GLOSSARY OF COMMON TERMS
Best Management Practices (BMP)
A practice, or combination of practices, determined to be an effective and practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of point source and nonpoint source pollution to levels compatible with water quality goals.
Coastal Communities
The coastal zone, as defined by NOAA, means the coastal waters and adjacent shorelands, strongley influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches. H-GAC's focus is small communities in coastal areas that do not have MS4 permits.
Implementation
Implementation of actions, or BMPs, as identified by Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) or Implementation Plan (I-Plan) (less typical), to mitigate a broad set of parameters or adverse condition related to water pollution.
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4)
Untreated stormwater runoff is commonly transported through Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), and discharged into into local waterbodies. To prevent harmful pollutants from being washed or dumped into an MS4, a NPDES permit and stormwater management program is required of certain entities.
NonPoint Source Pollution
Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters.
Point Source Pollution
The term "point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP)
SEPs are environmentally-beneficial projects funded by fines and other penalties paid by entities who violate environmental regulations in Texas. The funds from these penalties are directed to local environmental projects rather than going into the state’s General Fund. The SEPs represent a way to ensure local dollars are spent on local needs.
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
A Total Maximum Daily Load is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quality standards.
Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF)
A facility designed to receive the wastewater from domestic sources and remove materials that damage water quality and threaten public health and safety when discharged into receiving streams or bodies of water.
Watershed
A watershed is the area of land where any rainfall, runoff, or water within that area drains to the same place, also commonly referred to as a catchment area.
Watershed Protection Plan (WPP)
A watershed protection plan provides an understanding of the sources of water pollution in a defined area, and what area governements, individuals, community organizations, and businesses can do voluntarily to improve water quality.
Sources:
Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Office of Coastal Management
https://coast.noaa.gov/
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
http://www.tceq.texas.gov/
A practice, or combination of practices, determined to be an effective and practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of point source and nonpoint source pollution to levels compatible with water quality goals.
Coastal Communities
The coastal zone, as defined by NOAA, means the coastal waters and adjacent shorelands, strongley influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of the several coastal states, and includes islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches. H-GAC's focus is small communities in coastal areas that do not have MS4 permits.
Implementation
Implementation of actions, or BMPs, as identified by Watershed Protection Plan (WPP) or Implementation Plan (I-Plan) (less typical), to mitigate a broad set of parameters or adverse condition related to water pollution.
Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4)
Untreated stormwater runoff is commonly transported through Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), and discharged into into local waterbodies. To prevent harmful pollutants from being washed or dumped into an MS4, a NPDES permit and stormwater management program is required of certain entities.
NonPoint Source Pollution
Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and ground waters.
Point Source Pollution
The term "point source" means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.
Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP)
SEPs are environmentally-beneficial projects funded by fines and other penalties paid by entities who violate environmental regulations in Texas. The funds from these penalties are directed to local environmental projects rather than going into the state’s General Fund. The SEPs represent a way to ensure local dollars are spent on local needs.
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
A Total Maximum Daily Load is a regulatory term in the U.S. Clean Water Act, describing a plan for restoring impaired waters that identifies the maximum amount of a pollutant that a body of water can receive while still meeting water quality standards.
Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF)
A facility designed to receive the wastewater from domestic sources and remove materials that damage water quality and threaten public health and safety when discharged into receiving streams or bodies of water.
Watershed
A watershed is the area of land where any rainfall, runoff, or water within that area drains to the same place, also commonly referred to as a catchment area.
Watershed Protection Plan (WPP)
A watershed protection plan provides an understanding of the sources of water pollution in a defined area, and what area governements, individuals, community organizations, and businesses can do voluntarily to improve water quality.
Sources:
Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Office of Coastal Management
https://coast.noaa.gov/
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
http://www.tceq.texas.gov/
This program and website are funded in part by the TCEQ through a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Copyright H-GAC 2017 - All Rights Reserved.
Copyright H-GAC 2017 - All Rights Reserved.