This glossary will be used to establish a common understanding in European Member States of the terms used when dealing with diffuse source risk mitigation.
Updates will be made on a regular basis. These should for instance take into account concrete examples that reflect specific situations in various EU Member States.
Descriptions should describe the phenomenon and point out the consequences in terms of risk mitigation measures and impact on water protection.
Synonyms, if existent, should be mentioned in the definition, as it eases communication between people from different backgrounds.
Active substance (or active ingredient): a substance within a product having a general or specific effect on target organisms such as weeds, fungi or insects, in contrast to other product ingredients which do not directly affect pests.
Band application: An application of a pesticide to a continuous narrow strip, usually over, along, or in a crop row, rather than broadcast over the entire field area. Banding reduces the total pesticide load on the field and thus the overall impact on an ecological population or community. However the additional cultivation that may be required for weed control between the bands can make herbicide banding unacceptable in areas where cultivation is being avoided to reduce erosion.
Best Management Practices (BMPs): Soil, nutrient, and pesticide management practices that also provide water quality benefits. They include numerous practices such as cover crops, green manure crops, and strip-cropping to control erosion, correct timing of chemical applications to prevent the loss of nutrients and pesticides and careful selection of application methods such as banded spraying to reduce rates.
Buffer strips (or bands) (see buffer zone): Buffer strips are vegetated areas. Types of buffers include contour buffer strips, filter strips,riparian forest buffers, field borders, windbreaks/shelterbelts, hedgerows, grassed waterways, and alley cropping. The generally have a linear shape and are typically implemented along water bodies and at the edge of fields.
Buffer zones: Any area, regardless of shape, designed to provide some form of protection between the point of application and a non-target environment. When designed for water protection, buffer zones may act in two ways:
- Alongside surface water bodies, to protect them from spray drift. They can act either by virtue of the increased distance from the application site to the receiving environment or by the interception of the drift by vegetation (trees and hedges);
- Anywhere in the watershed (along water bodies or on the slopes), in an appropriate position to intercept surface runoff. In this case they must be covered with permanent vegetation such as grass, shrubs or trees which act to increase the infiltration capacity of the underlying soil.
A buffer zone may be specially constructed or may be a naturally occurring element of the landscape such as meadows, hedges and woods
Strictly speaking, wetlands whether constructed or not, may also act as a buffer especially for runoff control. In practice, they are set-up and managed quite differently from the other buffers and are therefore considered separately.
Catchment: (drainage area, catchment basin): see watershed
Concentrated flow: Runoff that accumulates or converges into well-defined channels.
Constructed wetland: In an agricultural setting a constructed wetland is an artificial pond, marsh or swamp created to receive discharges from surface runoff, subsurface runoff and/or discharges from tile drains.
Its principal functions are detention of storm-flow water (also: flood control), sedimentation of eroded soil material, and reduction of nutrient and pesticide flux/concentrations in discharge to the receiving surface water body. In addition wetlands can increase biodiversity in a landscape by providing habitat for adapted plants and wildlife.
Diagnosis: forecast, judgement, identification, based on the analysis of information. This term is used to denote the process of analyzing a watershed/drainage basin/catchment to determine potential sources for movement of nutrients and pesticides to surface water, and also the movement of water itself (run-off water pathways), in order to associate the relevant mitigation measures.
Ditch: A water duct above ground, e.g. in the shape of a ditch or a channel, for draining water.
Drainage basin: see catchment or watershed.
Drainage, surface: The diversion or orderly removal of excess water from the surface of the land by means of improved natural or constructed channels, supplemented when necessary by the sloping and grading of land surfaces to these channels.
Drift: Movement of airborne drops of spray solution, or vapours, from the intended area of application to non-target species. Generally granules and pellets reduce drift compared to wettable powders and other liquid sprays. Dusts are most susceptible to drift. Windy conditions or air conditions created by a temperature inversion (cold air trapped between the soil surface and warm air above) generally contribute to drift.
Edge-of field-buffer strip: See buffer strips. The classical example of slope buffers (but also riparian, when the field is close of the water body)
Embankment: a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levee)
Field border: Strips of perennial vegetation (grass or legumes) established at the outside edges of a field where excessive sheet and rill erosion is occurring. The grass or legume strips replace crop end rows, which would be planted up and down hill and be highly erosive. Field borders are sometimes referred to as picture frames of grass, and are used with contour farming, terrace, buffer strip and contour strip-cropping systems. The grass or legume in the strip protects steep field edges from soil erosion, and provides turning and travel lanes around the field.
