Term
|
Definition
| The addition of anything that might degrade the quality of the water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A process in which excess nutrients in aquatic ecosystems feed biological productivity, ultimately lowering the oxygen content in the water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Pollution from discharge pipes (or smoke stacks) such as that from wastewater treatment plants or industrial sites |
|
|
Term
| Nonpoint Source Pollution |
|
Definition
| Runoff that enters the water from overland flow and can come from any area in the watershed |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The land area surronding a body of water over which water such as rain could flow and potentially enter that body of water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An underground, permeable region of soil or rock that is saturated with water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The amount of oxygen in water |
|
|
Term
| Biologicak Oxygen Demand (BO) |
|
Definition
| The amount of oxygen that microbes living in a body of water use |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Eroded soil that is washed into the water through runoff |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The main U.S. Federal law that regulates water pollution |
|
|
Term
| Eutrophication end effects |
|
Definition
| Three major effects: Extra amounts of nutrients trigger explosions of algae, which block sunlight from reaching underwater plants, causing them to die. Less oxygen is produced when the underwater plants die; resulting in levels of dissolved oxygen lowering substantially. Low levels of oxygen create hypoxia, a situation in which the level of oxygen in the water is inadequate to support life. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Health of an aquatic system can be assed by looking at what lives there, known as biological assesment, and benthic macroinvertebrates (organisms living on bottom). Over the past few years the size of crabs have decreased an average of 6.2 inches in Maryland. In Virginia and Maryland nearly 120 million oysters were harvested in 1880, now only a million were gathered |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| One of the nations most important bodies of water, and the united states' largest estuary. The bay has the largest ratio of land to water of any coastal water body, in the world. The bay watershed covers more than 64,000 square miles, and includes regions in 6 different states and the District Columbia. The bay is slowly being infiltrated by pollutants that wash off of agricultural lands, suburban lawns, and city streets. Excess nutirents, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and sediment can help explain why the bay is suffering. |
|
|
Term
| Best Management Practices |
|
Definition
| Agreed-upon (or EPA-regulated) actions that minimize pollution problems caused by industrial or land-use impacts by The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP). These practices differ depending on the way the land in a given area in the watershed is used. A major component of this restoration involves watershed managment, which is the managing of what goes on in the area around the streams and rivers. Another goal of the CBP is to restore riparian areas, the areas close to the water, by planting vegetated buffer zones that slow runoff and give the rainwater time to soak into the ground. |
|
|
Term
| Land Areas Contributing most to Water pollution |
|
Definition
| Nitrate levels in urban and suburban areas are higher than levels in natural forest areas, but defiantly lower than agricultural sites. Even with lower nitrogen inputs than agricultural areas, urban and suburban settlements still contribute significant runoff pollution because so much of their land surface is covered with cement driveways, asphalt roads, and other impervious surfaces that prevent the infiltration of water into the ground below. But these urban and suburban areas still contribute less nitrogen runoff and fertilizer than agricultural areas. On average agricultural contributes about 60% of the nitrogen to the Chesapeake Bay. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the addition of anything that might degrade the quality of the water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| excess nutrients in aquatic ecosystems feed ecological productivity |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the amount of oxygen in the water is inadequate to support life |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a body of water where freshwater rivers meet the sea |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| pollution from discharge pipes (from wastewater treatment plants) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| underground region of soil that is saturated with water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the cloudiness of the water |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| allowable levels of a pollutant that can be released over time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| runoff area that is planted with water-tolerant plants |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| U.S. federal law that regulates water pollution |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| establish harvesting limits to help overfished populations |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| establish watershed management plans |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| increase permeable surfaces in urban areas to allow infiltration |
|
|
