseases (e.g., mosaic diseases of many cultivated plants, myxomatosis, foot and mouth disease, the common cold, influenza, measles, poliomyelitis). Many plant viruses are transmitted by insects, some by eelworms. Animal viruses are spread by contact, droplet infection or by insect vectors and some are spread by the exchange of body fluids. (Source: ALL)

viticulture - That division of horticulture concerned with grape growing, studies of grape varieties, methods of culture, and insect and disease control. (Source: MGH)

volcanism - The processes by which magma and its associated gases rise into the crust and are extruded onto the Earth's surface and into the atmosphere. (Source: BJGEO)

vulnerable area - Area that is subject to threatening processes and is likely to become endangered unless the threatening factors cease to operate.

Water governance - The range of political, organizational and administrative processes through which communities articulate their interests, their input is absorbed, decisions are made and implemented, and decision makers are held accountable in the development and management of water resources and delivery of water services at different levels of society

washing plant

washing water

waste analysis

waste water - Used water, or water that is not needed, which is permitted to escape, or unavoidably escapes from canals, ditches, reservoirs or other bodies of water, for which the owners of these structures are legally responsible. (Source: WWC)

waste water exfiltration

waste water spreading

water

water actor

water adduction

water aeration - Addition of air to sewage or water so as to raise its dissolved oxygen level.

water agency

water agressivity

water analysis - Study of the chemical, physical and biological properties of water.

water balance - An accounting of all water inflow to, water outflow from, and changes in water storage within a hydrologic unit over a specified period.

water body

water borne disease

water catchment - All activities whereby such structures or mechanisms like dams, wells, storage tanks, cisterns, channels, aqueducts, pipes, storm drains and sewers are used to collect, channel, divert or extract water.

water catchment protection - Area surrounding a water recovery plant in which certain forms of soil utilization are restricted or prohibited in order to protect the groundwater.

water colour

water consumption - Use of water that allows its evaporation or makes it unfit for any subsequent use.

water contamination - Impairment of water quality to a degree which reduces the usability of the water for ordinary purposes, or which creates a hazard to public health through poisoning or spread of disease.

water cost - The actual unit cost of water.

water cycle - The movement of water between the oceans, ground surface and atmosphere by evaporation, precipitation and the activity of living organisms, as one of the mayor biogeochemical cycles. Each day water evaporates from the oceans and is carried in the air from the sea over the land, which receives it as precipitation, and finally returns from the land to the sea through rivers, thus completing the cycle. (Source: ALLa)

water demand - Water demand is defined as the volume of water requested by users to satisfy their needs. In a simplified way it is often considered equal to water abstraction, although conceptually the two terms do not have the same meaning.

water demand management - Water demand management refers to the implementation of policies or measures which serve to control or influence the amount of water used.

water desalination - Any mechanical procedure or process where some or all of the salt is removed from water.

water desinfection

water distillation

water distribution - The management of water which allows water users to receive the amount of water to which they are entitled by law and as supply permits.

water distribution area

water economy

water filtration - A process for removing particles from water by passing it through a porous barrier, such as a screen, membrane, sand or gravel. Often used in conjunction with a flocculant to settle contaminants. (Source: NEYWAT)

water flow-rate

water for agricultural use - Water used in agriculture for irrigation and livestock. Livestock watering is only 1 percent of the total water withdrawal for agricultural use. Of all functional water uses, irrigation is the largest agricultural use of water. (Source: CORBIT)

water for domestic use

water hammer - A waterhammer is created by stopping and/or starting a liquid flow suddenly. The results of a waterhammer or impulse load are devastating to a pressure sensor. The impulse load occurs suddenly, in the millisecond time frame, but the effects of it last a life time. The hammer occurs because an entire train of water is being stopped so fast that the end of the train hits up against the front end and sends shock waves through the pipe. (Source: OMEGA)

water hardness - A characteristic of water caused by various salts, calcium, magnesium and iron (e.g., bicarbonates, sulfates, chlorides and nitrates).

water infiltration - 1) The downward entry of water into soil. Also called percolation. A high rate of infiltration means that soil moisture for crops will be higher. Many conservation practices, such as conservation tillage, reduce rates of runoff and increase infiltration rates. 2) The flow of a fluid into a substance through pores or small openings. It connotes flow into a substance in contradistinction to the word percolation, which connotes flow through a porous substance. (Source: ILRDSS)

water leakage

water legislation

water level - The level reached by the surface of a body of water. (Source: CED)

water management - Measures taken to ensure an adequate supply of water and a responsible utilization of water resources. (Source: KORENa / PARCOR)

water market

water meter - An instrument for recording the quantity of water passing through a particular outlet.

water network arrangement

water neutralization

water outline directive

water planning

water police

water policy - Collection of legislation, legal interpretations, governmental decisions, agency rules and regulations, and cultural responses which guide a country's actions concerning the quantity and quality of water.

