Category: Environment Dictionary

Desalinization: Removal of salt from saline water to provide fresh water (also desalination).

Delegation Agreement (DA): An agreement between ADEQ and a political subdivision that authorizes the political subdivision to exercise functions , powers or duties conferred on the delegating agency by a provision of law.

Declaration of Environmental Use Restriction (DEUR): A restrictive covenant that runs with and burdens the land and requires maintenance of any institutional or engineering control. It must be approved and signed by ADEQ before it may be recorded with the county recorder’s office.

Cubic Feet Per Second (CFS): The flow rate or discharge equal to one cubic foot of water per second or about 7.5 gallons per second commonly used to indicate the rate of flow of a creek, river or flood, i.e., the volume of water that passes a given point in a given amount of time.

Crumb Rubber: Ground rubber fragments the size of sand or silt used in rubber or plastic products, or processed further into reclaimed rubber or asphalt products.

Criteria Flow Condition: The lowest flow over seven consecutive days that has a probability of occurring once in 10 years.

Criteria Air Pollutant (CAP): The 1970 amendments to the Clean Air Act required EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards for pollutants hazardous to human health — ozone, carbon monoxide, total suspended particulates, sulfur dioxide, lead and nitrogen oxide. The term “criteria pollutants” derives from the requirement that EPA must describe the characteristics and potential health and welfare effects of these pollutants. It is on the basis of these criteria that standards are set or revised

Criteria (for Water): Elements of water quality standards that are expressed as pollutant concentrations, levels, or narrative statements representing water quality that supports a designated use.

Cost Recovery: A legal process where responsible parties can be required to pay back the state for money it spends on any investigative and/or cleanup actions.

Convection: Vertical transport of heat and moisture that can lead to an increase in cloud cover and precipitation. Commonly results in thunderstorm activity during the North American Monsoon.

Contamination: Any hazardous or regulated substance released into the environment.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC): Those chemicals in detergents, fragrances, prescription and nonprescription drugs, disinfectants, and pesticides that recently have been shown to occur widely in water resources and identified as being a potential environmental or public health risk, although adequate data do not yet exist to determine their risk.

Contaminant Level: A contaminant level is a relative measure of how much of a contaminant is present. Contaminant levels are expressed in concentrations such as parts per million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb), milligrams per liter (mg/l), or micrograms per liter (μg/l).

Contaminant: Any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter present in any media at concentrations that may result in adverse effects on air, water or soil. A harmful or hazardous matter introduced into the environment that is not normally found there, or not naturally occurring.

Containment: A remediation method that seals off all possible exposure pathways between a hazardous disposal site and the environment, which generally includes capping (putting an engineered soil cover over a contaminated area) and institutional controls like deed restrictions.

Consent Order (CO): A legal document, approved by a judge, that formalizes an agreement reached between ADEQ and potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to clean up, cease or correct actions that are polluting the environment.

Confined Aquifer: An aquifer bounded on the top by a relatively impermeable layer of material such as clay. Though the confining layer may hold water, it does not allow water to freely move through it.

Cone of Depression / Area of Influence:  The depression, roughly conical in shape, produced in an aquifer by pumping in a well. The radius of water affected around the well is called the area of influence. This area of influence varies, depending upon many factors such as the characteristics of the rock or soil formation (material) the water must travel through to get to the well.

Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG): Someone that generates less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste, or less than 2.2 pounds of acutely hazardous waste, per calendar month.

Concentration: The relative amount of one material dispersed/distributed/dissolved in a larger amount of another material.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO): An animal feeding operation that confines animals for more than 45 days during a growing season in an area that does not produce vegetation and meets certain size thresholds.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG): An alternative fuel for motor vehicles; considered one of the cleanest because of low hydrocarbon emissions and its vapors are relatively non-ozone producing.

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA): This federal law, also known as “Superfund,” was passed in 1980. It established a program to (1) identify sites where hazardous substances have been, or might be, released into the environment; (2) ensure that these sights are cleaned up by the responsible parties or the government; (3) evaluate damages to natural resources; and (4) create a claims procedure for parties who have cleaned up sites to recover their costs from a responsible party or parties.

