Absorption Field: An area of land where septic tank effluent is discharged for purification by soil.
Aquifer: An underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or materials from which groundwater can be extracted.
Baseflow: Part of the river's flow that is sustained primarily through groundwater seepage.
Biodiversity Conservation: Practices that protect species and their habitats in the water sector, ensuring the maintenance of natural water bodies and associated ecosystems.
Catchment Area: The area from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir.
Climate Resilience: The ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant climate disturbances.
Desalination: The process of removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water. This is critical for Mauritius due to its limited freshwater resources.
Discharge Permit: A license granted to discharge specified pollutants at prescribed levels into water bodies; crucial for regulating industrial impacts on water quality in Mauritius.
Ecosystem Services: The benefits that humans freely gain from the natural environment and from properly-functioning ecosystems, such as clean water, air, and the decomposition of wastes.
Effluent: Treated or untreated wastewater that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall.
Exfiltration: The flow of water outward from a sewer or drainage system into the surrounding soil or groundwater.
Fecal Coliforms: Types of bacteria found in human and animal wastes that can contaminate water and indicate the presence of other pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or protozoa.
Floodplain: An area adjacent to a river or stream that experiences occasional or periodic flooding.
Greywater: Wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, such as sinks, showers, and baths, which can be recycled on-site for uses such as landscape irrigation and constructed wetlands.
Groundwater: Water held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock, which is used for drinking water by about half of the people in Mauritius.
Hydraulic Conductivity: A property of soil or rock, that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through pore spaces or fractures.
Hydrology: The scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth, focusing on water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability.
Hydropower generation: The production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water.
Industrial water use: Water used for industrial processes and production, often requiring specific quality and supply conditions.
Infiltration Basin: A basin designed to capture surface water runoff to allow its infiltration into the ground, reducing runoff and enhancing groundwater recharge.
Inland waters: Freshwater bodies such as lakes, rivers, and streams located within land boundaries.
Irrigation: The artificial application of water to land or soil to assist in the growing of agricultural crops and vegetation.
Joule-Thomson Effect: A thermodynamic process that describes the temperature change of a fluid as it passes through a valve while kept insulated so that no heat is exchanged with the environment. This principle is part of the technology behind desalination and refrigeration, relevant in water cooling and treatment processes.
Jugular Notch: Not specifically a water term, but relevant in anatomical studies related to water and hydration effects on the human body.
Karst Topography: A landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum, characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves.
Kinetic Energy in Water: Energy that flowing water has due to its motion, significant in hydropower generation contexts.
Leachate: Water that collects contaminants as it trickles through wastes, pesticides, or fertilizers. Controlling leachate is crucial in waste management and sanitation services.
Littoral Zone: The part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore.
Livestock water use: Water used in the raising of animals for food, fiber, milk, or other products.
Marine pollution: The introduction of harmful or potentially harmful substances into the ocean, negatively affecting marine life and ecosystems.
Micropollutants: Trace quantities of substances such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pesticides that are found in the water cycle and may pose health risks despite their low concentrations.
Mineral water: Water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, sourced from a mineral spring.
Multipurpose Dam: A dam built and used for more than one purpose, such as to store water, produce hydroelectric power, and provide irrigation needs.
Nitrates: Naturally occurring ions that are a part of the nitrogen cycle but can become concentrated in waters due to agricultural runoff, causing nutrient pollution.
Non-point Source Pollution: Pollution that comes from diffuse sources rather than from point-specific origins, such as runoff pollution.
Osmosis: The movement of a solvent (like water) through a semipermeable membrane from a region of low solute concentration to a region of high solute concentration.
Phytoplankton: Microscopic organisms living in watery environments, both salty and fresh, and are critical to the aquatic food web.
Potable Water: Water that is safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm.
Recharge Area: The ground area where rainwater soaks into the ground and replenishes an aquifer.
Riparian Rights: The rights of landowners whose land borders rivers or streams to make reasonable use of the water, which varies from one jurisdiction to another.
Saltwater intrusion/siltation: The movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, typically caused by groundwater depletion; siltation refers to the accumulation of sand or other sediments in bodies of water.
Sewerage: The system of pipes and channels that collect and transport sewage for treatment or disposal.
Stormwater: Surface water in abnormal quantity resulting from heavy falls of rain or snow.
Surface water: Water that collects on the surface of the ground, including rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.
Transpiration: The process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere.
Turbidity: The cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye.
Ultraviolet Disinfection: A water treatment method that uses ultraviolet light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA.
Vadose Zone: The area of earth that lies between the ground surface and the water table, where soil pores contain air and water.
Water abstraction: The process of taking water from any source, either temporarily or permanently.
Water charges: Fees charged for the use of water from a utility or other supplier.
Water conservation zone: Areas designated to protect and manage water resources to prevent over-exploitation.
Water Conservation: The practice of using water efficiently to reduce unnecessary water usage both in households and in industry.
Water Cycle: The cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
Water desalination: The process of removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption and irrigation.
Water quality standards: Regulations that set the legal requirements for the quality of water to ensure it is safe for consumption and ecosystem health.
Water resources management: The activity of planning, developing, distributing, and managing the optimum use of water resources.
Water rights: The legal rights to use water from a water source for various purposes, such as agricultural, industrial, or residential use.
Water Stress: A condition where water demand exceeds the available amount during a certain period, or when poor quality restricts its use. Water stress causes deterioration of fresh water resources in terms of quantity (aquifer over-exploitation, dry rivers, etc.) and quality (eutrophication, organic matter pollution, saline intrusion, etc.).
Water supply: The provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes.
Water users' associations: Groups formed by water users within a defined area to manage water resources cooperatively.
Waterworks: Infrastructure facilities for the collection, pumping, treatment, and distribution of water.
Well sinking/boreholes: The process of drilling a well or borehole to access groundwater.
Wetlands: Areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season.
Xeriscaping: Landscaping and gardening that reduces or eliminates the need for supplemental water from irrigation.
Yield Coefficient: The mass of microorganism formed per mass of substrate used, commonly used in wastewater treatment processes to describe bacterial growth yields under different conditions.
Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD): A wastewater management strategy that eliminates liquid waste and maximizes water usage efficiency.
Zooplankton: Small and often microscopic animals, located in inhabited freshwater and saltwater bodies.
