Glossary

The Indian River Lagoon Glossary is a multimedia dictionary that contains words and phrases commonly found in IRL documents and discussions. The glossary defines word phrases using referenced definitions along with local examples.

Each definition page displays the word phrase, word class, written and audio pronunciation, definition, definition source, synonyms, example sentence, related on-site articles, external web links and an image if available.

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Indian River Lagoon Glossary

Definition Form

	Term	Definition
	Term	Definition
	abiotic factors	non-living characteristics of a habitat or ecosystem that affect organisms' life processes.
	adaptation	a behavior or physical trait that evolved by natural selection and increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a specific environment.
	aeration	The process of exposing water to air, allowing air and water to mix and water to absorb the gasses in air.
	aerobic	with air, oxygen.
	algae	a simple, nonflowering, and typically aquatic plant of a large group that includes the seaweeds and many single-celled forms.
	anadromous	fish that live their adult lives in the ocean but move into freshwater streams to reproduce or spawn.
	anerobic	without air, no oxygen.
	anthropogenic	arising from human activity.
	backshore	That part of the beach that is usually dry, being reached only by the highest tides, and by extension, a narrow strip of relatively flat coast bordering the sea. The area of a shore that lies between the average high tide mark and the vegetation.
	baffle box	An underground stormwater management device that uses barriers (or baffles) to slow the flow of untreated stormwater, allowing particulates to settle in the box before the stormwater is released into the environment.
	bank	Edge of a cut or fill; the margin of the watercourse; an elevation of the seafloor located on a continental shelf or an island shelf and over which the depth of water is relatively shallow but sufficient for safe surface navigation (reefs or shoals, dangerous to surface navigation may arise above the general depths of a bank).
	bar-built estuary	areas where sandbars form parallel to the shore, partly enclosing the water behind them as the sandbars become islands.
	barrier island	A long, narrow, sandy island that is above high tide and parallel to the shore that commonly has dunes, vegetated zones, and swampy terrains extending lagoonward from the beach.
	bathymetry	Science of measuring water depths (usually in the ocean) in order to determine bottom topography. Bathymetry is the study of the "beds" or "floors" of water bodies, including the ocean, rivers, streams, and lakes.
	beach berm	Nearly horizontal portion of the beach or backshore formed by the deposit of materials by wave action. Some beaches have no berms, others have one or several.
	beach	Zone of unconsolidated material that extends landward from the low water line to the place where there is marked changes in material or physiographic form, or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of storm waves). A beach includes foreshore and backshore.
	benthos	bottom-dwelling flora and fauna; from tiniest microbenthos (bacteria) to medium-sized meiobenthos (nematode worms) to the highly visible macrobenthos (clams, polychaete worms).
	berm	Nearly horizontal portion of a beach or backshore having an abrupt fall and formed by wave deposition of material and marking the limit of ordinary high tides.
	biodiversity	the number and variety of living things in an environment.
	biofilter	living material or an organism that captures and biologically degrades pollutants.
	biogeochemical	relating to or denoting the cycle in which chemical elements and simple substances are transferred between living systems and the environment.
	biosphere	the part of the world in which life can exist; living organisms and their environment.
	biota	the animal and plant life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.
	biotic	of or having to do with life or living organisms; organic.
	boat	A boat is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or operates on the water and is under 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA). A boat may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes. Boat is synonymous with small craft in marine use.
	brackish	brackish water occurs in areas, usually estuaries and lagoons, where salt water oceans and fresh water rivers mix together.
	causeway	a raised road or track across low or wet ground.
	centralized wastewater treatment system	A managed system consisting of collection sewers and a single treatment plant used to collect and treat wastewater from an entire service area. Traditionally, such a system has been called a publicly owned treatment works
	channel	a dredged passageway within a coastal bay that allows maritime navigation.
	chlorophyll	a green pigment found in algae, plants and other organisms that carry on photosynthesis; enables plants to absorb energy from light.
	coast	General region of indefinite width that extends from the sea inland to the first major change in terrain features
	coastal zone	coastal waters and adjacent shorelands including islands, inter-tidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches.