Filter strip: A strip of grass, trees, or shrubs that filters runoff and removes sediment, fertilizer and pesticides before they reach water bodies or water sources including wells. Strips of grass, trees and/or shrubs slow water flow and cause contaminants like sediment, pesticides, and fertilizers to collect in vegetation. Collected nutrients are used by the vegetation, rather than entering water supplies. Filtered water then enters water bodies.
Geomorphology: the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look they way they do, to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical modelling. Early studies in geomorphology are the foundation for pedology, one of two main branches of soil science. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomorphology)
Grass-covered buffer: see buffer zone definition
Grassed waterway: A natural or constructed drainage way or outlet that is graded and shaped to form a smooth, bowl-shaped channel. This area is seeded to suitable vegetation, often sod-forming grasses. Runoff water that flows down the drainage way disperses across the grass rather than eroding soil and forming a larger gully. An outlet is often installed at the base of the drainage way to stabilize the waterway and prevent a new gully from forming.
Headland: In agriculture, a headland is the area at each end of a planted field that is used for turning farm machinery during field operations and is the first area to be harvested to minimize crop damage. The soil on headlands is subject to greater levels of compaction because it receives more traffic per unit of area than the field as a whole (unploughed land at the ends of furrows or near a fence).
Horton flow: Horton flow (or Hortonian flow) is the surface runoff created when rain intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil surface. Excess water which does not infiltrate may be lost via surface runoff and result in waterflow down the field slope.
Hydro-geomorphology: Hydrogeomorphology deals with aspects of water, rocks and earth’s morphological features (land). (source: hydrogeomorphology: Fundamentals, Applications and Techniques. By Babar, Md. http://books.google.com/books?id=HetiC6uWB2kC)
Hydrology: Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, drainage basin management and water quality, where water plays the central role. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrology)
Hydromorphy: represents the visible results from a previous saturation of the soil with water. It is the process of formation or evolution of a type of water when exposed to extended water excess. It is not the same as “soil saturation” which describes the temporary or permanent saturation of the soil with water, because a natural drainage is lacking.
(source: http://www.mediadico.com/dictionnaire/definition/hydromorphie/1)
Outlet: device through which drainage water emerges into the open air, or low point of a talweg or a watercourse within a catchment area.
Overland flow: The quantity of water that moves across the land surface. Contributions to overland flow are from runoff and from the surfacing of subsurface flows before they reach a receiving stream or a defined drainage channel.
Pedology: is the study of soils in their natural environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedology_(soil_study))
Pesticide: commercial preparation or formulation containing one or more active ingredients as well as formulation agents, designed to protect crops against weeds, pests and fungal diseases. Also called Plant Protection Product.
Riparian buffer: Trees, shrubs, and/or permanent grasses planted in a zone alongside a stream, river, or lake bank to intercept pollutants and eroded soil material.
Riparian habitat: Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a differing density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands.
River catchment area: area limited by a contour within which rainwater flows to the river, its borders are topographically defined by the water divide line (also known as “crest line”).
River Basin Management Plan: Required for each river basin under the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
Runoff (Horton overland flow): The movement of rainfall, snow melt, or irrigation water across the land over a sloping surface rather than through the soil. Runoff occurs when the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration capacity.
Sensitive areas: Sites that are particularly vulnerable to harmful effects from environmental contaminants.
(http://echo.epfl.ch/VICAIRE/mod_1a/chapt_6/main.htm)
Surface water: all water bodies above a soil or sediment surface which are open to the atmosphere (pond, river, ditch, ocean).
Swamp: A type of wetland dominated by woody vegetation but without appreciable peat deposits. Swamps may be fresh or salt water and tidal or non-tidal. see wetland.
Talweg: line running along the lowest points of a valley
Terrace: An earthen embankment around a hillside perpendicular to the slope and approximately on a contour, that stops water flow and stores it or guides it safely off a field. Terraces break long slopes into shorter ones. As water makes its way down a hill, terraces serve as small dams to intercept water and guide it to an outlet. There are two basic types of terraces - storage terraces and gradient terraces. Storage terraces collect water and store it until it can infiltrate into the ground or be released through a stable outlet. Gradient terraces are designed as a channel to slow runoff water and carry it to a stable outlet like a grassed waterway.