water pollution - Placing in or on, or otherwise introducing into or onto waters, or in a position where it is likely to enter waters, any matter, whether solid, liquid or gaseous, so that the physical, chemical or biological condition of the waters is changed.

water power - Energy obtained from natural or artificial waterfalls, either directly by turning a water wheel or turbine, or indirectly by generating electricity in a dynamo driven by a turbine. (Source: MGH)

water pressure

water price

water prospecting

water pumping

water purification - Treatment of water (or sewage) to change harmful or undesirable physical properties and remove harmful and undesirable chemical substances and living organisms.

water quality - A graded value of the components (organic and inorganic, chemical or physical) which comprise the nature of water. (Source: LANDY)

water quality improvement - Progress in, or betterment of, the environmental condition and integrity of water. (Source: RHW / TOE)

water recycling - Reclamation of effluent generated by a given user for on-site reuse by the same user. See: water reuse.

water reservoir - Artificial or natural area of water, used for storing water for domestic or industrial use.

water resource - Water in any of its forms, wherever located - atmosphere, surface or ground - which is or can be of value to man.

water resource development and management outlines

water resource management

water reuse - Use of process wastewater or treatment facility effluent in a different manufacturing process. (Source: LEE)

water right

water salinity - The degree of dissolved salts in water measured by weight in parts per thousand. (Source: KOREN)

water sampling

water scarcity

water self-purification - The ability of a body of water to rid itself of pollutants. The removal of organic material, plant nutrients, or other pollutants from a lake or stream by the activity of the resident biological community. Biodegradable material added to a body of water will gradually be utilized by the microorganisms in the water, lowering the pollution levels. If excessive amounts of additional pollutants are not added downstream, the water will undergo self-cleansing. This process does not apply to pollution by non-biodegradable organic compounds or metals. (Source: NDWP)

water sharing

water sludge

water socioeconomy

water storage

water stream management

water stress

water supply - A source or volume of water available for use; also, the system of reservoirs, wells, conduits, and treatment facilities required to make the water available and usable. (Source: BJGEO)

water supply and demand

water supply management

water supply network

water supply plan

water surface draining

water taste - Taste in water can be caused by foreign matter, such as organic compounds, inorganic salts or dissolved gases. These materials may come from domestic, agricultural or natural sources. Some substances found naturally in groundwater, while not necessarily harmful, may impart a disagreeable taste or undesirable property to the water. Magnesium sulphate, sodium sulphate, and sodium chloride are but a few of these. Acceptable waters should be free from any objectionable taste at point of use. (Source: CORBIT)

water temperature

water transfer - Artificial conveyance of water from one area to another one. (Source: CHAP)

water treatment - Physical and chemical processes for making water suitable for human consumption and other purposes. The treatment processes of greatest importance are sedimentation, coagulation, filtration, disinfection, softening and aeration.

water typology

water use - Utilization of water by end users for a specific purpose within a territory, such as for domestic use, irrigation or industrial processing.

water utility management

watercourse - A natural stream arising in a given drainage basin but not wholly dependent for its flow on surface drainage in its immediate area, flowing in a channel with a well-defined bed between visible banks or through a definite depression in the land, having a definite and permanent or periodic supply of water, and usually, but not necessarily, having a perceptible current in a particular direction and discharging at a fixed point into another body of water. (Source: BJGEO)

watercourse sectoring

watershed - Summit or boundary line separating adjacent drainage basins.

watershed divide - Summit or boundary line separating adjacent drainage basins.

weed control - Freeing an area of land from weeds by several means, such as herbicides, tillage, burning, mowing, and crop competition. (Source: RRDA)

weeds cleaning - Cutting down by scythe or machine at intervals the vegetation growth and grasses on banks and berms of irrigation and drainage channels or cropped areas.

weir

well - A hole dug into the earth to reach a supply of water, oil, brine or gas. (Source: MGH)

wet weather urban runoff

willingness-to-pay

willingness-to-receive

wind power - Energy extracted from wind, traditionally in a windmill, but increasingly by more complicated designes including turbines, usually to produce electricity but also for water pumping. The power available from wind is proportional to the area swept by the rotating place and the cube of the wind velocity, but less than half the available power can be recovered. (Source: BRACK)

wine industry

winter precipitation

working conception

yearly precipitation

zeolites

For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary or scan the QR code.

PDF generated on 23 Apr 2021, 09:35 AM

BISE	Biodiversity Information System for Europe
Climate-ADAPT	Climate Adaptation Platform
Copernicus In Situ	Copernicus in situ component
Copernicus Land	Copernicus land monitoring

European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register	E-PRTR
Forest Information System for Europe	FISE
Information Platform for Chemical Monitoring	IPCHEM
Marine Water Information System for Europe	WISE-Marine
Fresh Water Information System for Europe	WISE-FreshWater

Sections

EEA Glossary

Document Actions

Eionet

The EEA also contributes to

Follow us

Contact us

Sections

EEA Glossary

Document Actions

Share with others

Eionet

The EEA also contributes to

Follow us

Contact us