	coliform bacteria	A group of bacteria predominantly inhabiting the intestines of humans or other warm-blooded animals, but also occasionally found elsewhere. Used as an indicator of human fecal contamination.
	commercial fishing	fishing for a commercial purpose, i.e. to sell the catch
	condensation	the process in which water vapor changes into liquid water (such as dew, fog, or cloud droplets).
	conservation	careful preservation and protection of ecological processes and biodiversity of the environment.
	contamination	an undesirable element, impure or unclean, something that is not supposed to be there (such as oil or insecticides in water).
	cove	A small, narrow sheltered bay or recess in an estuary, often inside a larger embayment
	craft	Craft are any vessel or conveyance that operate in a fluid medium or a vacuum. Thus, boats are craft; aircraft are craft; and spaceships, spacecraft, and space capsules are craft. When applied to vessels or conveyances that float on the water, a craft is any boat or ship of any size or type and of any use.
	crustacean	anthropods having hard-shelled bodies and jointed ligaments such as crabs, shrimp and lobsters.
	current	large-scale circulation of water caused by thermodynamics and winds.
	dam	a barrier constructed to hold back water and raise its level, forming a reservoir used to generate electricity or as a water supply.
	decompose	to decay or rot; to break down or separate into smaller or simpler components.
	decomposer	an organism that feeds on and breaks down dead plant or animal matter, thus making organic nutrients available to the ecosystem.
	decomposition	the process of decaying or rotting; breaking down or separating a substance into smaller or simpler components.
	delta	a low-lying sediment deposit found at the mouth of a river.
	desiccation	loss of water.
	detritus	newly dead or decaying organic matter coated with bacteria.
	diatom	one of most common groups of phytoplankton; single-celled organism that reproduces asexually.
	dike	an embankment for controlling or holding back the waters of the sea or a river: a ditch. a bank of earth formed of material being excavated. a causeway.
	dinoflagellates	common type of phytoplankton, most abundant in fall; responsible for “red tides” as well as bioluminescence.
	diverse	of different kinds, types, or species.
	drain field	Shallow, covered, excavation made in unsaturated soil into which pretreated wastewater is discharged through distribution piping for application onto soil infiltration surfaces through porous media or manufactured (gravelless) components placed in the excavations. The soil accepts, treats, and disperses wastewater as it percolates through the soil, ultimately discharging to groundwater.
	drawbridge	a bridge withspans that can be raised up, let down, or drawn aside so as to permit tall watercraft to pass
	dredged channel	A roughly linear, deep water area formed by a dredging operation for navigation purposes
	dredge	an excavation or digging activity carried out at least partly underwater in shallow water areas to move bottom materials from one place to another; often used to keep waterways deep enough for boat passage.
	ebb	the falling tide when the water moves out to the sea and the water level lowers.
	echolocation	biological sonar used by several kinds of animals where the animal makes sounds and listens to the echoes of those sounds that return from bouncing off objects near them. These echoes can be used to locate and identify prey and objects, and be used in navigating through their environment.
	ecosystem	the biotic community and its abiotic environment.
	ecotourism	travel undertaken to witness sites or regions of unique natural or ecologic quality. Often it is environmentally responsible travel that benefits nature and local communities.
	effluent	Sewage, water, or other liquid, partially or completely treated or in its natural state, flowing out of a septic tank, subsurface wastewater infiltration system, aerobic treatment unit, or other treatment system or system component.
	elasmobranch	approximately 400 species of fish, including sharks and rays that have skeletons made of cartilage.
	epibenthos	organisms that live on the bottom, rather than burrowed into, of an aquatic system.
	erode	the wearing away of the land by the action of water, ice or wind.
	erosion	Transportation of weathered (decomposed) rock material or soil by natural forces.
	estuarine habitat	habitats associated with estuaries.
	estuarine	of, relating to, or formed in an estuary
	estuary	Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.
	euryhaline	able to live at a variety of salinities.
	eutrophication	process by which large additions of nutrients causes an overgrowth of algae and subsequent depletion of oxygen.
	exoskeleton	a hard outer covering.
	external loading	Pollutants originating from outside a waterbody that contribute to the pollutant load of the waterbody.
