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| 303(d) list |
The list of Florida's water bodies that do not meet or are
not expected to meet applicable water quality standards with
technology-based controls alone. |
| 305(b) report |
Section 305(b) of the CWA requires states to report
biennially to the USEPA on the quality of the waters in the
state. |
Best Management
Practices (BMPs) |
Methods that have been determined to be the most effective,
practical means of preventing or reducing pollution from
non-point sources. |
Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (BOD) |
The amount of dissolved oxygen utilized by aquatic
microorganisms. |
| Coliforms |
Bacteria that live in the intestines (including the colon)
of humans and other animalsused as a measure of the presence
of feces in water or soil. |
| Clean Water Act (CWA) |
The Clean Water Act is a 1977 amendment to the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act of 1972, which set the basic structure for
regulating discharges of pollutants to waters of the United
States. |
| Dissolved Oxygen (DO) |
The amount of oxygen gas dissolved in a given volume of
water at a particular temperature and pressure, often expressed
as a concentration in parts of oxygen per million parts of
water. |
| Effluent |
Wastewater that flows into a receiving stream by way of a
domestic or industrial point source. |
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) |
The United States Environmental Protection Agency was
created in December 1970 to address the nation's urgent
environmental problems and to protect the public health. The
majority of DEP's regulatory programs have counterparts at the
EPA or are delegated from the EPA. |
Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP) |
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is
Florida's principal environmental and natural resources agency.
The Department of Natural Resources and the Department of
Environmental Regulation were merged together to create the
DEP effective July 1, 1993. |
| Karst |
An area of limestone terrain characterized by sinks,
ravines, and underground streams. |
| Load Allocations |
The portions of a receiving water's loading capacity that
are allocated to one of its existing or future nonpoint sources
of pollution. |
| Load Capacity |
The greatest amount of loading that a waterbody can receive
without violating water quality standards. |
| Margin of Safety |
The maximum amount of exposure producing no measurable
effect in animals (or studied humans) divided by the actual
amount of human exposure in a population. |
National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) |
The permitting process by which technology-based and water
quality-based controls are implemented. |
| Nonpoint Sources (NPS) |
Diffuse runoff without a single point of origin that flows
over the surface of the ground by stormwater and is then
introduced to surface or ground waters. NPSs include atmospheric
deposition and runoff or leaching from agricultural lands, urban
areas, unvegetated lands, onsite sewage treatment and disposal
systems, and construction sites. |
| Nonpoint Source Pollution |
NPS pollution is created by the flushing of pollutants
from landscape by rainfall and the resulting stormwater runoff,
or by the leaching of pollutants through the soils into the
ground water. |
| Organic matter |
Carbonaceous waste contained in plant or animal matter and
originating from domestic or industrial sources. |
Pollutant Load Reduction
Goals (PLRGs) |
Pollutant Load Reduction Goals are defined as estimated
numeric reductions in pollutant loadings needed to preserve or
restore designated uses of receiving bodies of water and
maintain water quality consistent with applicable state water
quality standards. PLRGs are developed by the water management
districts. |
| Point Source |
An identifiable and confined discharge point for one or more
water pollutants, such as a pipe, channel, vessel, or ditch. |
| Pollutant |
Generally any substance, such as a chemical or waste
product, introduced into the environment that adversely affects
the usefulness of a resource. |
| Pollution |
An undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or
biological characteristics of air, water, soil, or food that can
adversely affect the health, survival, or activities of humans
or other living organisms. |
| STORET |
EPA's STOrage and RETrieval data base used nationally for
water quality data storage. |
Total Maximum Daily
Loads (TMDLs) |
Total Maximum Daily Loads are a tool for implementing state
water quality standards and are based on the relationship
between pollutants and in-stream water quality conditions. |
| Trophic State Index |
Measures the potential for algal or aquatic weed growth, and
is used to indicate the water quality of lakes and estuaries.
Its components include total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and
chlorophyll. |
| Turbidity |
The presence of suspended material such as clay, silt,
finely divided organic material, plankton, and other inorganic
material in the water. |
| Watershed |
Topographic boundaries which contribute or may contribute
runoff to surface waters or an area of recharge. |
| Water-Quality Index |
Determines the quality of Florida's streams, black waters,
and springs. Categories includewater clarity, dissolved
oxygen, oxygen-demanding substances, nutrients, bacteria, and
macroinvertebrate diversity. |
Wasteload Allocations
(WLAs) |
Pollutant loads allotted to existing and future point
sources such as discharges from industry and sewage facilities.
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Water Quality Standards
(WQSs) |
State-adopted and EPA-approved ambient standards for water
bodies. The standards prescribe the use of the water body (such
as drinking, fishing and swimming, and shellfish harvesting) and
establish the water quality criteria that must be met to protect
designated uses. |
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