Vegetative buffer strip: (syn. vegetated buffer strip, edge-of-field vegetative buffer strip).
A buffer strip is an area of land maintained in permanent vegetation that helps to control soil and water quality primarily on land that is used for agriculture. Buffer strips trap sediment and enhance filtration of nutrients and pesticides by slowing down runoff that could enter the local surface waters. Buffer strips can have several different types of vegetation varying from grass to combinations of grass, trees, and shrubs.
WASCOB: stands for “Water and Sediment Control Basin”. A water and sediment control basin is an earth embankment or combination ridge and channel constructed across the slope of minor water courses to form a sediment trap and water detention basin. Wascobs and grassed waterways are the two means proposed by SCS (Soil conservation Service – US) to control concentrated erosion (gullying in talwegs). source: http://efotg.nrcs.usda.gov/references/public/ID/638_jobsheet.pdf
Water and Sediment Control Dam: A short earthen dam built across a drainageway where a terrace is impractical; usually part of a terrace system. An embankment is built across a depressional area of concentrated water runoff to act similar to a terrace. It traps sediment and water running off farmland above the structure, preventing it from reaching farmland below.
Water logging: presence of surplus water on the soil surface or in topsoil horizons.
Watershed: Commonly, the land area that is drained from surface water flowing in a stream or river past a specified point or into a specified water body (such as a pond or lake).
Strictly a watershed refers to the divide that separates one drainage area (or catchment) from another drainage area. However, in the USA the term is often used to mean the drainage basin itself.
Wetland: A land area that is inundated or saturated by surface and/or ground water with a frequency and duration sufficient to support an abundance of hydrophytic (water-loving) plants or other aquatic life that require permanently saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Examples include swamps, marshes, bogs, sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflow areas, mud flats, and natural ponds.
Woodland: a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade. Woodland may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher densities and areas of trees, with largely closed canopy provide extensive and nearly continuous shade are referred to as forest. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodland)
Credits: The ECPA AIM team, 2010
Updates will be made on a regular basis. These should for instance take into account concrete examples that reflect specific situations in various EU Member States.
Descriptions should describe the phenomenon and point out the consequences in terms of risk mitigation measures and impact on water protection.
Synonyms, if existent, should be mentioned in the definition, as it eases communication between people from different backgrounds.
Active substance (or active ingredient): a substance within a product having a general or specific effect on target organisms such as weeds, fungi or insects, in contrast to other product ingredients which do not directly affect pests.
Band application: An application of a pesticide to a continuous narrow strip, usually over, along, or in a crop row, rather than broadcast over the entire field area. Banding reduces the total pesticide load on the field and thus the overall impact on an ecological population or community. However the additional cultivation that may be required for weed control between the bands can make herbicide banding unacceptable in areas where cultivation is being avoided to reduce erosion.
Best Management Practices (BMPs): Soil, nutrient, and pesticide management practices that also provide water quality benefits. They include numerous practices such as cover crops, green manure crops, and strip-cropping to control erosion, correct timing of chemical applications to prevent the loss of nutrients and pesticides and careful selection of application methods such as banded spraying to reduce rates.
Buffer strips (or bands) (see buffer zone): Buffer strips are vegetated areas. Types of buffers include contour buffer strips, filter strips,riparian forest buffers, field borders, windbreaks/shelterbelts, hedgerows, grassed waterways, and alley cropping. The generally have a linear shape and are typically implemented along water bodies and at the edge of fields.
Buffer zones: Any area, regardless of shape, designed to provide some form of protection between the point of application and a non-target environment. When designed for water protection, buffer zones may act in two ways:
- Alongside surface water bodies, to protect them from spray drift. They can act either by virtue of the increased distance from the application site to the receiving environment or by the interception of the drift by vegetation (trees and hedges);
- Anywhere in the watershed (along water bodies or on the slopes), in an appropriate position to intercept surface runoff. In this case they must be covered with permanent vegetation such as grass, shrubs or trees which act to increase the infiltration capacity of the underlying soil.
A buffer zone may be specially constructed or may be a naturally occurring element of the landscape such as meadows, hedges and woods
Strictly speaking, wetlands whether constructed or not, may also act as a buffer especially for runoff control. In practice, they are set-up and managed quite differently from the other buffers and are therefore considered separately.
