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| M | N | O | P Aesthetic Objective: Aesthetic objectives address parameters which may affect consumer acceptance of the water even though the substance in question is found at concentrations below which health effects appear. These parameters generally affect characteristics such as taste, odour and colour. Amperometric Chlorine Analyser: This is an instrument used to measure residual chlorine levels. Aquifers: These are underground formations that are saturated with groundwater that will yield water to a well or spring. Artesian or confined aquifers: These are located between two aquicludes and are usually recharged in an area where the geological layer forming the aquiclude comes to the surface. Confined aquifers are usually deeper than unconfined aquifers and the distance that groundwater travels through the aquifer from the recharge zone and the rate of recharge is usually longer than unconfined aquifers. Backflow: The process drawing contaminated water into the system. A pressure tank prevents this from happening. Biofilm: A community of microorganisms attached to a solid surface, for example the inside wall of a pipe, in an aquatic environment. Biofouling: The overgrowth or algae, marine invertebrates, and other organisms on intake pipes and structures in the water. Boil Water Advisory: Advice given to the public by the responsible authority to boil their water, regardless of whether this advice is precautionary or in response to an outbreak. Also known as ‘boil water order’. Breakpoint: The point at which all of the chlorine added will form free chlorine residual which is a very effective and quick acting disinfecting agent. Chlorine Demand: A measure of the amount of chlorine which will be consumed by organic matter and other oxidizable impurities in water before the chlorine can begin disinfecting or battling the disease causing organisms. Chlorine Dosage: The total of the total chlorine residual plus chlorine demand. Cistern: A small, covered tank, usually placed underground, in which potable water is stored for household purposes. Combined Chlorine Residual: The combination of chlorine with ammonia that occurs after all of the organic material has reacted with the chlorine. Combined chlorine residual has the ability to disinfect water, but at a very slow rate. Condensation: As water vapour rises, it cools and eventually condenses, usually on tiny particles of dust in the air. When it condenses it becomes a liquid again or turns directly into a solid (ice, hail or snow). These water particles then collect and form clouds. Diatomaceous Earth (DE): It is the skeletal remains of small, single-celled organisms that are used as the filter media. Direct Readout Colourometric: This is an instrument used to measure residual chlorine levels. Distribution System: A network of pipes leading from a well or treatment system to consumers’ plumbing systems. Drainage Basin: A land area enclosed by a topographic divide from which surface runoff normally drains into an ocean, lake, river or stream. This is also sometimes called a watershed. Due diligence: The measure of prudence, activity or assiduity that is properly to be expected from, and ordinarily exercised by, a reasonable and prudent person under the particular circumstances. Encrustation: Buildup that is a byproduct of corrosion mixed with mineral deposits. Encrustations often have a mixed color and rugged appearance. The result can be significantly reduced flow from a well or through a water distribution pipe. (Source: http://www.aces.edu/waterquality/faq/faq_results.php3?rowid=2982) Evaporation: As water is heated by the sun, it evaporates and rises as vapour in the atmosphere. When water evaporates, it leaves behind impurities suspended or dissolved in it (e.g., salt in oceans), and it rises in the atmosphere as pure water. Free Chlorine Residual: A residual formed once the chlorine has reacted with all of the ammonia present in the water – this is known as the breakpoint. After this point all of the chlorine added will form free chlorine residual which is a very effective and quick acting disinfecting agent. Good Manufacturing Practices: Relate to quality assurance programs that a manufacturer would establish to ensure that its products are consistently produced to the safety and quality standards appropriate to their intended use. They are conditions specific to the product being manufactured. Groundwater: The water found in underground aquifers which supplies wells and springs. Groundwater Flow: Groundwater accumulates in the cracks and pore spaces of subsurface materials such as soils and fragmented rock, in what are called aquifers. Aquifers are underground formations that are saturated with groundwater that will yield water to a well or spring. The terms groundwater and aquifer are sometimes used interchangeably. Near surface aquifers receive water that has infiltrated into the ground from precipitation or snowmelt. Depending on the geology, the groundwater can flow to support streams or lakes. Water in aquifers can also be tapped by wells. Groundwater under the direct influence of surface water (GUDI): Any water beneath the surface of the ground with