	food chain	a representation of the flow of energy between producers, consumers, and decomposers.
	foreshore	the area between mean low water and mean high water.
	frontal dune	the dune closest to the water's edge.
	fry	newly hatched fish.
	gastropod	one of a class of mollusks that includes the snails and nudibranchs.
	gill	the paired respiratory organ of fishes and some amphibians, by which oxygen is extracted from water flowing over surfaces within or attached to the walls of the pharynx.
	graywater	Wastewater drained from sinks, tubs, showers, dishwashers, clothes washers, and other non-toilet sources.
	groundwater	water contained below ground in soil and rock.
	habitat	the natural environment in which an organism normally lives, including the surroundings and other physical conditions needed to sustain it.
	halophyte	a plant that grows in waters of high salinity.
	harmful algae bloom	Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are the rapid growth of algae that can cause harm to animals, people, or the local ecology. A HAB can look like foam, scum, or mats on the surface of water and can be different colors. HABs can produce toxins that have caused a variety of illnesses in people and animals. HABs can occur in warm fresh, marine, or brackish waters with abundant nutrients and are becoming more frequent with climate change.
	herbivore	an animal that eats plants.
	high marsh	the area of the marsh flooded infrequently by the high tides associated with new and full moon.
	high water mark	A line or mark left upon tide flats, beach, or along shore objects indicating the elevation of the intrusion of high water. The mark may be a line of oil or scum on along shore objects, or a more or less continuous deposit of fine shell or debris on the fore shore or berm. This mark is physical evidence of the general height reached by wave run up at recent high waters. It should not be confused with the mean high water line or mean higher high water line.
	human impact	impacts arising from human activity; often referring to negative impacts on the environment.
	hypoxic	very low oxygen levels.
	infauna	organisms living between the grains of sand or mud.
	inland waters	Waters landward of the baseline from which the marginal seas are measured and over which complete sovereignty is exercised.
	inlet	1. A recess, such as a bay or cove, along a coast. a stream or bay leading inland, as from the ocean; an estuary. a narrow passage of water, as between two islands.
	inshore	In beach terminology, the zone of variable width between the shoreface and the seaward limit of the breaker zone.
	intertidal zone	The coastal environment between mean low tide and mean high tide that alternates between subaerial and subaqueous depending on the tidal cycle. The zone between the mean higher high water and mean lower low water lines.
	invasive species	non-native species of plants or animals that out-compete native species in a specific habitat.
	invertebrate	an animal that does not have a backbone; such as snails, worms, and insects.
	island	An area of land completely surrounded by water.
	isopods	aquatic crustaceans with flat, oval body and seven pairs of legs.
	lagoon	Lagoons are separated from larger bodies of water by sandbars, barrier reefs, coral reefs, or other natural barriers. The word "lagoon" derives from the Italian word laguna, which means "pond" or "lake." A shallow stretch of salt or brackish water, partly or completely separated from a sea or lake by an offshore reef, barrier island, sandbank or spit
	lagoonal deposit	Sand, silt or clay-sized sediments transported and deposited by wind, currents, and storm runoff in the relatively low-energy, brackish to saline, shallow waters of a lagoon.
	latitude	The angular distance between a terrestrial position and the equator measured northward or southward from the equator along a meridian of longitude.
	levee	Artificial bank confining a stream channel or limiting adjacent areas subject to flooding; an embankment bordering a submarine canyon or channel, usually occurring along the outer edge of a curve.
	living shorelines	A shoreline management practice that provides erosion control benefits; protects, restores, or enhances natural shoreline habitat; and maintains coastal processes through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural organic materials.
	loading	The total quantity of pollutants in stormwater runoff that contributes to the water quality impairment.
	longitude	Longitude is a measurement of distance on the earth’s surface, east or west of the Greenwich, England (0° Longitude) meridian, expressed in angular measurements of degrees or hours from 180° West (or -180°) to 180° East. Degrees of longitude are imaginary lines drawn 60 minutes apart from North Pole to South Pole around the Earth. Each minute of longitude can be further divided into 60 seconds.
	macroalgae	large multicellular algae (green red and brown varieties).
