Water & Wastewater Glossary
Lift stations, clarifiers, chlorination, pump stations, and water/wastewater treatment monitoring. 102 terms in this topic - each defined in plain English on its own page.
Municipal and industrial water systems run on the same SCADA principles as any process plant, with their own treatment vocabulary layered on top. These terms cover the collection and distribution side (lift stations, pump stations), the treatment train (clarifiers, digesters, membrane systems, disinfection), and the water-quality measurements that regulators watch. Oilfield produced-water handling lives in Oil & Gas Operations; this topic is the clean-water and wastewater world.
102 Terms
What Is an Aeration Basin?
The activated-sludge reactor where blowers feed oxygen to microbes, controlled to a dissolved-oxygen setpoint.
Read → GlossaryWhat is aerobic sludge digestion?
How aeration stabilizes biosolids, DO and decant control, VS reduction, and SCADA monitoring including ATAD.
Read → GlossaryWhat is air scour in a filter backwash?
The air-agitation phase that breaks up mudballs and dislodges floc before the water wash.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Altitude Valve?
The hydraulic valve that closes to stop a tank overflowing at a set level and reopens on drawdown.
Read → GlossaryWhat is ammonia-based aeration control?
A strategy where measured ammonia sets the DO target, cutting aeration energy while meeting nitrification limits.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Anaerobic Digester?
The sealed tank where bacteria stabilize sludge and make biogas, kept stable by temperature and pH.
Read → GlossaryWhat does aquaculture water quality monitoring cover?
Track pH, temperature, ammonia and nitrite, salinity, and turbidity together, because they interact to stress the stock.
Read → GlossaryHow does a rapid sand filter backwash cycle work?
The SCADA-sequenced drain, air scour, upflow wash, and rinse that cleans a gravity filter.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Bar Screen?
The headworks screen that catches rags and debris, raking on a differential-level trigger.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Belt Filter Press?
The continuous machine that squeezes sludge into cake through gravity, wedge, and pressure zones.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a Biocide in Water Treatment?
The chemical that kills sulfate-reducing bacteria to prevent souring and microbial corrosion in water.
Read → GlossaryBiogas Digester Monitoring
The temperature, chemistry, gas, and feedstock signals that keep an anaerobic digester stable.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Breakpoint Chlorination?
Dosing past the point where ammonia is destroyed so a free chlorine residual can form.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is BS&W?
Basic sediment and water - the crude quality number that decides whether a barrel is sellable, and how it is measured.
Read → GlossaryHow Does Canal Gate Automation Work for Irrigation Districts?
Motorized gates, upstream vs downstream level control, and district-wide SCADA that holds pools and delivers flows.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Center-Pivot Irrigation System?
The rotating sprinkler lateral of spans, towers, and an end gun, plus how SCADA monitors and steers it remotely.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Chemical Dosing System?
Day tank, metering pump, calibration column, and injection point, controlled by flow pacing and residual trim.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Chlorination?
The primary disinfection step that adds chlorine and leaves a residual, controlled by residual analyzers.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Chlorine Contact Tank?
The baffled basin that provides disinfection contact time behind the CT concept.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Chlorine Residual Monitoring?
Continuous measurement of disinfectant left in water from plant to tap, with SCADA alarms and trends.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Clarifier?
The gravity settling tank that separates solids from water, watched via sludge blanket level and turbidity.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Coagulation and Flocculation?
The two-stage process that clumps fine particles into settleable floc, with dose paced to flow and turbidity.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Combination Air Valve?
The high-point valve that releases trapped air and admits air to prevent vacuum collapse.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Combined Sewer Overflow?
The wet-weather discharge of untreated sewage and stormwater when a combined system is overwhelmed.
Read → GlossaryHow is a combined sewer overflow monitored?
Detect activation at the overflow weir and log each event's start, duration, peak, and estimated volume for reporting.
Read → GlossaryHow do you commission flow-paced chemical dosing?
Prove the flow signal, set the dose ratio from target dose and strength, scale the pump, and verify the dose across the flow range.
Read → GlossaryHow do you commission flow-paced RAS return?
Prove the influent flow signal, set the RAS ratio, scale the pump to real delivery, and verify the ratio holds across the flow range.
Read → GlossaryHow do you commission a turbidity analyzer loop?
Prove a bubble-free representative sample, calibrate to a traceable standard, scale the signal to SCADA, and set compliance-aware alarms.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Condenser Water Temperature Reset?
Lowering the condenser setpoint to cut chiller lift versus extra tower-fan energy, balanced against the wet-bulb.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Deficit Irrigation Control?
Regulated deficit irrigation, allowable depletion, and holding stress bands with soil and ET data in automation.
Read → GlossaryHow Does Drip Irrigation Control Work?
Automating drip zones, pressure-compensating emitters, flushing, clog detection, and over-pressure protection.
Read → GlossaryWhat are effective size and uniformity coefficient of filter media?
The d10 and UC that specify granular media and govern clogging, penetration, and replacement.
