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Water Law Terms
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Acre-foot | The quantity of water required to cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot, or 325,851 gallons |
aquifer | A porous water-bearing geologic formation. The term is used to describe any underground area which serves as a common supply of water obtained by pumping. |
artesian well | A well that taps a confined aquifer. The aquifer often has sufficient pressure to create a natural flow of water. |
calling the river | The action taken by a senior appropriator to curtail junior diversions when necessary to permit the senior to take her full entitlement. |
confined aquifer | An aquifer that is closed between impermeable materials. |
conjunctive use | The coordinated use of surface water and groundwater to maximize the value of both resources. |
consumptive use | The amount of water consumed by a particular use and thus unavailable for further use. |
conveyance loss | The loss of water from a ditch, canal, or other conduit due to evaporation, leakage, seepage, or transpiration. |
cubic foot per second | The quantity of water flowing at a velocity of one foot per second through a box one foot wide and one foot deep. Usually abbreviated "cfs" it is equivalent to 448.8 gallons per minute or slightly more than 646,000 gallons per day. |
ditch | An artificial open channel or waterway constructed through earth or rock, for the purpose of carrying water. A ditch is smaller than a canal, although the line of demarcation between the two is indefinite. May be lined with material to prevent seepage. |
diversion | The extraction of water from its natural source, usually into a ditch or canal, for ultimate use on land, in industry, or for domestic purposes. |
divide | A high point on land which separates two river basins or drainage basins. |
drainage basin | The area drained by a river and its tributaries. The land area from which water drains into the Colorado River and its tributaries, for example, comprises the Colorado River basin. Also called a "catchment area" "watershed," or "river basin." |
efficiency | The ratio of (1) the quantity of water consumed by a particular use to (2) the volume of water diverted for the use. Sometimes defined as the ratio of the quantity consumed to the volume of water delivered for the use. |
effluent | The water, usually polluted, which is discharged into a stream from sewers, industrial plants, or other pollution sources. |
flood plain | That portion of a river valley which is covered with water when the river overflows its banks at flood stage. |
groundwater | Subsurface water from which wells and springs are fed. In a strict sense |
groundwater basin | A physiographic or geologic unit containing at least one aquifer of significant areal extent. |
headgate | A device to control water flow, placed at the entrance to a conduit such as a pipeline, or canal. The point at which water is diverted from a river into an irrigation ditch. |
headwaters | The place where a river originates. |
impermeable | Material that does not permit the passage of water or other fluids. |
instream use | Water uses that do not require a diversion - e.g., fishing or transportation. |
lateral | A minor ditch that branches off a main ditch or canal and is used to transport water onto the land where it will be used. |
leaching | The removal of salts and alkali from soils by abundant irrigation combined with drainage. |
littoral rights | The equivalent of riparian rights for those who border a lake rather than a flowing stream. |
miner's inch | An obsolescent term measuring the rate of flow of water. A variable measure equal to between 0.02 and 0.029 cfs depending on the state. |
mouth of a river | The place where a river empties into another river, or into the sea. |
nonconsumptive use | Any water use that does not reduce the supply of water available for other uses - e.g., hunting and swimming. |
phreatophyte | A water-loving plant. Usually describes vegetation such as cottonwood trees which line the banks of a stream and soak up water sought to be used to irrigate agricultural crops. |
recharge, groundwater | The flow of water into an aquifer. |
return flow | Any flow which returns to a stream channel after diversion for use. In irrigation, water applied to an area which is not consumed in evaporation or transportation, and returns to a surface stream or groundwater aquifer. |
river basin | See "Drainage Basin" |
safe yield | Generally the amount of water that can be extracted each year from an aquifer on a renewable basis. |
seepage | |
unconfined aquifer | |
water, duty of | |
watershed | |
water table |