	mangrove	tree species that grow in non-freezing estuaries. There are about 12 species though the black, red, and white are most common. a tree or shrub that grows in chiefly tropical coastal swamps that are flooded at high tide. Mangroves typically have numerous tangled roots above ground and form dense thickets.
	maritime forest	forest dominated by pitch pine and located on the mainland side of a barrier beach or island.
	marsh	soft wet land usually characterized by grasses. an area of low-lying land which is flooded in wet seasons or at high tide, and typically remains waterlogged at all times.
	mean low tide	The mean average of all the low tides (high low tides and low low tides) occurring over a certain period of time, usually 18.6 years (one lunar epoch).
	mesohaline	intermediate levels of salinity, about 15ppt. Pertaining to brackish water with a salinity between 3 and 10 parts per thousand.
	migration	the movement of living organisms from one biome to another, commonly with changing seasons.
	mobile epibenthos	bottom-dwelling animals that move on top of sediments: crabs, shrimp, snails, amphipods, isopods.
	mollusks	soft bodied, shelled animals such as clams, oysters, nudibraches and octopi (the latter two have either small remnant shell within their bodies or an embryonic shell).
	monitoring station	an instrument that makes in situ measurements in the environment.
	monitoring	sampling of environment (air, water, soil, vegetation, animals) that is compared with baseline samples to see if any changes have occurred.
	muck	Muck is the black ooze accumulating on the bottom of the lagoon. Silt, sediment, and other fine particles carried in by tributaries, canals, and storm drains accumulate and break down on the bottom, forming the thick black ooze.
	mudflat	part of benthic (bottom) zone exposed at low tide and comprised of extremely fine sediments.
	mutualism	form of relationship in which both species involved gain from the interaction.
	navigable waters	Waters that are either tidally influenced or navigable in fact.
	neap tide	Tides of decreased range or tidal currents of decreased speed occurring semimonthly as the result of the Moon being in quadrature. The neap range (Np) of the tide is the average range occurring at the time of neap tides and is most conveniently computed from the harmonic constants. It is smaller than the mean range where the type of tide is either semi diurnal or mixed and is of no practical significance where the type of tide is predominantly diurnal. The average height of the high waters of the neap tide is called neap high water or high water neaps (MHWN) and the average height of the corresponding low waters is called neap low water or low water neaps (MLWN).
	no-take zones	aquatic or coastal areas in which all extractive activities (such as fishing) are prohibited.
	non-point source	Diffuse runoff without a single point of origin that flows over the surface of the ground by stormwater and is then introduced to surface or ground water.
	nursery	term used colloquially to refer to estuaries. Many fish species are dependent on estuaries for part of their lives.
	nutrient	a substance required by organisms in order to grow and survive such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
	oligohaline	low salinity areas
	omnivore	animals that feed at several levels of food web; diet includes a mix of living and/or dead plants and animals.
	onsite sewage treatment and disposal system	Onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS), commonly referred to as septic systems, can contain any one or more of the following components: septic tank; subsurface drainfield; aerobic treatment unit; graywater tank; laundry wastewater tank; grease interceptor; pump tank; waterless, incinerating or organic waste-composing toilet; and sanitary pit privy. An OSTDS must provide for subsurface effluent disposal and must not have any open tanks or open treatment units.
	onsite wastewater treatment system	A system relying on natural processes and/or mechanical components to collect, treat, and disperse or reclaim wastewater from a single dwelling or building.
	organic matter	materials and debris that originated as living plants or animals.
	organism	a living thing, such as animal, plant or micro-organism, that is capable of reproduction, growth and maintenance.
	oxygen content	often referring to the oxygen content of water. The amount of oxygen dissolved in a given volume of water at a particular temperature and pressure.
	panne	small pond or pool in the salt marsh.
	parasitism	similar to predation in that one species benefits from the relationship and the other is harmed; differs from predation in that parasitism generally not fatal to adversely affected organism.
	pathogenic	Causing disease; commonly applied to microorganisms that cause infectious diseases.
	periphyton	a complex mixture of algae, detritus, bacteria, and microbes that are attached to submerged objects in most aquatic ecosystems.
