Author: Buy Khmer Book

Wetlands: An area that is saturated by surface or groundwater with vegetation adapted for life under those soil conditions, as swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, and estuaries.

Wood-burning-stove Pollution: Air pollution caused by emissions of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, total suspended particulates, and polycyclic organic matter from wood-burning stoves.

Western States Air Resources Council (WESTAR): Formed to serve as a forum to discuss western regional air quality issues of common concern and share resources for the common benefit of the 15 member states, including Arizona, and extending from Alaska to New Mexico and from Hawaii to North Dakota and South Dakota.

Water Regional Air Partnership: Voluntary partnership of states, tribes, federal land managers, local air agencies and the EPA whose purpose is to understand current and evolving regional air quality issues in the West.

Watershed: The land area that drains into a stream; the watershed for a major river may encompass a number of smaller watersheds that ultimately combine at a common point.

Water Quality Standards: ADEQ-adopted and EPA-approved ambient standards for water bodies. The standards prescribe the use of the water body and establish the water quality criteria that must be met to protect designated uses.

Water Quality Division (WQD) of ADEQ: Protects and enhances public health and the environment of Arizona by ensuring safe drinking water and reducing the impact of pollutants discharged to surface and groundwater. Core responsibilities include ensuring that public water systems deliver safe drinking water; identifying water pollution problems and establishing standards to address them; investigating complaints and violations of Arizona’s water quality laws, rules and permits; issuing permits to protect waters from point sources of pollution; managing the quality of water resources through partnerships within the natural boundaries of the state’s watersheds; monitoring and assessing the quality of surface and groundwater throughout the state; and regulating the discharge and treatment of wastewater.

Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF): Created by the Environmental Quality Act of 1986 to support hazardous substance cleanup efforts in Arizona.

Water Body: Any significant accumulation of water.

Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Airzona (WIFA): An independent agency of the state of Arizona authorized to finance the construction, rehabilitation and/or improvement of drinking water, wastewater, wastewater reclamation, and other water quality facilities and projects.

Wastewater: The spent or used water from a home, community, farm, or industry that contains dissolved or suspended matter.

Wastewater Treatment Plant: A facility containing a series of tanks, screens, filters, and other processes by which pollutants are removed from water. Most treatments include chlorination to attain safe drinking water standards.

Voluntary Remediation Program: An ADEQ program through which property owners, prospective purchasers and other interested parties can investigate or clean up a contaminated site with a single point of contact at the agency. The agency reviews the work and provides a closure document for successful site remediation that is accepted by all relevant ADEQ programs.

Waste Programs Division (WPD) of ADEQ: Protects and enhances public health and the environment of Arizona by reducing the risk associated with waste management, contaminated sites and regulated substances. Core responsibilities include assuring the proper handling, storage, treatment and disposal of wastes, and proper operation and maintenance of underground storage tanks; investigating complaints and violations of Arizona’s solid waste, hazardous waste and underground storage tank laws; investigating, managing and remediating soil and groundwater that are contaminated with regulated and hazardous substances; promoting pollution prevention and recycling; reviewing and approving construction plans for landfills and special waste facilities; and administering payments from the State Assurance Fund for reimbursement of eligible costs associated with removal and remediation of leaking underground storage tanks.

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC): Any compound of carbon, excluding carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, metallic carbides or carbonates, and ammonium carbonate, that participate in reactions of radiant energy, especially light, in the atmosphere.

Voluntary Environmental Stewardship Program: An ADEQ program that provides recognition and incentives for organizations that have a good history of environmental compliance and endeavor to go above and beyond environmental law requirements. The VESP program was established by state of Arizona House Bill 2799 in 2012 and consists of platinum, gold, silver and bronze levels of recognition.

Volatile: Any substance that evaporates readily.

Visibility: A measure of how far and how well an observer can see through the atmosphere.

Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program: A mandatory vehicle emissions testing and repair program administered by ADEQ in metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson to reduce vehicle emissions and improve air quality.

Ventilation: The potential of the atmosphere to disperse airborne pollutants, such as smoke from a prescribed fire. It is based on both the transport winds and the mixing height.

Vector: Any agent (person, animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism.

Vapor Intrusion: Vapor-phase migration of volatile organic compounds or volatile inorganic compounds into occupied buildings from underlying contaminated groundwater or soil.

Vapor: The gas given off by substances that are solids or liquids at ordinary atmospheric pressure and temperatures.

Vadose Zone: The zone between land surface and the water table within which the moisture content is less than saturation (except in the capillary fringe) and pressure is less than atmospheric. Soil pore space also typically contains air or other gases. The capillary fringe is included in the vadose zone.

Used Oil: Spent motor oil from passenger cars and trucks collected at specified locations for recycling.

Universal Waste: Any of the following hazardous wastes (batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment and lamps) that are managed under the universal waste requirements of 40 CFR part 273.

Underground Injection Control (UIC): The program under the Safe Drinking Water Act that regulates the use of wells to pump fluids into the ground.

