Category: Environment Dictionary

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.

Small Quantity Generators: A generator who generates less than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste in a calendar month.

Slurry: A watery mixture of insoluble matter resulting from some pollution control techniques.

Sludge: A semi-solid residue from any of a number of air or water treatment processes. Sludge can be a hazardous waste.

Significant Noncompliance: Violations by point source dischargers of sufficient magnitude or duration to be a regulatory priority.

Sharps: Hypodermic needles, syringes (with or without the attached needle), Pasteur pipettes, scalpel blades, blood vials, needles with attached tubing, and culture dishes used in animal or human patient care or treatment, or in medical, research or industrial laboratories. Also included are other types of broken or unbroken glassware that were in contact with infectious agents, such as used slides and cover slips, and unused hypodermic and suture needles, syringes, and scalpel blades.

Sewage Treatment Plants: A plant used for treatment of domestic sewage. Often used synonymously with wastewater treatment plant.

Septic Tank: An underground storage tank and treatment device for wastes from homes not connected to a sewer line. Waste goes directly from the home to the tank. The septic tank is a component of the septic system.

Septic System: An on-site system designed to treat and dispose of domestic sewage. A typical septic system consists of a tank that receives waste from a residence or business and a system of trenches or beds in the soil for disposal of the liquid effluent that remains after decomposition of the solids by bacteria in the tank. The sludge remaining in the septic tank must be pumped out periodically.

Semi Volatile Organic Compound (SVOC): Organic compounds that volatilize slowly at standard temperature (20 degrees C and 1 atm pressure).

Self-Monitoring Report Form (SMRF): Forms filled out to fulfill specific monitoring and reporting requirements as set forth by the facility’s aquifer protection permit or reuse permit.

Sediment: Topsoil, sand, and minerals washed from the land into water, usually after rain or snow melt.

Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT): Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources. Mexico’s environmental and natural resources protection agency. It is considered the counterpart to the U.S. EPA.

Secondary Treatment: A wastewater treatment process used to convert dissolved or suspended materials into a form more readily separated from the water being treated.

Scrubber: An air pollution device that uses a spray of water or reactant or a dry process to trap pollutants in emissions.

Scattering (of light): An interaction of a light wave with an object like tiny particles of dust or soot, that cause the light to be redirected.

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA): Main federal law that ensures the quality of the country’s drinking water. Under SDWA, the EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and oversees the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards.

Run Habitat: A stream segment where there is moderate water velocity that does not break the surface tension of the water and does not produce breaking wavelets that turn the surface water into white water

Risk Assessment: A scientific evaluation of the probability of harm resulting from exposure to a hazardous substances. The contaminant exposure pathways examined are inhalation (breathing the contaminant), ingestion (drinking/eating contaminant), and dermal (skin having contact with contaminant).

Riparian Habitat: Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a differing density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands

Rip Rap: A layer of man-made hard, durable material for bank protection and stabilization usually consisting of rock or stone.

Riffle Habitat: A stream segment where moderate water velocity and substrate roughness produce moderately turbulent conditions that break the surface tension of the water and may produce breaking wavelets that turn the surface water into white water.

Reverse Osmosis: A treatment process used in drinking water systems by adding pressure to force water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis removes salinity and most drinking water contaminants and produces a waste stream of highly saline water. Also used in wastewater treatment.

Retention Pond: Temporary containment for a material in an area where it can be treated for proper disposal.

Responsiveness Summary: A summary of oral and written comments (and ADEQ responses to those comments) received during the public comment period.

Responsible Party (RP): A party (individual, corporation) identified by state or federal authorities as liable for cleanup costs at a contaminated site.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): The primary federal act that manages and controls the formation, storage, release, and permitting of hazardous substances and wastes. Primarily applied to the industrial and manufacturing sectors.

Reportable Quantity: Quantity of a hazardous substance that triggers reports under CERCLA. If a substance exceeds its RQ, the release must be reported to the National Response Center, the SERC, and community emergency coordinators for areas likely to be affected.

Renewable Energy: Electricity supplied from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass. These energy sources are considered renewable sources because they are continuously replenished on the earth.

Removal Action: An immediate, short-term cleanup action to address a release or threatened release of hazardous substances. This action is initiated to reduce or eliminate an immediate threat to public health and/or the environment.

Remediation: Cleanup or other methods used to remove or contain a toxic spill or hazardous materials.

Remedial Objective (RO): Established remedial goals for the current and reasonably foreseeable uses of lands and waters of the state that have been or are threatened to be affected by a release of hazardous substance..

Remedial Investigation (RI): Establishes the nature and extent of the contamination and the sources; identifies current and potential impacts to public health, welfare, and the environment; identifies current and reasonable foreseeable uses of land and waters of the state; and obtains and evaluates any information necessary for identification and comparison of alternative remedial actions.

Remedial Action: Any action taken to investigate, monitor, assess and evaluate the release or threat of release of hazardous substances or contaminants to the environment. It may also refer to the actual “cleanup” of the environment by various removal, treatment, monitored remediation, or corrective actions. The term cleanup is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms remedial action, removal action, response action, remedy, remediation, or corrective action.