	personal watercraft	Personal watercraft (PWC) are small vessels or conveyances that float on the water and are powered by engines, commonly propelled by jet drives to achieve fairly high speeds, usually in excess of 20 knots. PWC have no interior and are ridden by sitting on top of and astride them as one rides a motorcycle. Personal water craft (PWC) are generally not considered boats. PWC are usually under 15 feet (4.6 meters) LOA. Though personal watercraft are not considered boats, they must obey the same rules of the road as any boat of the same size, according to applicable Federal and local law.
	petroleum derivatives	toxic pollutants from crude oil products; mixture of hydrocarbons, which are organic solvents.
	photosynthesis	process of using energy in sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.
	phytoplankton	floating plants or plant-like photosynthetic single cellular organisms
	plankton	free-floating organisms drifting in water, unable to swim against currents.
	pleasure craft	Pleasure Craft, in a marine context, are all boats used for recreational not commercial purposes. Though craft applies to all sizes of vessels, by convention pleasure craft are boats, and most commonly are small to moderate sized boats, under approximately 80 feet (24.3 meters) LOA.
	point source	An identifiable and confined discharge point for one or more water pollutants, such as a pipe, canal, channel, vessel, or ditch.
	pollutant	Generally any substance, such as a chemical or waste product, introduced into the environment that adversely affects the usefulness of a resource.
	pollution	contamination of natural environment.
	polyhaline	high salinity about 30-335 ppt.
	predation	the killing and/or consumption of living organisms by other living organisms.
	producer	autotroph; organism that creates energy-rich compounds from sunlight (through photosynthesis) or certain chemicals (through chemosynthesis); first level in any food web; in estuarine systems, most abundant producers are phytoplankton.
	productive ecosystem	a biological system that efficiently converts energy into growth and production.
	protist	often unicellular but they can be multi-cellular or colonial the organisms in this Kingdom have characteristics of plants, animals and fungi and contains most algae.
	reasonable assurance plan	Reasonable Assurance Plans (RAP) provide an implementation schedule and resource commitments that there are, or will be, pollutant loading reductions that will result in the waterbody achieving water quality targets to attain and maintain the designated use.
	recreational fishing	any fishing for which the primary motive is leisure rather than profit; fishing for pleasure.
	reef	A ridge-like or mound-like structure, layered or massive, built by sedentary calcareous organisms, especially corals, and consisting mostly of their remains; it is wave-resistant and stands above the surrounding contemporaneously deposited sediment. Reefs may also include a mass or ridge of rocks, especially coral and sometimes sand, gravel, or shells, rising above the surrounding estuary or sea bottom to or nearly to the surface. a line of rocks or sand just above or just below the surface of the sea
	residuals	The solids generated or retained during the treatment of wastewater. They include trash, rags, grit, sediment, sludge, biosolids, septage, scum, and grease, as well as those portions of treatment systems that have served their useful life and require disposal, such as the sand or peat from a filter. Because of the different characteristics of residuals, management requirements can differ as stipulated by the appropriate federal regulations.
	respiration	process that, using oxygen, releases stored chemical energy to power an organism’s life processes; opposite reaction of photosynthesis.
	response	ecological responses are behavioral and physical changes that happen during the lifetime of a single organism and increase individual’s chance of survival as opposed to evolutionary adaptation, which takes place over multiple generations and is a result of a change in the species genetic makeup.
	restoration	make physical changes in a destroyed or impaired habitat that returns a site to the type of habitat it was prior to human made impacts.
	retention pond	A stormwater management structure whose primary purpose is to permanently store a given volume of stormwater runoff, releasing it by infiltration and /or evaporation.
	riparian rights	The rights of an owner of land bordering a river or the sea and relates to the water (its use), ownership of the shore, right of ingress and egress, accretions, etc.
	runoff	precipitation that drains into a water body from the surface of the surrounding land
	salinity	the concentration of salts dissolved in salt water.
	salt marsh	Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides.
	saltwater intrusion	the invasion of freshwater bodies by denser salt water.
	sandflat	area of bottom of aquatic system that is exposed by low tides and composed of sand - particles of sediment larger than those of mud.