Catchment: (drainage area, catchment basin): see watershed
Concentrated flow: Runoff that accumulates or converges into well-defined channels.
Constructed wetland: In an agricultural setting a constructed wetland is an artificial pond, marsh or swamp created to receive discharges from surface runoff, subsurface runoff and/or discharges from tile drains.
Its principal functions are detention of storm-flow water (also: flood control), sedimentation of eroded soil material, and reduction of nutrient and pesticide flux/concentrations in discharge to the receiving surface water body. In addition wetlands can increase biodiversity in a landscape by providing habitat for adapted plants and wildlife.
Diagnosis: forecast, judgement, identification, based on the analysis of information. This term is used to denote the process of analyzing a watershed/drainage basin/catchment to determine potential sources for movement of nutrients and pesticides to surface water, and also the movement of water itself (run-off water pathways), in order to associate the relevant mitigation measures.
Ditch: A water duct above ground, e.g. in the shape of a ditch or a channel, for draining water.
Drainage basin: see catchment or watershed.
Drainage, surface: The diversion or orderly removal of excess water from the surface of the land by means of improved natural or constructed channels, supplemented when necessary by the sloping and grading of land surfaces to these channels.
Drift: Movement of airborne drops of spray solution, or vapours, from the intended area of application to non-target species. Generally granules and pellets reduce drift compared to wettable powders and other liquid sprays. Dusts are most susceptible to drift. Windy conditions or air conditions created by a temperature inversion (cold air trapped between the soil surface and warm air above) generally contribute to drift.
Edge-of field-buffer strip: See buffer strips. The classical example of slope buffers (but also riparian, when the field is close of the water body)
Embankment: a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levee)
Field border: Strips of perennial vegetation (grass or legumes) established at the outside edges of a field where excessive sheet and rill erosion is occurring. The grass or legume strips replace crop end rows, which would be planted up and down hill and be highly erosive. Field borders are sometimes referred to as picture frames of grass, and are used with contour farming, terrace, buffer strip and contour strip-cropping systems. The grass or legume in the strip protects steep field edges from soil erosion, and provides turning and travel lanes around the field.
Filter strip: A strip of grass, trees, or shrubs that filters runoff and removes sediment, fertilizer and pesticides before they reach water bodies or water sources including wells. Strips of grass, trees and/or shrubs slow water flow and cause contaminants like sediment, pesticides, and fertilizers to collect in vegetation. Collected nutrients are used by the vegetation, rather than entering water supplies. Filtered water then enters water bodies.
Geomorphology: the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look they way they do, to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and numerical modelling. Early studies in geomorphology are the foundation for pedology, one of two main branches of soil science. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomorphology)
Grass-covered buffer: see buffer zone definition
Grassed waterway: A natural or constructed drainage way or outlet that is graded and shaped to form a smooth, bowl-shaped channel. This area is seeded to suitable vegetation, often sod-forming grasses. Runoff water that flows down the drainage way disperses across the grass rather than eroding soil and forming a larger gully. An outlet is often installed at the base of the drainage way to stabilize the waterway and prevent a new gully from forming.
Headland: In agriculture, a headland is the area at each end of a planted field that is used for turning farm machinery during field operations and is the first area to be harvested to minimize crop damage. The soil on headlands is subject to greater levels of compaction because it receives more traffic per unit of area than the field as a whole (unploughed land at the ends of furrows or near a fence).
Horton flow: Horton flow (or Hortonian flow) is the surface runoff created when rain intensity exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soil surface. Excess water which does not infiltrate may be lost via surface runoff and result in waterflow down the field slope.
Hydro-geomorphology: Hydrogeomorphology deals with aspects of water, rocks and earth’s morphological features (land). (source: hydrogeomorphology: Fundamentals, Applications and Techniques. By Babar, Md. http://books.google.com/books?id=HetiC6uWB2kC)
Hydrology: Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, drainage basin management and water quality, where water plays the central role. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrology)
Hydromorphy: represents the visible results from a previous saturation of the soil with water. It is the process of formation or evolution of a type of water when exposed to extended water excess. It is not the same as “soil saturation” which describes the temporary or permanent saturation of the soil with water, because a natural drainage is lacking.
