Water Quality Vocab

Question 0

An underground layer of water bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well

Answer 0

Aquifer

Question 1

Process of attachment of a substance to the surface if another substance

Answer 1

Adhesion

Question 2

The biological sequestering (holding) of a substance at a higher concentration than that at which it occurs in the surrounding environment or medium

Answer 2

Bioaccumulation (bio magnification)

Question 3

The action or property of molecules sticking together

Answer 3

Cohesion

Question 4

A measure of a materials ability to conduct an electric current

Answer 4

Conductivity

Question 5

The widening channel of a river where it nears the sea, with a mixing of fresh water and salt (tidal) water

Answer 5

Estuary

Question 6

A syndrome of ecosystem responses to human activities that fertilize water bodies with nitrogen and phosphorus, often leading to changes in animal and plant populations and degradation of water and habitat quality

Answer 6

Eutrophication

Question 7

An area of land adjacent to a stream or river that stretched from the banks if it’s channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge

Answer 7

Floodplain

Question 8

A well stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a hydraulically pressurized liquid with the intent of extracting fossil fuels

Answer 8

Fracking

Question 9

Water that occurs below the ground and is brought to the land surface by wells or springs

Answer 9

Ground water

Question 10

Individual metals and metal compounds that negatively affect people’s health

Answer 10

Heavy metals

Question 11

An organism that serves as a measure of the environmental conditions that exist in a given locale (present when environment is unpolluted)

Answer 11

Indicator species

Question 12

An area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns

Answer 12

Karst

Question 13

A solution resulting from leaching, as of soluble constituents from soil, landfill etc. by downward percolating ground water

Answer 13

Leachate

Question 14

The process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms

Answer 14

Nitrogen cycle

Question 15

When rainfall or snowmelt runs over land or through the ground, picks up pollutants, and deposits them into rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal waters or introduces them into groundwater.

Answer 15

Non point source pollution

Question 16

A collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean

Answer 16

Pacific garbage patch

Question 17

The slow movement of water through the pores in soil or permeable rock

Answer 17

Percolation

Question 18

Any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are discharged, such as pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack

Answer 18

Point source pollution

Question 19

Ecosystems located along the banks of rivers, streams, creeks or any other water networks. Narrow strips of land that like the borders of a water source

Answer 19

Riparian zone

Question 20

The movement of water and any containments across the soil surface. It occurs when irrigation, rain or snow melt adds water to a surface faster than it can enter the soil

Answer 20

Runoff

Question 21

The tendency for particles in suspension to settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained

Answer 21

Sedimentation

Question 22

Rain water that collects in streams, rivers, lakes

Answer 22

Surface water

Question 23

Any water that has been adversely affected in quality by any human impact or influence on the water

Answer 23

Waste water

Question 24

A watershed in the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off it goes to the same place

Answer 24

Watershed

Question 25

The point between the 2 zones at which the ground becomes completely saturated

Answer 25

Water table

Question 26

A land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem . Primarily, the factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation that is adapted to its unique soil conditions

Answer 26

Wetland

Question 27

The space below the water table in which all the interstices (pore spaces) are filled with water. Water in this is called ground water

Answer 27

Zone of saturation