	scientific method	the steps necessary for scientific investigation including 1) identify a problem you would like to solve, 2) formulate a hypothesis, 3) test the hypothesis, 4) collect and analyze the data, 5) make conclusions.
	sea level rise	long-term increases in mean sea level. The expression is popularly applied to anticipated sea level changes due to the greenhouse effect and associated global warming.
	sea surface temperature	the average temperatures at the uppermost layer of the ocean –only a few millimeters deep. Sea Surface Temperature, often referred to as SST, can be globally monitored through satellite remote sensing.
	seagrass	submerged rooted aquatic plants that tolerate salinity.
	septage	The liquid and solid materials pumped from a septic tank during cleaning operations.
	septic tank	A buried, watertight tank designed and constructed to receive and partially treat raw wastewater. The tank separates and retains settleable and floatable solids suspended in the wastewater and discharges the settled wastewater for further treatment and dispersal to the environment.
	shellfish	aquatic invertebrates with exoskeletons used as food, including various species of mollusks and crustaceans, such as crabs, shrimp, clams, and oysters.
	ship	A ship is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or operates on the water and is equal to or larger than 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA). A ship may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes.
	shoal	A shoal is a submerged or partially-submerged long and narrow ridge, normally of sand, that form in rivers and oceans.
	shore	The narrow strip of land immediately bordering any body of water, esp. the sea or a large lake; specifically the zone over which the ground is alternately exposed and covered by tides or waves, or the zone between high water and low water.
	shoreline	The intersection of the land with the water surface. The shoreline shown on charts represents the line of contact between the land and a selected water elevation. In areas affected by tidal fluctuations, this line of contact is the mean high water line. In confined coastal waters of diminished tidal influence, the mean water level line may be used.
	silt	tiny specs of dirt, sized between sand and clay particles, that can be suspended in water or fall out of suspension to cover plants and the bottom of lakes or pool sections of rivers and streams.
	slack water	The state of a tidal current when its speed is near zero, especially the moment when a reversing current changes direction and its speed is zero. The term also is applied to the entire period of low speed near the time of turning of the current when it is too weak to be of any practical importance in navigation. The relation of the time of slack water to the tidal phases varies in different localities. For a perfect standing tidal wave, slack water occurs at the time of high and of low water, while for a perfect progressive tidal wave, slack water occurs midway between high and low water. See slack; ebb begins and slack; flood begins.
	small craft	Small craft, in a marine context, is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or operates on the water and is under 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA). A small craft may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes. Small craft is synonymous with boat in marine use. Though the term craft applies to all vessels operating in a fluid medium, the term small craft is only used when applied to boats.
	spawn	to deposit sperm or eggs into the water (fish reproduction).
	species	a classification of related organisms that can freely interbreed.
	spoil island	Spoil islands are manmade islands composed of rock, soil, and/or shell spoil material extracted and deposited while dredging and dumping navigation channels.
	spring tide	Tides of increased range or tidal currents of increased speed occurring semimonthly as the result of the Moon being new or full. The spring range (Sg) of tide is the average range occurring at the time of spring tides and is most conveniently computed from the harmonic constants. It is larger than the mean range where the type of tide is either semi diurnal or mixed, and is of no practical significance where the type of tide is predominantly diurnal. The average height of the high waters of the spring tides is called spring high water or mean high water springs (MHWS) and the average height of the corresponding low waters is called spring low water or mean low water springs (MLWS).
	stakeholder	an individual, group of people, or organization that has an interest, concern, or will be affected by an action or issue.
	stenohaline	unable to tolerate a range of salinities.
	storm surge	a rise in the height of ocean water associated with high storm winds pushing against the ocean water; flooding caused by high ocean waters in coastal areas.
	subtidal	area usually flooded near edge of tidal waters.
	succession	progressive replacement of populations in a habitat.
	supratidal	occasionally flooded by very high or storm tides.
	surface water	precipitation that runs off the land surface and is collected in ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands.
	territorial sea	The offshore belt in which a coastal state has exclusive jurisdiction. The territorial sea may not extend more than 12 nautical miles from the coast line.
