Acronyms

CWAP
Clean Water Action Plan

DOE
Department of Energy

DOI
Department of the Interior

EPA
Environmental Protection Agency

NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NRCS
Natural Resources Conservation Service

USDA
United States Department of Agriculture

Glossary

AMD - Acid Mine Drainage
Drainage that occurs as a result of chemical reactions in rock exposed to air and water. AMD impacts watersheds through increased acidity and elevat-ed levels of heavy metals and total dissolved solids. It emanates from both surface and underground mine workings, waste and development rock, and tailings piles and ponds.

BMP - Best Management Practice
Common-sense action to keep soil and other pollutants out of streams and lakes. BMPs are designed to protect water quality and prevent new pollution.

GIS - Geographic Information System
Computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth's surface. A typical system handles maps that contain layers of data about particular features.

NPS - Nonpoint Source
Unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, nonpoint source pollution comes from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused when rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even underground sources of drinking water.

TMDL - Total Maximum Daily Load
A calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's sources.

WRAS - Watershed Restoration Action Strategy
Watershed Restoration Action Strategies spell out the most important caus-es of water pollution and resource degradation, detail the actions that all parties need to take to solve those problems, and set milestones by which to measure progress.

Table of Contents

http://water.usgs.gov/owq/cleanwater/success/glossary.html
Created October 13, 2000