Compliance Schedule: A negotiated agreement between a pollution source and a government agency that specifies dates and procedures by which a source will reduce emissions and, thereby, comply with a regulation.

Compliance Monitoring: Collection and evaluation of data, including self-monitoring reports, and verification to show whether pollutant concentrations and loads contained in permitted discharges are in compliance with the limits and conditions specified in the permit.

Compliance Cycle: The nine- year calendar cycle during which public water systems must monitor. The cycle consists of three three-year compliance periods.

Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL): Small fluorescent lamps used as more efficient alternatives to incandescent lighting.

Community Water System (CWS):A public water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

Community Involvement Plan (CIP): A document that identifies techniques used by ADEQ and EPA to communicate effectively with the public during the Superfund cleanup process at a specific site. This plan describes the site history, nature and history of community involvement, and concerns expressed during community interviews. In addition, the plan outlines methodologies and timing for continued interaction between the agencies and the public at the site.

Community Involvement Coordinator (CIC): The ADEQ employee responsible for ensuring that all statutes and rules related to the involvement of the public and public outreach at WQARF sites are upheld and complied with by ADEQ. CICs manage and coordinate the work of Community Advisory Boards for WQARF sites.

Community Involvement Coordinator (CIC): The ADEQ employee responsible for ensuring that all statutes and rules related to the involvement of the public and public outreach at WQARF sites are upheld and complied with by ADEQ. CICs manage and coordinate the work of Community Advisory Boards for WQARF sites.

Community Involvement Area (CIA): The mailing area of residences and businesses used in the notification for public meetings and other written notices regarding a WQARF site.

Community Advisory Group (CAG): A diverse group of community members interested in or affected by the presence of an EPA NPL site. The EPA forms a CAG for each NPL site where it is initiating a remedial investigation. The EPA seeks the CAG’s input in the decision-making process.

Community Advisory Board (CAB): A diverse group of community members interested in or affected by the presence of an EPA NPL site. The EPA forms a CAG for each NPL site where it is initiating a remedial investigation. The EPA seeks the CAG’s input in the decision-making process

Commingled Recyclables: Mixed recyclables that are collected together.

Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA): Mexico’s national water commission. The commission has oversight authority nationwide.

Comisión Estatal del Agua (CEA): The State of Sonora Water Commission and counterpart to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Comisión de Ecología y Desarrollo Sustentable (CEDES): State of Sonora Environment and Sustainable Development Commission. The environmental protection agency in the State of Sonora that also has flora and fauna regulatory authority. It is considered ADEQ’s counterpart agency but it has no regulatory authority regarding water quality.

Coliform: Microorganisms found in the intestinal tract of humans and animals. Their presence in water indicates fecal pollution and potentially adverse contamination by pathogens.

Cold Front: The leading edge of a relatively cold air mass that moves so that the colder air replaces the warmer air. Cold frontal passages can result in wind-blown dust events, precipitation, and drop in temperatures.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): Document that codifies all rules of the executive departments and agencies of the federal government.

Coal Gasification: Conversion of coal to a gaseous product by one of several available technologies.

Closed-Loop Recycling: Reclaiming or reusing wastewater for non-potable purposes in an enclosed process.

Clinical Studies: Studies of humans suffering from symptoms induced by chemical exposure.

Cleanup: Actions taken which deal with a release or threat of a release of hazardous substances that could adversely affect public health and/or the environment. The word “cleanup” is sometimes used interchangeably with the terms remedial action, removal action, response action, remedy, remediation, or corrective action.

Clean Water Act (CWA): Primary federal law governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, providing assistance to publicly owned treatment works for the improvement of wastewater treatment, and maintaining the integrity of wetlands.

Clean Air Act (CAA): Federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the EPA to develop and enforce regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants known to be hazardous to human health.

