Glossary of Terms, K – P
A – D | E – J | K – P | Q – S | T – Z
Knowledge Gaps
Lack of referenced materials or expertise to assess certain characteristics of the specific watershed that can be adequately described without tabular or spatial data.
Land Use
A particular use of space at or near the earth’s surface with associated activities, substances and events related to a particular land use designation.
Liaising
Business act to refine logistics around gathering data and information.
Local Area
Specific area around a wellhead or surface water intake as determined through analysis. This area must encompass a drinking water system and surrounding potential quantity threats.
Marsh
Marshes are wet areas periodically inundated with standing or slowly moving water, and/or permanently inundated areas characterized by robust emergents, and to a lesser extent, anchored floating plants and submergents. Surface water levels may fluctuate seasonally, with declining levels exposing drawdown zones of matted vegetation or mud flats.
Model
An assembly of concepts in the form of mathematical equations or statistical terms that portrays a behavior of an object, process or natural phenomenon.
Model Calibration
The process for generating information over the life cycle of the project that helps to determine whether a model and its analytical results are of a quality sufficient to serve as the basis of a decision.
Model Evaluation
A comparison of model results with numerical data independently derived from experiments or observations of the environment.
Model Validation
A test of a model with known input and output information that is used to adjust or estimate factors for which data are not available.
Model Verification
The examination (normally performed by the model developers) of the numerical technique in the computer code to ascertain that it truly represents the conceptual model and that there are no inherent numerical problems with obtaining a solution.
Municipal Residential System
All municipal drinking-water systems that serve or are planned to serve a major residential development (i.e. six or more private residencies).
Naturally Occurring Processes
Processes that occur in nature and that are not the result of human activity. For example, erosion along a stream that provides a source of drinking water of the leaching of naturally occurring metals found in bedrock into groundwater.
Parcel Level
A parcel is a conveyable property, in accordance with the provisions of the Land Titles Act. The parcel is the smallest geographic scale at which risk assessment and risk management are conducted.
Pathogen
A disease causing organism.
Peak Demand Tolerance
A measure of ability for a water supply system to reduce short-term water demands.
Percentage (%) Water Demand
The ratio of estimated consumptive water demand to difference between groundwater or surface water source supply and water reserve.
Planned Drinking Water Source
The drinking water source (i.e. aquifer or surface water body) from which planned municipal residential systems or other planned designated systems are projected to obtain their drinking water from in the future and for which specific wellhead protection areas and surface water intake protection zones have been identified. The planned drinking water sources are described in the Municipal Long Term Water Supply Strategy component of the Assessment Report.
Preferential Pathways
Any structure of land alteration or condition resulting from a naturally occurring process or human activity which would increase the probability of a contaminant reaching a drinking water source.