(source: http://www.mediadico.com/dictionnaire/definition/hydromorphie/1)
Outlet: device through which drainage water emerges into the open air, or low point of a talweg or a watercourse within a catchment area.
Overland flow: The quantity of water that moves across the land surface. Contributions to overland flow are from runoff and from the surfacing of subsurface flows before they reach a receiving stream or a defined drainage channel.
Pedology: is the study of soils in their natural environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedology_(soil_study))
Pesticide: commercial preparation or formulation containing one or more active ingredients as well as formulation agents, designed to protect crops against weeds, pests and fungal diseases. Also called Plant Protection Product.
Riparian buffer: Trees, shrubs, and/or permanent grasses planted in a zone alongside a stream, river, or lake bank to intercept pollutants and eroded soil material.
Riparian habitat: Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a differing density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands.
River catchment area: area limited by a contour within which rainwater flows to the river, its borders are topographically defined by the water divide line (also known as “crest line”).
River Basin Management Plan: Required for each river basin under the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
Runoff (Horton overland flow): The movement of rainfall, snow melt, or irrigation water across the land over a sloping surface rather than through the soil. Runoff occurs when the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration capacity.
Sensitive areas: Sites that are particularly vulnerable to harmful effects from environmental contaminants.
(http://echo.epfl.ch/VICAIRE/mod_1a/chapt_6/main.htm)
Surface water: all water bodies above a soil or sediment surface which are open to the atmosphere (pond, river, ditch, ocean).
Swamp: A type of wetland dominated by woody vegetation but without appreciable peat deposits. Swamps may be fresh or salt water and tidal or non-tidal. see wetland.
Talweg: line running along the lowest points of a valley
Terrace: An earthen embankment around a hillside perpendicular to the slope and approximately on a contour, that stops water flow and stores it or guides it safely off a field. Terraces break long slopes into shorter ones. As water makes its way down a hill, terraces serve as small dams to intercept water and guide it to an outlet. There are two basic types of terraces - storage terraces and gradient terraces. Storage terraces collect water and store it until it can infiltrate into the ground or be released through a stable outlet. Gradient terraces are designed as a channel to slow runoff water and carry it to a stable outlet like a grassed waterway.
Vegetative buffer strip: (syn. vegetated buffer strip, edge-of-field vegetative buffer strip).
A buffer strip is an area of land maintained in permanent vegetation that helps to control soil and water quality primarily on land that is used for agriculture. Buffer strips trap sediment and enhance filtration of nutrients and pesticides by slowing down runoff that could enter the local surface waters. Buffer strips can have several different types of vegetation varying from grass to combinations of grass, trees, and shrubs.
WASCOB: stands for “Water and Sediment Control Basin”. A water and sediment control basin is an earth embankment or combination ridge and channel constructed across the slope of minor water courses to form a sediment trap and water detention basin. Wascobs and grassed waterways are the two means proposed by SCS (Soil conservation Service – US) to control concentrated erosion (gullying in talwegs). source: http://efotg.nrcs.usda.gov/references/public/ID/638_jobsheet.pdf
Water and Sediment Control Dam: A short earthen dam built across a drainageway where a terrace is impractical; usually part of a terrace system. An embankment is built across a depressional area of concentrated water runoff to act similar to a terrace. It traps sediment and water running off farmland above the structure, preventing it from reaching farmland below.
Water logging: presence of surplus water on the soil surface or in topsoil horizons.
Watershed: Commonly, the land area that is drained from surface water flowing in a stream or river past a specified point or into a specified water body (such as a pond or lake).
Strictly a watershed refers to the divide that separates one drainage area (or catchment) from another drainage area. However, in the USA the term is often used to mean the drainage basin itself.
Wetland: A land area that is inundated or saturated by surface and/or ground water with a frequency and duration sufficient to support an abundance of hydrophytic (water-loving) plants or other aquatic life that require permanently saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Examples include swamps, marshes, bogs, sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflow areas, mud flats, and natural ponds.
Woodland: a woodland is an area covered in trees, usually at low density, forming an open habitat, allowing sunlight to penetrate between the trees, and limiting shade. Woodland may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of primary or secondary succession. Higher densities and areas of trees, with largely closed canopy provide extensive and nearly continuous shade are referred to as forest. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodland)
Credits: The ECPA AIM team, 2010