APES Unit 8 Key Terms

Reservoir

The water body created by damming a river or stream.

Allergen

A chemical that causes allergic reactions.

Dysentery

An infection of the intestines that causes diarrhea, which results in dehydration and can cause death.

Neurotoxin

A chemical that disrupts the nervous systems of animals.

Oxygen sag curve

The relationship of oxygen concentrations to the distance from a point source of decomposing sewage or other pollutants.

Persistence

The length of time a chemical remains in the environment.

Thermal shock

A dramatic change in temperature that can kill many species.

Stockholm Convention

A 2001 agreement among 127 nations concerning 12 chemicals to be banned, phased out, or reduced.

Closed-loop recycling

Recycling a product into the same product.

Thermal pollution

Occurs when humans cause a substantial change in the temperature of a water body.

Prion

A small, beneficial protein that occasionally mutates into a pathogen.

Infectious disease

A disease caused by a pathogen.

Dose-response study

A study that exposes animals or plants to different amounts of a chemical and then looks for a variety of possible responses, including mortality or changes in behavior or reproduction.

Wastewater

The water produced by livestock operations and human activities, including human sewage from toilets and gray water from bathing and washing of clothes and dishes.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

An infectious disease caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Mad cow disease

A disease in which prions mutate into deadly pathogens and slowly damage a cow’s nervous system.

Ash

The residual nonorganic material that does not combust during incineration.

Septic tank

A large container that receives wastewater from a house as part of a septic system.

Source reduction

An approach to waste management that seeks to cut waste by reducing the use of potential waste materials in the early stages of design and manufacture.

Chronic disease

A disease that slowly impairs the functioning of a person’s body.

Septic system

A relatively small and simple sewage treatment system, made up of a septic tank and a leach field, often used for homes in rural areas.

Pandemic

An epidemic that occurs over a large geographic region, such as an entire continent.

Lifecycle analysis (Cradle-to-grave analysis)

A systems tool that looks at the materials used and released throughout the lifetime of a product—from the procurement of raw materials through their manufacture, use, and disposal.

ED50

The effective dose of a chemical that causes 50 percent of the individuals in a dose-response study to display a harmful, but nonlethal, effect.

LD50

The lethal dose of a chemical that kills 50 percent of the individuals in a dose-response study.

Superfund Act

The common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); a 1980 U.S. federal act that imposes a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, funds the cleanup of abandoned and nonoperating hazardous waste sites, and authorizes the federal government to respond directly to the release or threatened release of substances that may pose a threat to human health or the environment.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

A type of virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Endocrine disruptor

A chemical that interferes with the normal functioning of hormones in an animal’s body.

Malaria

An infectious disease caused by one of several species of protists in the genus Plasmodium.

Tuberculosis

A highly contagious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis that primarily infects the lungs.

Hazardous waste

Liquid, solid, gaseous, or sludge waste material that is harmful to humans, ecosystems, or materials.

Nonpoint source

A diffuse area that produces pollution.

Waste stream

The flow of solid waste that is recycled, incinerated, placed in a solid waste landfill, or disposed of in another way.

Sludge

Solid waste material from wastewater.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

A type of flu caused by a coronavirus.

Prospective study

A study that monitors people who might become exposed to an environmental hazard, such as a harmful chemical in the future.

REACH

A 2007 agreement among the nations of the European Union about regulation of chemicals; the acronym stands for registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals.

Cultural eutrophication

An increase in fertility in a body of water, the result of anthropogenic inputs of nutrients.

Epidemic

A situation in which a pathogen causes a rapid increase in disease.

Sanitary landfill

An engineered ground facility designed to hold municipal solid waste (MSW) with as little contamination of the surrounding environment as possible.

Dam

A barrier that runs across a river or stream to control the flow of water.

Leach field

A component of a septic system, made up of underground pipes laid out below the surface of the ground.

Biomagnification

The increase in chemical concentration in animal tissues as the chemical moves up the food chain.

Retrospective study

A study that monitors people who have been exposed to an environmental hazard such as a harmful chemical at some time in the past.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)

The amount of oxygen a quantity of water uses over a period of time at specific temperatures.

SARS-CoV-2

A coronavirus that causes the disease known as Covid-19.

Eutrophication

Excess nutrients from human activities that make their way into waterbodies; it causes nutrient pollution that alters food webs and harms water quality.

Carcinogen

A chemical that causes cancer.

Waste-to-energy

A system in which heat generated by incineration is used as an energy source rather than released into the surrounding environment.

Municipal solid waste (MSW)

Solid waste collected by municipalities from households, small businesses, and institutions such as schools, prisons, municipal buildings, and hospitals.