Read → GlossaryWhat is effluent turbidity monitoring?
Continuous per-filter and combined effluent turbidity for compliance, with SCADA alarms, interlocks, and logging.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is an Elevated Storage Tank (Water Tower)?
The tower that floats on the system to set the HGL and provide equalizing and fire-flow storage.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Evapotranspiration (ET) in Irrigation Scheduling?
The crop's daily water loss, plus reference ET0, crop coefficient Kc, the soil water balance, and automated scheduling.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Fertigation?
Delivering dissolved fertilizer through irrigation water, plus injection pumps, EC dosing, and chemigation safety.
Read → GlossaryHow does fertigation EC and pH control work?
How the unit meters A/B tanks and acid inline to hold target EC and pH, with probe feedback and recipe logging.
Read → GlossaryHow Does a Media Filter Backwash Cycle Work?
The automated PLC sequence that regenerates a water filter: trigger, scour, backwash, settle, return.
Read → GlossaryWhat are filter ripening and filter-to-waste?
The post-backwash turbidity spike and the diversion that keeps it out of finished water.
Read → GlossaryHow is fish pond level and flow monitored?
Watch level to protect stock and containment, meter inflow and outflow for exchange rate, and tie exchange to water quality.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a flash mix (rapid mix) unit?
The seconds-long, high-intensity mixing step that disperses coagulant to destabilise colloids.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a flocculation basin?
The gently mixed, tapered-energy basin where destabilised particles grow into settleable floc.
Read → GlossaryWhat is flow-paced chemical dosing?
Flow-proportional versus residual and compound-loop dosing, and how a flow signal paces a metering pump in SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Force Main?
The pressurized pipe that carries lift-station discharge to a gravity manhole or plant.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a force main air lock?
Trapped air at a pipeline high point that throttles flow and raises head, spotted by flow-versus-pressure trending.
Read → GlossaryFrac Water
The base water used to hydraulically fracture wells, how much is needed, what is blended in, and how it is sourced and staged.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is the Difference Between Free and Total Chlorine?
Free is the strong disinfecting form; total adds combined chloramines, and the gap reveals residual strength.
Read → GlossaryHow Does Frost Protection Irrigation Work?
Using the latent heat of freezing water to protect crops, plus wet-bulb triggers, critical temperature, and auto-start.
Read → GlossaryHow does grain aeration fan control work?
Run fans only when ambient air cools or dries the grain toward target; confirm with the bin temperature trend and run hours.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Gravity Media Filter?
The sand or dual-media bed that polishes drinking water, cleaned by a sequenced backwash cycle.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Grit Chamber?
The headworks tank that settles out sand and grit to protect downstream pumps and clarifiers.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a pump station influent flow estimate?
Deriving inflow with no meter from well geometry, level rise rate, and known pump output via the fill-and-draw method.
Read → GlossaryHow Does an Injection Water Pump Train Work?
The charge-plus-high-pressure pumping setup that pressurizes water for a disposal well.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Flow Meter for Irrigation Water Management?
Propeller vs mag meters, why totalized volume drives water reporting, and expected-vs-actual leak detection.
Read → GlossaryHow does an irrigation district measure lateral flow?
Meter each lateral at its head with a flume, rated check, or inline meter, and use the total to localize losses to a reach.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Lift Station?
The wet well and submersible pumps that lift sewage uphill - the flagship case for remote collection-system SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)?
Activated sludge plus membrane filtration, managed by watching transmembrane pressure, flux, and cleaning cycles.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Membrane Gas Separation for CO2?
How polymer membranes remove CO2 by permeation, how it compares to amine treating, and what SCADA tracks.
Read → GlossaryWhat is mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS)?
The biomass concentration in the aeration basin, read by inline TSS probes and used to drive wasting and SRT.
Read → GlossaryWhat is most-open-valve aeration control?
A supervisory strategy that lowers header pressure until the most-open air valve is near full open, cutting waste.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a nephelometric turbidity sensor?
Sensor that reads cloudiness in NTU by detecting light scattered at 90 degrees, calibrated against formazin standards.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Non-Revenue Water (NRW)?
Produced water that is never billed, split into real and apparent losses and tracked via the water balance.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is the Oil-Water Interface?
The controlled boundary between oil and water in a separator or treater - why it matters, the emulsion pad, and its control.
Read → GlossaryWhat is sedimentation basin overflow rate (surface loading)?
The flow-per-area parameter that decides whether floc settles, and how it is watched in SCADA.
Read → GlossaryWhat is an Oxygen Scavenger in Water Treatment?
The chemical that removes dissolved oxygen to stop rapid oxygen corrosion in water and injection systems.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Pressure Zone in a Water Distribution System?
A part of the network held within a target pressure band, set by tank elevation or the HGL.
Read → GlossaryWhat is pump water hammer?
The pressure surge when a pump trips or a check valve slams, how column separation damages a station, and how VFD soft-stops and SCADA sequencing help.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a rapid sand filter?
The gravity media filter that polishes settled water by depth filtration on a backwash cycle.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is RAS and WAS?
