Wastewater terminology is so important to become familiar with. Not only does it empower you to say the words, it makes you dive a little deeper into understanding them.
With that in mind, we’ve created a (layman’s) Wastewater Terminology page for you here. It’s a live page we want to keep adding to with your help. Got a term you don’t understand and even when looking it up, don’t see why you should care about it or how it pertains to you?
We’re here to help.
Got a term you want defined so that you better understand it? Reach out here!
Let’s start with these and keep building:
Phosphorus: Periodic table element with symbol P. Derived from rocks in the form of phosphate. Essential for life in all organisms as an important component of DNA, RNA, ATP and phospholipids. One of three primary plant nutrients (NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) required for crops and food production. P is the key limiting nutrient in freshwater lakes and ponds contributing to overgrowth and harmful blooms of algae and cyanobacteria.
Nitrogen: Periodic table element with symbol N. A colorless, odorless, inert gas, that constitutes 78 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere (as N2). One of three primary plant nutrients (NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) required for crops and food production. A significant contributor to water pollution (about 80% entering in the form of urine as urea) and converting into ammonia, nitrate and back to nitrogen gas in wastewater treatment processes. Considered the key limiting nutrient in coastal marine waters causing harmful algal blooms and low oxygen “dead zones” devoid of marine life.
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL): An environmental regulatory threshold indicating the maximum amount of a particular pollutant that a water body can sustain without degradation of water quality and adverse effects on habitat value. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) is responsible for making sure towns meet their TMDL requirements in watersheds that have been deemed as polluted or impaired. Pollutants like nitrogen, phosphorus and bacteria are commonly addressed with TMDLs.
Watershed: A delineated (outlined) area of land that drains into a specific surface water body such as a lake, pond, bay or estuary. Any water and pollutants applied to the land surface as rain, snowmelt, or irrigation within a certain watershed will travel downhill along the land surface and/or absorb into the ground and eventually make its way into the surface water associated with that particular watershed. For example, all water and water pollution in the Waquoit Bay watershed will eventually make its way into Waquoit Bay.
Stormwater runoff: Water traveling along the land surface. Both surface runoff and groundwater travel toward the surface water body within that water body’s watershed area.
Groundwater: Water traveling below the land surface. Both surface runoff and groundwater travel toward the surface water body within that water body’s watershed area.
RME (Responsible Management Entity): Responsible Management Entities are agencies or other organizations tasked with managing decentralized wastewater infrastructure.
CECs (contaminants of emerging concern): a general term for a diverse group of chemicals that are considered environmental pollutants but are newly identified and/or currently unregulated. CECs include pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), cleaning products, micro/nanoplastics, illicit drugs, caffeine, etc. CECs generally enter the environment through wastewater and then enter water bodies, soil, and groundwater resources.
PPCPs (Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products): a group of CECs that include chemicals originating from prescription and over the counter drugs, sunscreens, fragrances, hair care products, etc. that enter the environment through wastewater. The full extent and consequences of these chemicals in water bodies are still mostly unknown and the range of environmental effects vary by pollutant but can include endocrine disruption and antibiotic resistance.
PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances): a large group of chemicals that resist water, oil, and heat. They are found in hundred of products ranging from cleaning products, food containers, paints, outdoor equipment, cooking products, water/stain resistant clothing and carpet, and fire-fighting foam. These so called “forever chemicals” do not break down or degrade easily and are thought to persist in the environment and human/animal tissue. Health and environmental concerns around PFAS are increasing and the EPA recently passed drinking water limits for several types of PFAS.
PPM (parts per million): used to measure contaminant concentration and is equivalent to milligrams per liter (mg/L). 1 PPM or 1 mg/L is one part, by weight, of the pollutant in one million parts of solution, similarly 10 ppm or 10 mg/L is 10 parts, by weight, of the pollutant in one million parts of solution. Imagine using an eyedropper to fill a pool: if you add 999,999 drops of water and 1 drop of pollutant to the pool, the concentration is 1 ppm or 1 mg/L.