Lyme disease

A disease caused by a bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi) that is transmitted by ticks.

Bioaccumulation

The selective absorption and concentration of a chemical within an organism over time.

Safe Drinking Water Act

Legislation that sets the national standards for safe drinking water.

Septage

A layer of fairly clear water found in the middle of a septic tank.

Recycling

The process by which materials destined to become municipal solid waste (MSW) are collected and converted into raw materials that are then used to produce new objects.

Fecal coliform bacteria

A group of microorganisms that live in the intestines of humans, other mammals, and birds that serve as an indicator species for potentially harmful microorganisms associated with contaminated sewage.

Point source

A distinct location from which pollution is directly produced.

Integrated waste management

An approach to waste disposal that employs several waste reduction, management, and disposal strategies in order to reduce the environmental impact of MSW.

Composting

The breakdown of organic materials into organic matter (humus).

Sublethal effect

The effect of an environmental hazard that does not kill an organism but which may impair an organism’s behavior, physiology, or reproduction.

Route of exposure

The way in which an individual might come into contact with an environmental hazard, such as a chemical.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

Synthetic, carbon-based molecules that break down very slowly in the environment.

West Nile virus

A virus that lives in hundreds of species of birds and is transmitted among birds by mosquitoes.

Precautionary principle

A principle based on the belief that when a hazard is plausible but not yet certain, we should take actions to reduce or remove the hazard.

Environmental hazard

Anything in the environment that can potentially cause harm.

Emergent infectious disease

An infectious disease that has not been previously described or has not been common for at least 20 years.

Disease

Any impaired function of the body with a characteristic set of symptoms.

Incineration

The process of burning waste materials to reduce volume and mass, and sometimes to generate electricity or heat.

Distillation

A process of desalination in which water is boiled and the resulting steam is captured and condensed to yield pure water.

Open-loop recycling

Recycling one product into a different product.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

A group of industrial compounds compounds that were once used to manufacture plastics and insulate electrical transformers.

Mutagen

A type of carcinogen that causes damage to the genetic material of a cell.

Levee

An enlarged bank built up on each side of a river.

Solid waste

The waste produced by humans as discarded materials that is not in liquid or gas form and do not pose a toxic hazard to humans and other organisms.

Dikes

Structure built to prevent ocean waters from flooding adjacent land.

Innocent-until-proven-guilty principle

A principle based on the belief that a potential hazard should not be considered an actual hazard until the scientific data definitively demonstrate that it actually causes harm.

Plague

An infectious disease caused by a bacterium (Yersinia pestis) that is carried by fleas.

No-observed-effect level (NOEL)

The highest concentration of a chemical that causes no lethal or sublethal effects.

Fish ladder

A stair-like structure that allows migrating fish to get around a dam.

Reverse osmosis

A process of desalination in which water is forced through a thin semipermeable membrane at high pressure.

Zika virus disease

A disease caused by a pathogen that causes fetuses to be born with unusually small heads and damaged brains.

Synergistic interaction

A situation in which two risks together cause more harm than expected based on the separate effects of each risk alone.

Tipping fee

A fee charged for trucks that deliver and tip solid waste into a landfill or incinerator.

Clean Water Act

Legislation that supports the “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water” by maintaining and, when necessary, restoring the chemical, physical, and biological properties of surface waters.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (the three Rs)

A popular phrase promoting the idea of diverting materials from the waste stream.

Chronic study

An experiment that exposes organisms to an environmental hazard for a long duration.

Acute study

An experiment that exposes organisms to an environmental hazard for a short duration.

Solubility

How well a chemical dissolves in a liquid.

Teratogen

A chemical that interferes with the normal development of embryos or fetuses.

Acute disease

A disease that rapidly impairs the functioning of a person’s body.

Swine flu

A type of flu caused by the H1N1 virus.

Maximum contaminant level (MCL)

The standard for safe drinking water established by the EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Desalination (Desalinization)

The process for obtaining fresh water by removing the salt from salt water.

Bird flu

A type of flu caused by the H5N1 virus.

Homeostasis

The ability to experience relatively stable internal conditions in their bodies.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever

An infectious disease with high death rates, caused by several species of Ebola virus.

MERS-CoV

A coronavirus that causes the disease known as Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome.

Brownfields

Contaminated industrial or commercial sites that may require environmental cleanup before they can be redeveloped or expanded.

Leachate

Liquid that can contain elevated levels of pollutants as a result of having passed through the solid waste of a landfill.

Reuse

Using a product or material that would otherwise be discarded.