Glossary
| Word/term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Agricultural land use | Land use involving cultivation of land or raising of livestock. |
| Agricultural run-off | Surface water after rainfall from an area of agricultural land use. |
| Animal waste | Animal faecal material. |
| Bacteriological indicators | Micro-organisms selected as indicators of faecal material. |
| Bathers | Those who enter the water, and either partially or fully immerse themselves. |
| Bathing season | Generally the bathing season extends between 1 November and 31 March. However, this may vary according to local climatic conditions. |
| Beach | The shore or any access point to the sea, a freshwater lake or river used for recreational purposes. |
| Bird-roosting areas | Where birds congregate routinely. |
| Bush | Fallow areas, predominantly covered with native or exotic bush or scrub. |
| Catchment | That area of land from which runoff or direct discharges may affect water-quality at a recreational water site. |
| Category | One of five possible outcomes based on historical microbiological results and potential risk of faecal contamination. |
| Central tendency | The degree of clustering of the values of a statistical distribution that is usually measured by the arithmetic mean, mode, or median. |
| Coastal water | Seawater within the outer limits of the territorial sea. Includes seawater with a substantial freshwater component; and seawater in estuaries, fiords, inlets, harbours, or embayments (RMA). |
| Combined sewer overflows | Where stormwater and sewer overflows are combined. |
| Communal sewage disposal | Where a number of houses have a combined sewage disposal system. |
| Contact recreation | Recreational activities that bring people physically in contact with water, involving a risk of involuntary ingestion or inhalation of water (see also Bathers). |
| Contamination | Reduction in water quality by faecal material, resulting in a breach of guideline values. |
| Cryptosporidiosis | Diarrhoeal disease caused by oocysts of the protozoa Cryptosporidium parvum. |
| Direct discharges | Piped or channelled discharge of wastewater concentrated at a given point (point source). |
| Effluent | The liquid effluent from sewage treatment processes (sometimes called wastewater). |
| Enterococci | Members of the Streptococcus group of bacteria characterised as faecal in origin. |
| Enterolert | Trade name of test kit for detecting enterococci. |
| Environmental hazard assessment | Assessment of risk of potential sources of faecal contamination within a catchment. |
| Escherichia coli (E. coli) | Member of the Enterobacteriaceae group of bacteria. |
| Exceedance | When indicator levels from samples taken at a recreational site exceed those recommended in these guidelines. |
| Exceptional circumstances | Circumstances under which the result of the grading matrix indicates an inconsistency between the Sanitary Inspection Category and the Microbiological Assessment Category, requiring further investigation or analysis. |
| Feral animal | A wild, untamed animal. |
| Follow-up sample | Second sample taken to confirm an initial high result; usually within 24–72 hours depending on accessibility/sample turnaround time, etc. |
| Forest | Area predominantly covered by exotic or native trees. |
| Freshwater | All water except coastal water and geothermal water (RMA). |
| Gastroenteritis | Stomach condition causing diarrhoea. |
| Giardiasis | Clinical condition caused by infection with cysts of Giardia intestinalis. |
| Graded beaches | Beaches identified by a grade according to their suitability for recreational use, as per these guidelines. |
| Hazen method | Method for calculating percentile numerical values. |
| High-contact water sports | Recreational activities that bring people physically in contact with water, involving a risk of involuntary ingestion of water (e.g. swimming, surfing, water skiing, windsurfing). |
| Human waste | Faecal material. |
| Median | Central value when values are arranged in order of magnitude. |
| Membrane filter test | Test to capture bacteria on a filter by means of filtration. |
| Microbial indicators | Bacteria used as indicators of faecal contamination. |
| Micro-organisms | Collective term for bacteria, viruses and protozoa. |
| Middle-range beaches | Beaches with a Suitability for Recreation Grade of good, fair or poor. |
| Multiple-sample sites | When more than one sample is taken along a beach, either because the beach extends for some distance, or to investigate potential causes of exceedances. |
| Non-point-source discharge | Diffuse pollution sources (without a single point of origin, or not introduced into a receiving stream from a specific outlet). The pollutants are generally carried off the land by stormwater (http://www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/nterms.html). |
