Florida Springs Glossary of Terms

Jump to a Letter:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Aquifer
A layer of underground rock or sand that stores and transports water.
^ Jump to Top
Best Management Practice (BMP)
Non-regulatory methods designed to minimize harm to the environment.
^ Jump to Top
Condensation
Moisture produced when warm water vapor mixes with cool air in the atmosphere to produce clouds or fog.
^ Jump to Top
Degradation
The negative impact on habitat and ecosystem size or quality resulting from human disturbances or land use changes commonly associated with urban or agricultural development.
^ Jump to Top
Drip irrigation
An efficient and targeted form of irrigation in which water is delivered in drops directly to the plants roots at specific rates.
^ Jump to Top
Ecosystem
A community of plants and animals and the physical environment in which they live.
^ Jump to Top
Endemic
An animal or a plant limited in its distribution to only one or a few places.
^ Jump to Top
Evaporation
The process by which water transforms from a liquid form to a vapor, often through thermal heating by the sun.
^ Jump to Top
Flow levels
The amount of water flowing from a specific body of water such as a stream or a spring, usually measured in cubic feet per second, or millions of gallons per day.
^ Jump to Top
Groundwater
Water stored and transported underground in an aquifer.
^ Jump to Top
Habitat fragmentation
The process by which isolated patches of habitat are created through land clearing and deforestation.
^ Jump to Top
Hammock
A hardwood plant community in Florida.
^ Jump to Top
Invasive Species
Non-native species of plants or animals that out-compete native species in a specific habitat.
^ Jump to Top
Irrigation
The process of applying water to a specific area for agriculture or landscaping.
^ Jump to Top
Karst
An area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns.
^ Jump to Top
Land acquisition
The process of purchasing land for conservation to restrict it from development.
^ Jump to Top
Limestone
A highly porous rock formed over thousands of years from the compression of shells and the bones of sea animals.
^ Jump to Top
Non-point source pollution
Pollution that does not come from a single point or location.
^ Jump to Top
Nutrient loading
The introduction of excessive amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus from fertilizers into the soil or water.
^ Jump to Top
Percolation
The process by which water infiltrates the ground by seeping into the spaces between soil particles, sand, and rocks.
^ Jump to Top
Point source pollution
Contamination that can be traced to a single point or location.
^ Jump to Top
Pollution
Contamination of the water, soil, or air by chemicals or waste materials.
^ Jump to Top
Public supply
Water delivered to homes, schools, and businesses by a utility company.
^ Jump to Top
Recharge
The process of water seeping into the ground and refilling the aquifer.
^ Jump to Top
Recharge basin
The area within which water seeps into the ground and recharges the groundwater flowing to a specific spring.
^ Jump to Top
Reclaimed water
Water collected and treated after human use.
^ Jump to Top
Retention pond
A manmade pond where stormwater is directed and held.
^ Jump to Top
Reuse
The use of reclaimed water, such as wastewater, for purposes like landscape irrigation.
^ Jump to Top
Runoff
Rainfall that is not absorbed into the soil or karst features like sinkholes and instead flows into a larger body of water.
^ Jump to Top
Sheetflow
The movement of water across a surface in a sheet-like mass instead of within channels or streambeds.
^ Jump to Top
Sinkhole
A depression in the land surface caused when rainwater dissolves limestone near the ground surface or as a result of the roof collapse of an underground cave.
^ Jump to Top
Speleogenesis
The process of cave formation, most often through the dissolution of underground bedrock by rainwater or naturally-occurring acids.
^ Jump to Top
Spring
The natural outflow of water from underground through a break in the land surface caused by the pressure of the groundwater.
^ Jump to Top
Spring-fed river
A specific type of river fed exclusively by the outflow of water from a spring.
^ Jump to Top
Springshed
The total land area that contributes rainfall and runoff to a spring or series of connected springs.
^ Jump to Top
Stormwater runoff
Rainwater that runs off of land and surfaces like roads and parking lots into a larger body of water.
^ Jump to Top
Surface water
Water located on the surface of the Earth in water bodies such as lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, wetlands and the ocean.
^ Jump to Top
Swallet hole
A hole in the land through which a stream delivers surface water to the aquifer (considered the opposite of a spring).
^ Jump to Top
Transpiration
The process by which plants give off moisture to the air through the surface of their leaves.
^ Jump to Top
Turbidity
The degree of cloudiness of a water body caused by suspended solids.
^ Jump to Top
Wastewater
Water that has been used by humans and is no longer clean.
^ Jump to Top
Water budget
A hydrological formula used by scientists and land managers to determine water surpluses and deficits in a given area.
^ Jump to Top
Water cycle
The continuous cycling of water between the earth and the sky.
^ Jump to Top
Water supply
The total amount of water available for human and other uses.
^ Jump to Top
Watershed
The total land area that contributes runoff to a body of water.
^ Jump to Top
Xeriscaping
Landscaping techniques designed to use water efficiently.
^ Jump to Top

 
* "Florida Waters: a water resources manual from Florida's Water Management Districts" served as the major source for this glossary. For more information about this manual, contact your local water management district in Florida.