	tidal flat	An extensive, nearly horizontal, barren or sparsely vegetated tract of land that is alternately covered and uncovered by the tide, and consists of unconsolidated sediment (mostly clays, silts and/or sand, and organic materials). Tidal flat, level muddy surface bordering an estuary, alternately submerged and exposed to the air by changing tidal levels.
	tidal height	difference between water level at high tide and mean sea level, the average height of the ocean.
	tidal inlet	Any inlet through which water alternately floods landward with the rising tide and ebbs seaward with the falling tide.
	tidal marsh	An extensive, nearly level marsh bordering a coast (as in a shallow lagoon, sheltered bay, or estuary) and regularly inundated by high tides; formed mostly of unconsolidated sediments (e.g. clays, silts, and/or sands and organic materials), and the resistant root mat of salt tolerant plants, a marshy tidal flat.
	tidal range	difference between high and low tide.
	tide mark	High-water mark left by tidal water; the highest point reached by high tide; a mark placed to indicate the highest point reached by a high tide, or occasionally, any specified stage of tide
	tide	periodic rise and fall of ocean waters due to gravitational pull of sun and moon, and rotation of earth.
	tidewater	Water activated by the tide generating forces and/or water affected by the resulting tide, especially in coastal and estuarine areas. Also, a general term often applied to the land and water of estuarine areas formed by postglacial drowning of coastal plain rivers.
	treatment system	Any technology or combination of technologies (treatment trains or unit processes) that discharges treated wastewater to surface waters, ground water, or the atmosphere.
	tributary	a stream that flows into a larger stream or other body of water.
	trophic level	level in a food chain, e.g., producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer.
	turbid	water that is so full of small particles, such as silt, that the water is no longer transparent but instead appears cloudy.
	upland	Land above the mean high water line (shoreline) and subject to private ownership, as distinguished from tidelands, the ownership of which is prima facie in the state but also subject to divestment under state statutes.
	vertebrate	animal having a backbone.
	vertical stratification	laying of fresh water on top of salt water, also known as “salt wedge” effect; occurs when the fresh and salt water is not vigorously mixed together by turbulence.
	vessel	Every watercraft or other contrivance capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.
	washover fan	A fan-like landform of sand washed over a barrier island or spit during a storm and deposited on the inland-side.
	wastewater treatment facility	a place that treats waste water from homes and businesses, such as toilet or sewage water.
	wastewater	The combination of liquid and pollutants from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions, together with any ground water, surface runoff, or leachate that may be present.
	water column	the area of water from the seafloor up to the water surface. The water column contains free swimming, or pelagic, organisms and plankton (tiny drifting and floating organisms). The water column is a part of all bays, sloughs, lagoons and coastal areas; and is therefore part of an estuary.
	water cycle	the recycling of water between the earth and the atmosphere.
	water quality criteria	A set of enforceable requirements under the Clean Water Act that establish measurable limits for specific pollutants based on the designated use(s) of the receiving water body. Water quality criteria can be expressed as numeric limits (e.g., pollutant concentrations or mass loads) or narrative descriptions of desired conditions (e.g., no visible scum, sludge, sheens, or odors).
	water	a molecule-composed compound of hydrogen and oxygen.
	watershed management approach	The process of addressing water quality concerns within their natural boundaries, rather than political or regulatory boundaries. The process draws together all the participants and stakeholders in each basin to decide what problems affect the water quality in the basin, which are most important, and how they will be addressed.
	watershed	Topographic area that contributes or may contribute runoff to specific surface waters or an area of recharge.
	wetland	areas inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support , and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.”
	wrack line	a string of debris stranded by last high tide; cast ashore seaweeds, isolated sources of food and shade support an important community of isopods and amphipods as well as providing food for birds.
	xeric	Very dry environmental conditions.
	yacht	A yacht is any moderately large vessel or conveyance that floats on the water which is used for pleasure, not for commercial purposes.
	zonation	distribution of plants or animals arranged in zones or bands, caused by gradations of abiotic and/or biotic factors.
	zooplankton	animal or animal-like protists, small or microscopic, that drift with the currents, may be either herbivores or carnivores.