COASTKEEPER Sewer Patrol

Assimilative Capacity: The ability of a natural body of water to receive wastewaters or toxic materials without harmful effects and without damage to aquatic life.

Best Management Practices (BMPs): Structural, nonstructural and managerial techniques that are recognized to be the most effective and practical means to control non-point source pollutants yet are compatible with the productive use of the resource to which they are applied. BMPs are used in urban and agricultural areas.

Diligent Prosecution: This is a legal term to describe whether an enforcement action by the state – in this case, the Division of Water Quality – is sufficient. A citizen can bring an action to require compliance with NPDES permit limits whenever the state isn't "diligently prosecuting" the offender. If the state has taken no action or hasn't taken an action that requires compliance, then there hasn't been diligent prosecution. In other cases, the division may have taken action but that action seems very weak (for example, granting several years for the permittee to comply with its permit). In those cases, a court will decide whether the division has diligently prosecuted the violator.

Dioxin: Any of a family of compounds known chemically as dibenzo-p-dioxins. Concern about them arises from their potential toxicity and contaminants in commercial products. Tests on laboratory animals indicate that it is one of the more toxic man-made compounds.

Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs): The federal Clean Water Act requires permit holders to monitor discharges and report whether they've complied with the effluent limitations contained in their NPDES permits. In North Carolina, discharge-monitoring reports are submitted to the Division of Water Quality. These monitoring reports are available to the public under the state's public records act.

Eutrophication: The slow aging process during which a lake, estuary, or sound evolves into a bog or marsh and eventually disappears. During the later stages of eutrophication, the water body is choked by abundant plant life due to higher levels of nutritive compounds such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Human activities can accelerate the process.

Industrial Users: Also referred to as "indirect dischargers," these industries discharge into municipal wastewater treatment plants instead of directly into a river, stream, or lake. Don't assume, however, that discharged waste receives more treatment by going through a municipal sewage plant. Most plants can't treat the type of waste that industries generate, such as heavy metals; so, these materials merely "pass through" the facility and end up in our waterways. Records for these types of discharges are usually available at the local wastewater treatment plant.

Lead (Pb): A heavy metal that is hazardous to health if breathed or swallowed. Its use in gasoline, paints, and plumbing compounds has been sharply restricted or eliminated by federal laws and regulations.
Mercury: A heavy metal that can accumulate in the environment and is highly toxic if breathed or swallowed. The state has advised against eating large king mackerel caught along the NC coast because of mercury contamination.

Navigable Waters: The term "water of the United States" is very broadly defined in the Clean Water Act. It means navigable waters, tributaries to navigable waters, interstate waters, the oceans out to 200 miles, and intrastate waters that are used by interstate travelers for recreation or other purposes, as a source of fish or shellfish sold in interstate commerce, or for industrial purposes by industries engaged in interstate commerce.

Notice of Violation: A notice of violation documents a violation of an NPDES permit. It frequently is in the form of a letter by the Division of Water Quality. It merely gives notice that there has been a violation, and sometimes, there may be a penalty attached. It may take a different form depending on the circumstances. Just look for anything that discusses specific violations as this is important information in terms of assessing whether a particular discharger is polluting a river and whether the division took appropriate action.

Pesticide: Substances intended to repel, kill, or control any species designated a "pest" including weeds, insects, rodents, fungi, bacteria, or other organisms. The family of pesticides includes herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, and bactericides.

Point Source: The term is defined very broadly in the Clean Water Act because it has been through 25 years of litigation. It means any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, such as a pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, or container. It also includes boats or other floating craft from which pollutants may be discharged. By law, the term also includes concentrated animal feeding operations, which are places where animals are confined and fed. Agricultural storm water discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture are not considered "point sources."

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): A group of toxic, persistent chemicals used in electrical transformers and capacitors for insulating purposes, and in gas pipeline systems as a lubricant. The sale and new use of PCBs were banned by law in 1979.

Solvents: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed a total of 30 chemicals as hazardous waste spent solvents. Many of these solvents were widely used in many different industries, and had caused environmental damage at many sites. Although the Agency listed these solvents as hazardous, other solvents that may have been potentially hazardous to human health and the environment were not examined. As a result of a consent decree issued in June 1991, EPA agreed to make hazardous waste listing determinations on wastes generated from the use of 14 chemicals as solvents.

Special Order by Consent: A legal agreement between the state's Environmental Management Commission and a permit holder as a result of water-pollution violations, which typically includes a discussion of the specific violations, penalties, and a timetable for necessary corrective actions to be taken by the violator. The document must be signed by both parties to be valid. In exchange for agreeing to make improvements, the state usually lowers the pollution standards in the permit while the improvements are being made.

TMDLs: A calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's sources. Read more information on TMDLs.

Watershed: A defined land area, which usually contains a stream channel, floodplains and upland areas that captures rainfall and funnels in to a particular waterway, such as a stream, lake, or river.