Clay Soil: A soil containing more than 40 percent clay, but less than 45 percent sand, and less than 40 percent silt.

Clay: A sediment of soft plastic consistency composed primarily of fine-grained particles less than 1/256 of a millimeter.

Chronic Exposure: A continuous or repeated exposure to a hazardous substance over a long period of time.

Circle of Influence: The circular outer edge of a depression produced in the water table by the pumping of water from a well.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC): A family of inert, nontoxic, and easily liquefied chemicals used in refrigeration, air conditioning, packaging, insulation, or as solvents and aerosol propellants.

Chlorinator: A device that adds chlorine, in gas or liquid form, to water or sewage to kill bacteria

Chlorination: The application of chlorine to water, generally for the purpose of disinfection, but frequently for accomplishing other biological or chemical results (aiding coagulation and controlling tastes and odors).

Chlorinated Solvent: An organic solvent containing chlorine atoms. Chlorinated solvents are used in aerosol spray containers, highway paint, dry cleaning fluids and the electronics industry.

Chlorinated Hydrocarbons: Chemicals containing only chlorine, carbon, and hydrogen. These include a class of persistent insecticides that linger in the environment and accumulate in the food chain like DDT, aldrin and chlordane and industrial solvents like TCE.

Children’s Environmental Health, Office of (CEH): ADEQ office that protects the health and environment of Arizona’s school children. Its major initiatives are the No Idling Initiative for Schools, in which bus engines are turned off while waiting for students to protect them from harmful fumes, and the Air Quality Flag Program, which uses colored flags to alert students, teachers and parents about risks of high-pollution days.

Chemical Compound: A distinct and pure substance formed by the union or two or more elements in definite proportion by weight.

Characteristic: With respect to hazardous waste, one of the following four categories: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity.

Channelization: Straightening and deepening streams so water will move faster, a marsh-drainage tactic that can interfere with waste assimilation capacity, disturb fish and wildlife habitats, and aggravate flooding.

Central Arizona Project (CAP): A 336-mile-long system of aqueducts, tunnels, pumping plants and pipelines that divert water from the Colorado River from Lake Havasu near Parker into central and southern Arizona. The CAP is the largest and most expensive aqueduct system ever constructed in the United States and is designed to bring about 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Federal agency based in Atlanta tasked with protecting the nation from health threats.

Catalytic converter: An air pollution abatement device that removes pollutants from motor vehicle exhaust, either by oxidizing them into carbon dioxide and water or reducing them to nitrogen.

Carcinogen: A substance or agent that may produce or increase the risk of cancer.

Carbon monoxide: A colorless, odorless gas formed by incomplete combustion of carbon or a material relating to, containing or composed of carbon material.

Carbon Absorption Unit (CAU): A control device that uses activated carbon to absorb volatile organic compounds from a gas or liquid stream. (The VOCs are later recovered from the carbon.) It is commonly known as a granular activated carbon (GAC) unit.

Cap: A layer of clay, or other impermeable material, installed over the top of a closed landfill to prevent entry of rainwater and minimize leachate.

Cadmium: A highly toxic soft, malleable, bluish white metal that accumulates in the environment, found primarily in zinc ores.

Brownfields: Abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.

British Thermal Unit (BTU): Unit of heat energy equal to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit at sea level.

Brackish: Mixed fresh and salt water.

Borehole or boring: A narrow shaft drilled in the ground, either vertically or horizontally, by means of a drilling rig.

Border Environmental Protection, Office of (OBEP): ADEQ office based in Tucson whose mission is to protect public health and the environment in Arizona border communities by facilitating efforts that address environmental problems with a transboundary link and enhancing collaboration with other border-focused programs.

Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC): Created by the governments of the United States and Mexico in conjunction with its sister organization, the North American Development Bank, to improve environmental conditions of the border region in order to advance the well-being of residents in both nations, primarily through environmental infrastructure projects

Border 2020: Administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its counterpart in Mexico, Border 2020 funds environmental and public health programs in the border region. It builds on the Border 2012 environmental program, emphasizing regional, bottom-up approaches for decision making, priority setting, and project implementation for nearly 12 million people living along the border.

