WORDS TO KNOW ...
Aquatic plant community – a group of plants that commonly grow together in a stream , river , lake or pond .
Basin – another term for watershed .
Berm – earthen structure used to control erosion and sedimentation by reducing the rate of surface runoff . Berms either reduce the velocity of water or direct water to areas that are not susceptible to erosion , thereby reducing the adverse effects of running water on exposed topsoil .
Biodiversity – Refers to the variety and variability among living organisms and the ecosystems in which they occur .
Catchment – any device or structure that captures water .
Channelization – the reconstruction of a natural waterway to make the water flow differently , usually resulting in the removal of natural bends in the stream .
Contaminant – biological , chemical , physical or radiological substance which , in sufficient concentrations , can adversely affect living organisms .
Dissolved oxygen ( DO ) – the oxygen freely available in water . DO is vital to fish and other aquatic life and for the prevention of odors . Traditionally , the level of DO has been accepted as the single most important indicator of a water body ’ s ability to support desirable aquatic life .
Drainfield – part of an on-site septic system ; it is the area of ground and system of subsurface pipes or chambers into which partially treated wastewater from the septic tank is discharged for final treatment and absorption by the soil .
E . coli ( Escherichia coli ) – rod-shaped bacteria that reside and multiply in the gut of warm-blooded animals . They are used to indicate recent fecal matter contamination in water .
Ecosystem – the community of living things and the nonliving environment .
Erosion – the process by which a material is worn away by flowing water , wave action or wind . Erosion is often intensified by human activities , such as land clearing and channelization .
Excessive algae – an overabundance of algae due to excessive nutrients , resulting in decreased DO in the stream , negative change in the habitat for aquatic organisms or odor .
Floodplain – a strip of relatively flat and normally dry land alongside a stream , river , or lake that is covered by water during a flood . A 100-year flood does not refer to a flood that occurs once every 100 years , but to a flood level with a 1 percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year .
Freshwater inflows ( to bays and estuaries ) – the amount of river and other flows of freshwater needed to maintain acceptable conditions in the estuarine areas that support marine life and other species . Freshwater inflows help control salinity levels and supply critical nutrients and sediments .
Glide – A section of stream that has little or no turbulence .
Groundwater – water that is stored underground in pore spaces within rocks and other alluvial material , including aquifers . Recharge of groundwater occurs when rainfall seeps into the subsurface . Groundwater can discharge into creeks where the water table intersects the stream channel .
Habitat – the place where an organism lives , nests , finds food and / or takes cover . Herbicide – a type of pesticide used to kill undesired plants .
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