| On-site waste treatment | Septic tank. |
| Pathenogenic micro-organisms | Micro-organisms that can cause disease. |
| Pathogens | Pathogenic micro-organisms. |
| Point-source discharge | Piped or channelled discharge of waste water concentrated at a given point. |
| Potential contamination source | Any feature of the catchment that may contribute human or animal waste that affects the microbiological condition of a recreational site. |
| Primary treatment | The first major stage of treatment following preliminary treatment in a wastewater works, usually involving removal of settleable solids. |
| Principal source (of contamination) | The source of faecal contamination that has the greatest effect on recreational water quality. |
| Private sewage disposal system | Septic tank, long drop (pit privy). |
| Protozoa | Single-celled micro-organisms. |
| Rainfall event | A rainfall event is one that has an effect on beach water quality. This may be described in mm of rainfall over time. The definition of rainfall events will vary within and between catchments. Factors such as land use, vegetation cover and catchment size will affect the quality and quantity of water that impacts on a beach. Water managers in each region will need to determine what qualifies as a rainfall event in their region, or maybe even in catchments in their region. Historical data may help to determine the levels of rainfall required to impact on a region’s beaches. Note: data specific to dry-weather sampling is likely to reflect the most favourable indication of a health risk. |
| Recreational use | See contact recreation. |
| Respiratory illness | Cold and flu-like symptoms; may be associated with fever. |
| Risk | The public health risk when considering beach water quality is the probability of illness occurring. The best available means of predicting the probability of illness occurring at a beach is given by the number of particular indicator bacteria present in the water. |
| Risk factors | Potential sources of faecal contamination. |
| Salmonellosis | Disease caused by infection with members of the Salmonella group of bacteria. |
| Sanitary landfills | Landfills (tips) where sewage sludge is disposed. |
| Sanitary survey | Survey to detect potential sources of faecal pollution within a catchment. |
| Secondary treatment | The treatment of waste water, usually after removal of suspended solids, by bacteria under aerobic conditions during which organic matter in solution is oxidised or incorporated into cells, which may be removed by settlement. This may be achieved by biological filtration or by the activated-sludge process. Sometimes called ‘aerobic biological treatment’. |
| Septic tank | A type of sedimentation tank in which the sludge is retained sufficiently long for the organic content to undergo anaerobic digestion. (When efficient, this equates to secondary treatment.) |
| Sewage | The liquid wastes of a community, including toilet wastes, sullage and trade wastes. May include stormwater infiltration. |
| Sewerage | A system of pipes to convey sewage to the place of disposal or treatment. The term ‘sewerage’ is analogous to ‘sewer reticulation’ or ‘drainage system’. |
| Tertiary treatment | The further treatment of biologically treated waste water by removing suspended matter to enable the effluent to comply with a standard more stringent than 30:20 (not containing more than 30 mg/L suspended solids and with a biological oxygen demand (BOD) not exceeding 20 mg/L) before discharge to a receiving water. Also termed ‘polishing’. Note: this is not equivalent to disinfection. A system should be described as secondary treatment + disinfection, but not tertiary treatment. |
| Treated effluent | Effluent that has been through at least primary treatment (see also Primary treatment, Secondary treatment, and Tertiary treatment). |
| Ungraded beaches | Beaches that are not used for contact recreation and therefore have not been through the grading process. |
| Wastewater treatment plant | A facility for treating effluent before discharging it into the environment (see also Treated effluent). |
| Water manager | A generic term used for any person(s) or organisation(s) that make(s) decisions regarding water use or quality, including those that monitor for state of the environment reporting and for public health protection. |
| Water quality | The bacteriological condition of a water body as it relates to human health, measured using indicator bacteria. |
| Waterborne pathogen | Disease-causing micro-organisms capable of being transmitted by water. |
