The water glossary

Enough water to cover an acre one foot deep.

Multi-barrier treatment to drinking standards.

An underground layer that holds and yields water.

A permanent shift to a drier baseline.

A narrow band of intense moisture transport.

The legal basis for holding a water right.

Nutrient-rich solids from wastewater treatment.

Water saltier than fresh, less salty than sea.

Untreated overflow during heavy rain.

The drawdown around a heavily pumped well.

Coordinating surface and groundwater supplies.

Reducing use as a form of supply.

Removing salt from seawater or brackish water.

Purified wastewater sent straight into the drinking system.

The weekly U.S. map of drought severity.

Treated wastewater leaving a plant.

Gallons per capita per day.

Water stored in underground aquifers.

Pumping aquifers faster than they refill.

Toxic algae outbreak in source water.

Purified water blended into a reservoir or aquifer first.

The reservoir or aquifer between reuse and tap.

Ground sinking from over-pumped aquifers.

A lead pipe connecting a home to the main.

Deliberately banking water underground.

A multi-decade drought of extreme severity.

A membrane step that removes particles and microbes.

Recycled water for irrigation, industry, not drinking.

Treated water lost before it's billed.

Persistent 'forever chemicals.'

Recycling wastewater into drinking water.

'First in time, first in right' water law.

Briny wastewater from oil and gas wells.

Color-coded pipes carrying recycled water.

Treated wastewater put to beneficial use.

Membrane filtration that removes salts and contaminants.

Seawater pushing into coastal freshwater aquifers.

Low snowpack even without low precipitation.

Storing rain runoff instead of flushing it away.

The combined dissolved content of water.

Light-based disinfection that breaks down contaminants.

Storing water rights or supplies for later.

Total water embedded in a product or activity.

Federal reserved water rights for tribes.

Public reluctance to drink recycled water.