Hypochlorinator: A machine that allows a metered amount of chlorine to enter into the water system after the water pump kPa: KiloPascal – a measurement of pressure. MSDS: Material Safety Data Sheet. Produced by chemical manufacturers and importers. Relay chemical, physical and hazard information about specific substances. (Source: NYS Department of Labor, Hazard Communication) NTUs or Nephelometric Turbidity Units: This is a unit used to measure the intensity of light scatted by suspended matter in the water and is an indicator of turbidity. Turbidity in excess of 5 NTU is just noticeable to the average person. There is maximum acceptable concentration of 1 NTU at the point of treatment. Pathogen: Any organism capable of producing disease. Particulate matter: Organic material like soil and leaves that makes it into water bodies usually as a result of increased water flow, erosion or a spring melt. Percolation: Some of the rain and snow melt moves through the ground percolates or infiltrates through cracks, joints and pores in soil and rocks until it reaches the water table where it becomes groundwater. Physical Data: One of the categories of information which must appear on the MSDS. This describes the physical characteristics of the product including: Physical State, Odor and Appearance, Odor Threshold, Vapor Pressure, Vapor Density, Evaporation Rate, Boiling Point, Freezing Point, pH, Specific Gravity, and Coefficient of Water/Oil Distribution. Potable Water: Water that is safe for human consumption and cooking. Precipitation: Precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail comes from clouds. Clouds move around the world with air currents. When clouds rise over mountain ranges, they cool, becoming so saturated with water that water begins to fall as rain, snow or hail, depending on the temperature of the surrounding air. PSI to kPa: Pounds per square inch (PSI) x 6.896
= kilopascals (kPa) and kilopascal (kPa) x 0.145 = Pounds per square
inch (PSI) Reactivity Data: One of the categories of information which must appear on the MSDS. This describes the reactivity properties of the product including: Chemical Stability, Incompatibility, Reactivity, and Hazardous Decomposition Products. Reservoir: An impounded body of water or controlled lake in which water can be collected and stored. Shock Chlorination: The addition of a strong solution of liquid chlorine into a drinking water system to reduce the presence of microbiological contaminants. Storm Water: Storm water usually refers to rain and snowmelt collected in systems designed to collect it and transport it away from cities, towns and highways. In many cases storm water enters into water bodies without treatment. Sublimation: Sublimation is similar to evaporation, except that sublimation describes what happens when ice changes to water vapour. (Evaporation describes what happens when a liquid changes to a vapour). Energy from the sun will cause snow and ice (such as glaciers) to release water as a gas to the atmosphere. Surface Runoff: Excessive rain or snowmelt can produce overland flow to creeks and ditches. Runoff is visible flow of water in rivers, creeks and lakes (i.e., freshwater) as it makes its way to the oceans (i.e., salt water). As the water moves through the environment, it dissolves chemicals in the soils and rocks and picks up suspended materials. During this journey, water is available for use by animals and plants, either for drinking or as a place to live (habitat). Surface water is also available to humans for domestic and industrial use, and is often used by humans to dilute and remove liquid wastes. Surface Water:
Suspended Solids: Defined in waste management,
these are small particles of solid pollutants that resist separation
by conventional methods. Suspended solids (along with biological
oxygen demand) are a measurement of water quality and an indicator
of treatment plant efficiency Total Chlorine Residual: The total of the combined chlorine residual plus free chlorine residual. Toxicological Properties: One of the categories of information which must appear on the MSDS. This could include reference to: Route of Entry, Effects of Acute Exposure, Effects of Chronic Exposure, Exposure Limits, Irritancy of Product, Sensitizing Capability of Product, Carcinogenicity, Teratogenicity and Embryotoxicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Mutagenicity, and Synergistic Materials. Transmissivity: The rate at which water flows through an aquifer. The greater the transmissivity, the faster the water flow. Transpiration: Water vapour is emitted from plant leaves by a process called transpiration. Every day an actively growing plant transpires 5 to 10 times as much water as it can hold at one time. Tuberculation: The process in which blister-like growths of metal oxides develop in pipes as a result of the corrosion of the pipe metal. Iron oxide tubercles often develop over pits in iron or steel pipe, and can seriously restrict the flow of water. (Source: http://www.alpha-plumbing.com/plumbing-terminology-t.htm) Turbidimeter: This is an instrument used to measure turbidity. Unconfined aquifers: are made up of three layers:
Unconfined aquifers are recharged from surface water that percolates through the unconsolidated material until it is stopped by an aquiclude. The water table level is the top of the saturated zone, and can change according the amount of water infiltrating in to the ground and the rate that the groundwater is leaving the aquifer through springs or groundwater wells. Surface aquifers are characterised by relatively fast recharge rates, or the rate at which water will refill a well after it is pumped. Waste Water: Water that has been contaminated by human use such as sewage, industrial discharge or agricultural wastes, which is normally treated before being released into nature. Watershed: All of the land and waterways that drain into the same body of water, such as a lake or the ocean. Water Table: The water table is the level at which
water stands in a shallow well.
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Last Modified: July 29, 2010 |
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