Glossary of Water & Wastewater Terms

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Absorption Trench - An Absorption Trench is a trench that is excavated into the ground and is installed along the natural contour of the ground and contains an arch or slotted pipe, aggregate, geo-textile, and is back filled with topsoil. Absorption trenches treat wastewater from toilets, laundries, bathrooms and kitchens. The length of trench depends on the soils absorptive capacity and the local climatic conditions.

Acoustic Logging - Acoustic Logging is a method of determining the location of a leak in a water main, by placing listening devices at known distances along the main.

Aerobic Wastewater Treatment System - An Aerobic Wastewater Treatment System is an aerobic biological wastewater treatment system, usually producing secondary treatment.

Air Valve - An air valve is a valve used on pipes to release air trapped within the pipes as a result of filling or emptying it. Air valves are situated on high points of the pipeline.

Altitude Valve - An altitude valve is a type of valve typically found in a storage tank of a water distribution system. It closes to prevent the storage tank from overflowing when a pre-set level is reached, but will remain open while the level is below the set point.

Attack Hydrant - An attack hydrant is a term used to describe a fire hydrant with flow and pressure suitable for fighting a fire at a commercial premises. In most cases it would be an internal hydrant on a commercial premises supplied from a permanent booster pump or a fire fighting appliance.

Balance Tank - A Balance Tank is a tank or reservoir used to store water for the purpose of equalising or balancing fluctuating demand.

Baseline Water Use - Baseline Water Use is the water usage for all sites within an organisation’s Water Management Action Plan over a 12 month period.

Belt Press - A belt press or belt press filter is a device used to separate out sludge from wastewater. Belt presses typically consist of two permeable filter belts and a number of rollers.

Biofilm - A biofilm is a microbial layer that is formed on the inside of water distribution pipes. The source of the bacteria is the water itself. Even treated water is not 100% free of bacteria. These bacteria remain after surviving the treatment process or ingress into the pipes by other means and thereby escape treatment.

Biosolids - Biosolids is sewage sludge that has been treated to reduce disease causing pathogens, thus becoming suitable for beneficial reuse. Biosolids have been used in:

Black Water - Black water is water which contains human, food or animal waste.

Blow Out - A blow out commonly occurs in pressure pipes due to corrosion pitting in metallic pipes.

Booster Pump Station - A Booster Pump Station is a pump station designed to boost the pressure of water within a long pipeline. Typically they would be used to boost low reticulation pressure in areas of higher elevation but can also be used to boost pressure in long transfer mains.

Bore - A Bore (or more specifically a Ground Water Bore) is a shaft constructed to extract water from an aquifer. If the water flows to the surface without the need for a pump, then the bore is called an artesian well.

Bore Pump Station - A Bore Pump Station is a water pump station designed to extract water from an aquifer.

Centrifuge - A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by a motor, that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis, applying force perpendicular to the axis. Centrifuges are commonly used in water and wastewater treatment to dry sludges.

Chlorine Detention Chamber - A Chlorine Detention Chamber' is a large concrete chamber designed to provide contact time for dissolved chlorine gas to kill bacteria in sewage. Chlorine Detention Chambers are typically found at Wastewater Treatment Plants, for final effluent treatment prior to discharge to environment.

Circumferential Cracking - Circumferential Cracking is the most common type of cracking found in water and sewer pipes. Circumferential cracks run around a pipe rather than along its length.

Correction Chamber - A Correction Chamber is a large concrete chamber designed to provide a dosing point for pH correction of treated water at a Water Treatment Plant.

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