Glossary of Terms

Water 101

Vocabulary:

sun

lake

ice

plant

cloud

river

snow

animal

rain

ocean

water

liquid

solid

oil

pollution

filtration plant

impervious surface

Groundwater

Wastewater

porous surface

septic tank

Reservoir

stormwater

Watersheds, Wetlands and the Willamette

slough

playa

carr

Peat

bog

pocosin

mire

glade

salt

marsh

muskeg

moor

fen

estuary

Hydric Soils: Wetland soils usually contain clay and are saturated with water for enough time during the growing season to create an anaerobic (low oxygen) state in the soil.

Hydrophytic Plants: Hydrophytic plants are plants that have adapted to and thrive in wet conditions and in soil with an anaerobic (low oxygen) content. Many of these plants have special stem and root systems that help them succeed in this environment. For example, reeds have long stems to help transport oxygen from the soil. Some trees form large, buttressed trunks that look like elephant legs to help support them in their wet habitats. There are even ferns that float in ponds (Azolla)!

A Hydrologic Regime: In simpler terms, the hydrologic regime refers to the presence of water above or just below the ground’s surface. A wetland may be just damp, or intermittently flooded. It is the presence of water that leads to the development of hydric soils and the presence of hydrophytic plants.

Watershed :

1. A ridge between regions whose water drains into two different rivers.

2. The region or area drained by a river system or other body of water.

3. A critical point serving as a dividing line.

Topographical:

1. Detailed and precise description of a place or region.

2. The technique of graphically representing the exact physical features of a place or region on a map.

3. The physical features of a place or region.

4. The surveying of the features of a region or place.

The 3 Water Systems in Eugene

Evaporation: Evaporation occurs when the heat from the sun causes water on the earth’s surface to turn into a water vapor.

Condensation: Once the water vapor enters the atmosphere, it cools and forms clouds. Clouds consist of billions and billions of water droplets. This process is called condensation. When the water droplets combine, they become too heavy for the cloud to hold and fall to the earth as precipitation.

Precipitation: The water that falls back to earth from the clouds is called precipitation. Precipitation can fall in many forms. Depending on the temperature of the atmosphere or the earth’s surface, it can fall as rain, snow, hail or sleet. When the ground is colder than the atmosphere, water can form fog, which is condensed moisture close to the ground. Once the water reaches the ground, the cycle starts all over again with evaporation.

Storage: Lakes, rivers, wetlands, and man-made reservoirs are places where water on the earth is stored to be available for future evaporation.

Vocabulary

filtration plant

impervious surface

Groundwater

Wastewater

porous surface

septic tank

Reservoir

stormwater

Pollution-what's in the water?

drinking

water

runoff

water treatment

storm drain

wastewater

pollutants

oxygen

stormwater

filtration

amphibian

precipitation

impervious surface

storm drain

Stormwater

pollution

wetland

runoff

absorb

nutrient