The return and waste sludge flows that set sludge age and MLSS in activated sludge treatment.
Read → GlossaryHow does return activated sludge flow control work?
RAS flow control strategies and how VFD return pumps are paced in SCADA to hold the clarifier blanket and MLSS.
Read → GlossaryWhat does raw water intake monitoring cover?
Watch source level, intake flow and pump status, screen differential, and raw turbidity to protect supply and warn of source events.
Read → GlossaryHow Does Remote Pump Control Work for Irrigation?
Starting, stopping, and VFD-regulating an irrigation pump over telemetry, with dry-run protection and staging.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a secondary clarifier?
The final clarifier that settles biomass after aeration, its loading limits, blanket behavior, and RAS/WAS links.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a self-cleaning wiper for water probes?
Automatic cleaner that clears a probe's optical window of fouling by wiper, air blast, or ultrasonic cleaning on a timed cycle.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Sequencing Batch Reactor?
The time-based fill-react-settle-decant activated sludge process run entirely by a controller.
Read → GlossaryHow do you set lead-lag pump alternation?
Rotate duty each cycle for even wear, map lead and lag to the setpoints, and add step logic so a failed lead promotes the standby.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Sewer Lift Station?
The wastewater station that pumps sewage from a low wet well up to a gravity main or plant.
Read → GlossaryWhat is sludge blanket level monitoring?
Ultrasonic or optical sensing of clarifier settled-solids depth, feeding SCADA to trim RAS and WAS and stop washout.
Read → GlossaryWhat is a sludge density meter?
Inline meter reading sludge solids concentration by ultrasonic or gamma method to drive waste rate and polymer dosing.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Sludge Thickener?
The step that concentrates dilute sludge before digestion, by gravity settling or air flotation.
Read → GlossaryWhat is sludge volume index (SVI)?
Settled sludge volume per gram of MLSS, a settleability metric that flags bulking and guides RAS and wasting.
Read → GlossaryHow do you stop nuisance high-level alarms at a lift station?
Decide from the trend whether the level is real, chattering, or a bad signal, then fix the true cause instead of widening the limit.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Pipeline Surge (Water Hammer)?
How valve closures and pump trips spike pressure, the Joukowsky relation, and surge relief.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Tank Turnover in a Water Storage Tank?
The daily exchange of stored water, and why poor turnover raises water age and residual loss.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Tank Water Bottom?
The free water and sediment layer below the oil in a tank, how it is gauged, and what a rising bottom signals.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Tensiometer (Soil Water Tension)?
The porous-cup instrument that measures soil water tension in centibars and drives trigger-point irrigation.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Trickling Filter?
The fixed-film process where wastewater trickles over media coated in treatment biofilm.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Turbidity Analyzer?
The nephelometric measurement of suspended solids that verifies filtration and water clarity.
Read → GlossaryHow Does a Two-Wire Irrigation Decoder System Work?
Running power and data on one cable to address many valves, plus wiring economy and the faults a controller diagnoses.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is UV Disinfection?
Chemical-free disinfection by ultraviolet light, verified by monitoring dose, intensity, flow, and lamp status.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Variable-Rate Irrigation (VRI)?
Applying non-uniform water depths from a prescription map, plus speed-control vs zone-control and the control needs.
Read → GlossaryHow do you verify DO control response in aeration?
Step the DO setpoint, watch the air valve and blower react, and confirm DO settles at setpoint without hunting through a load swing.
Read → GlossaryHow do you verify a filter backwash sequence?
Step through isolate, scour, backwash, settle, and return, confirming valve positions, permissives, interlocks, and the backwash rate.
Read → GlossaryHow does waste activated sludge pumping work?
Wasting strategies (timed, flow-paced, SRT-driven) and how SCADA totalizers and mass balance control sludge age.
Read → GlossaryWhat is water content in pounds per MMscf?
The mass-basis water spec pipelines contract on; it does not equal a fixed dew point because the conversion is pressure-dependent.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Water Draw?
The low-point drain and interface control that pulls free water off a tank bottom to protect custody quality.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is a Water Drive Reservoir?
How an active aquifer maintains pressure for high recovery, with rising water cut as the front advances.
Read → GlossaryWhat is water order and delivery accounting?
Turn a grower's order into a scheduled delivery, meter the actual delivered volume, and reconcile the two for billing.
Read → GlossaryHow is a water tower's level and fill monitored?
Level drives pump fill, doubles as the zone's pressure signal, and its cycling manages tank turnover and water age.
Read → GlossaryWhat Is Water-Finding Paste?
Color-changing paste on a gauging tape that marks the exact oil-water interface so bottom water can be deducted.
Read → GlossaryWhat is water-in-oil contamination analysis?
Measuring dissolved, emulsified, and free water in a lubricant to catch corrosion early.
Read → GlossaryWhat is wire-to-water pump efficiency monitoring?
The whole-chain efficiency from electrical input to delivered water, and how SCADA trends it to cut pumping energy.
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