Blowing Dust: Dust picked up locally from the surface of the earth and blown about in clouds or sheets. Common during the North American Monsoon because of thunderstorm outflows like a dust storm or haboob during the summer or cold frontal passages.

Blackwater: Water that contains animal, human, or food waste.

Bioventing: An in-situ remediation technology that combines soil vapor extraction methods with bioremediation. It uses vapor extraction wells that induce air flow in the subsurface through air injection or through the use of a vacuum. Bioventing can be effective in remediating releases of petroleum products, such as gasoline, jet fuels, kerosene, and diesel fuel.

Bioremediation: Refers to treatment processes that use microorganisms (usually naturally occuring) such as bacteria, yeast, or fungi to break down hazardous substances and pollutants. Bioremediation can be used to clean up contaminated soil and water.

Biological Degradation: A process by which micro-organisms break down waste materials. Nutrient additives may be introduced into a contaminated area (such as groundwater or soil) for the specific purpose of encouraging biodegradation.

Bioconcentration: The accumulation of a chemical in tissues of an organism (such as fish) to levels that are greater than the level in the medium (such as water) in which the organism resides.

Bioaccumulation: The retention and concentration of a substance by an organism.

Billet: A bar of steel or iron that is in an intermediate manufacturing stage.

Best Management Practice (BMP): Methods that have been determined to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing pollution from non-point sources.

Best Available Control Technology (BACT): An emission limitation, including a visible emissions standard, based on the maximum possible reduction of an air pollutant.

Beryllium: A metal hazardous to human health when inhaled as an airborne pollutant. It is discharged by machine shops, ceramic and propellant plants, and foundries.

Berm: A raised linear bank separating two areas.

Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylene (BTEX): The acronym used for compounds typically found in petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuel.

Baseline Risk Assesment: An assessment conducted before cleanup activities begin at a site to identify and evaluate the threat to human health and the environment. After remediation has been completed, the information obtained during a baseline risk assessment can be used to determine whether the cleanup levels were reached.

Bailer: A pipe with a valve at the lower end that is used to remove slurry from the bottom or side of a well as it is being driled, or to collect groundwater samples from wells or open boreholes

Backflow: A reverse flow condition, created by a difference in water pressures, which causes water to flow back into the distribution pipes of a potable water supply from any source or sources other than an intended source.

Back Pressure: A pressure that can cause water to backflow into the water supply when a user’s water system is at a higher pressure than the public water system.

Available Expansion: The vertical distance from the sand surface to the underside of a trough in a sand filter. This distance is also called Freeboard.

Auto Shredder Fluff: The non-metallic waste product that results from the reclamation process of recyclable ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The primary source of recyclable materials comes from automobiles, truck, buses and common household appliances such as washers, dryers and refrigerators.

Assimilative Capacity: The difference between the baseline water quality concentration for a pollutant and the most stringent applicable water quality criterion for that pollutant.

Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA): A 1986 law that requires local educational agencies to inspect their school buildings for asbestos-containing building material, prepare asbestos management plans and perform asbestos response actions to prevent or reduce asbestos hazards.

Asbestos: Any of several minerals (like chrysotile) used commonly in the past as a building material for fireproof insulation. Asbestos can cause serious diseases of the lungs when people breathe its dust. The material readily separates into long flexible fibers that cause asbestosis and have been implicated as causes of certain cancers.

Artificial Recharge: Water put back into groundwater storage from surface water through man-made means.

Artesian: Groundwater held under pressure in porous rock or soil confined by impermeable geologic formations which rises to the land surface when tapped by a well.

Arizona-Mexico Commission (AMC): Mission is to improve the economic prosperity and quality of life for all Arizonans through strong, public/private collaborations in advocacy, trade, networking and information. It is chaired by the governor of Arizona and has several cross-border committees, including an environment and water committee.