Underground Storage Tank (UST): A tank located at least partially underground and designed to hold gasoline or other petroleum products or chemicals.

Trichloroethylene (TCE): A stable, low boiling-point colorless liquid that is toxic if inhaled. Used as a solvent or metal degreasing agent and in other industrial applications.

Turbidity: A cloudy condition in water due to suspended silt or organic matter. The degree of turbidity is measured with a turbidometer.

Treatment, Storage, or Disposal Facility (TSDF): Site where a hazardous substance is treated, stored, or disposed of. TSD facilities are regulated by ADEQ under RCRA.

Treated Wastewater: Wastewater that has been subjected to one or more physical, chemical, and biological processes to reduce its potential of being health hazard.

Transport (air pollution): The horizontal or vertical displacement of a pollutant from its emission source that can be carried through the atmosphere over some distance.

Transport Winds: A measure of the average rate of the horizontal movement of air within the mixing layer.

Transfer Facilities: Any transportation-related facility such as loading docks, parking areas, storage areas, or other similar areas where shipments of hazardous waste are temporarily held during the normal course of transportation.

Toxin: A poisonous substance that can either be natural (produced by plants, animals or bacteria) or manufactured.

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI): EPA program that tracks the management of toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment.

Toxicity: The degree to which a substance or mixture of substances can harm humans or animals.

Toxic Substances Control Act: National law, administered by the EPA, that assesses and regulates new commercial chemicals before their entrance into the market, regulates existing chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk to health or to the environment.

Total Suspended Solids (TSS): A measure of the suspended solids in wastewater, effluent, or water bodies, determined by tests for total suspended non-filterable solids.

Total Nitrogen: The sum of the concentrations of all nitrogen forms in water, including ammonia (NH3), ammonium ion (NH4+), nitrite (NO2), and nitrate (NO3), and dissolved and particulate organic nitrogen expressed as elemental nitrogen.

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH): Measure of the concentration or mass of petroleum hydrocarbon constituents present in a given amount of soil or water.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): The total amount of mobile charged ions, including minerals, salts or metals dissolved in a given volume of water.

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL): A calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that load among the various sources of that pollutant.

Tetrachloroethylene (PCE): A toxic chlorocarbon, widely known as “perc,” which forms a colorless liquid widely used for dry cleaning of fabrics.

Threshold: The dose or exposure level below which a significant adverse effect is not expected.

Tertiary Treatment: Advanced cleaning of wastewater that goes beyond the secondary or biological stage, removing nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and suspended solids.

Tailings: Residue of raw material or waste separated out during the processing of crops or mineral ores.

Tail Water: The runoff of irrigation water from the lower end of an irrigated field.

Synthetic Organic Chemical (SOC): Man-made (anthropogenic) organic chemicals. Some SOCs are volatile; others tend to stay dissolved in water instead of evaporating.

Sustainability: Human practices that do not result in the permanent damage, alteration or depletion of the environment, ecosystems, species or natural resources.

Surface Water Quality Standards: One of the cornerstones of the Clean Water Act, the standards that define the water quality goals for Arizona streams and lakes. They provide the basis for controlling discharges of pollutants to surface waters.

Surface Water: Water that is present on the ground or in a stream, river, lake, wetland or ocean.

Superfund: The program operated under the legislative authority of CERCLA and SARA that funds and carries out EPA solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities. These activities include establishing the National Priorities List, investigating sites for inclusion on the list, determining their priority, and conducting and/or supervising cleanup and other remedial actions.

Sump: A pit or tank that catches liquid runoff for drainage or disposal.

Sulfur dioxide: A colorless, very irritating gas or liquid.

Stromwater: Water that originates during rainfall events and snow or ice melt and runs off into water courses, lakes and other water bodies and sewers.

Stationary Source: A fixed-site producer of pollution, mainly power plants and other facilities using industrial combustion processes.

State Implementation Plan (SIP): EPA-approved state plans for the establishment, regulation and enforcement of air pollution standards.

State Assurance Fund: An assurance account established by the Arizona legislature to assist eligible Underground Storage Tank (UST) owners, operators and others in meeting the potentially high costs of leaking UST investigations and cleanups.

Stakeholder: Any organization, governmental entity, or individual that has a stake in or may be impacted by a given approach to environmental regulation, pollution prevention, energy conservation, etc.

Stagnation: A high-pressure region causing subsidence and light winds that tends to trap pollutants near the ground where concentrations can become elevated.

Special Waste: Items such as household hazardous waste, bulky wastes (refrigerators, pieces of furniture, etc.) tires, and used oil.

Soot: Carbon dust formed by incomplete combustion.

Solid Waste: Non-liquid, non-soluble materials ranging from municipal garbage to industrial wastes that contain complex and sometimes hazardous substances. Solid wastes also include sewage sludge, agricultural refuse, demolition wastes, and mining residues

Smoke: Particles suspended in air after incomplete combustion.

Smelter: A facility that melts or fuses ore, often with an accompanying chemical change, to separate its metal content. Emissions cause pollution. “Smelting” is the process involved.