Glossary
| GDE | groundwater-dependent ecosystems |
| ha | hectares |
| km 2 | square kilometres |
| L/s | litres per second |
| m | metre |
| M | million |
| mg/L | milligrams per litre = parts per million (ppm) |
| ML | megalitres (1 million litres) |
| ML/yr | megalitres per year |
| mm | millimetre |
| mm/month | millimetres per month |
| mm/year | millimetres per year |
| Mya | million years ago |
| TDS | total dissolved solids |
| ARMCANZ/ANZECC National Principles | Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ) and Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) National Principles for the Provision of Water for Ecosystems. A key objective of the national principles is to sustain and, where necessary, restore ecological processes and the biodiversity of water-dependent ecosystems, recognising that appropriate water flow is critical for maintaining natural ecological processes and biodiversity. |
| aquifer | a rock or sediment that is porous, allowing large quantities of water to be stored; and permeable, allowing water to move. |
| beneficial uses | legal recognition of the values of a water resource and determines how water may be used, managed and protected under the Water Act. Beneficial uses include: agriculture, aquaculture, public water supply, environment, cultural, industry, rural stock and domestic uses. |
| consumptive pool | the amount of water resource that can be made available for consumptive use in a given water system under the rules of the relevant water plan. |
| consumptive use | use of water for private benefit consumptive purposes including irrigation, industry, urban and stock and domestic use. |
| evapotranspiration | quantity of water transferred from the soil to the atmosphere by evaporation and plant transpiration. |
| environmental and other public benefit outcomes | environmental and other public benefit outcomes are defined as part of the water planning process, are specified in water plans and may include a number of aspects, including:
|
| floodout | area of extensive alluvial plains formed by successive overflowing of a river channel. |
| head | height to which water will rise in a monitoring bore connected to an aquifer. |
| hydraulic gradient | measure of the decrease in head per unit distance in the direction of groundwater flow. |
| LCD | litres per capita per day. |
| overallocation | refers to situations where with full development of water access entitlements in a particular system, the total volume of water able to be extracted by entitlement holders at a given time exceeds the environmentally sustainable level of extraction for that system. |
| palaeo-channels | ancient river courses. |
| recharge | process by which water is added to an aquifer either from rainfall, stream flow infiltration, or from an adjacent aquifer. |
| surface water | water that flows over land and in water courses or artificial channels and is able to be captured and stored and supplemented from dams and reservoirs. |
| sustainable yield | The groundwater extraction regime, measured over a specified planning timeframe, that allows acceptable levels of stress and protects dependent economic, social, and environmental values. |
| transmissivity | rate at which water is transferred through a unit width of an aquifer under a unit hydraulic gradient. |
| storage coefficient | volume of water an aquifer releases from or takes into storage per unit surface area of the aquifer per unit change of head. |
| water balance | a method of accounting for the inputs and outputs of water to an aquifer. |
| water access entitlement | a perpetual or ongoing entitlement to exclusive access to a share of water from a specified consumptive pool as defined in the relevant water plan. |
| water allocation | the specific volume of water allocated to water access entitlements in a given period, defined according to rules established in the relevant water plan. |
Also see the International Glossary of Hydrology, accessible via a link from http://www.unesco.org/water.
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