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Glossary: E
Ecological Entity:
In ecological risk assessment, a general term referring to a species, a
group of species, an ecosystem function or characteristic, or a specific
habitat or biome.
Ecological/Environmental Sustainability:
Maintenance of ecosystem components and functions for future generations.
Ecological Exposure:
Exposure of a non-human organism to a stressor.
Ecological Impact:
The effect that a man-caused or natural activity has on living organisms and
their non-living (abiotic) environment.
Ecological Indicator:
A characteristic of an ecosystem that is related to, or derived from, a measure
of biotic or abiotic variable, that can provide quantitative information on
ecological structure and function. An indicator can contribute to a measure of
integrity and sustainability.
Ecological Integrity:
A living system exhibits integrity if, when subjected to disturbance, it
sustains and organizes self-correcting ability to recover toward a biomass
end-state that is normal for that system. End-states other than the pristine or
naturally whole may be accepted as normal and good.
Ecological Risk Assessment:
The application of a formal framework, analytical process, or model to estimate
the effects of human actions(s) on a natural resource and to interpret the
significance of those effects in light of the uncertainties identified in each
component of the assessment process. Such analysis includes initial hazard
identification, exposure and dose-response assessments, and risk
characterization.
Ecology:
The relationship of living things to one another and their environment, or the
study of such relationships.
Economic Poisons:
Chemicals used to control pests and to defoliate cash crops such as cotton.
Ecosystem:
The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living
environmental surroundings.
Ecosystem Structure:
Attributes related to the instantaneous physical state of an ecosystem; examples
include species population density, species richness or evenness, and standing
crop biomass.
Ecotone:
A habitat created by the juxtaposition of distinctly different habitats; an edge
habitat; or an ecological zone or boundary where two or more ecosystems meet.
Effluent:
Wastewater--treated or untreated--that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or
industrial outfall. Generally refers to wastes discharged into surface waters.
Effluent Guidelines:
Technical USEPA documents which set effluent limitations for given industries
and pollutants.
Effluent Limitation:
Restrictions established by a state or USEPA on quantities, rates, and
concentrations in wastewater discharges.
Effluent Standard:
(See: effluent limitation.)
Ejector:
A device used to disperse a chemical solution into water being treated.
Electrodialysis:
A process that uses electrical current applied to permeable membranes to remove
minerals from water. Often used to desalinize salty or brackish water.
Electromagnetic Geophysical Methods:
Ways to measure subsurface conductivity via low-frequency electromagnetic
induction.
Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP):
A device that removes particles from a gas stream (smoke) after combustion
occurs. The ESP imparts an electrical charge to the particles, causing them to
adhere to metal plates inside the precipitator. Rapping on the plates causes the
particles to fall into a hopper for disposal.
Emergency and Hazardous Chemical Inventory:
An annual report by facilities having one or more extremely hazardous substances
or hazardous chemicals above certain weight limits.
Emergency (Chemical):
A situation created by an accidental release or spill of hazardous chemicals
that poses a threat to the safety of workers, residents, the environment, or
property.
Emergency Removal Action:
1. Steps take to remove contaminated materials that pose imminent threats to
local residents (e.g. removal of leaking drums or the excavation of explosive
waste.) 2. The state record of such removals.
Emergency Response Values:
Concentrations of chemicals, published by various groups, defining acceptable
levels for short-term exposures in emergencies.
Emission:
Pollution discharged into the atmosphere from smokestacks, other vents, and
surface areas of commercial or industrial facilities; from residential chimneys;
and from motor vehicle, locomotive, or aircraft exhausts.
Emission Factor:
The relationship between the amount of pollution produced and the amount of raw
material processed. For example, an emission factor for a blast furnace making
iron would be the number of pounds of particulates per ton of raw materials.
Emission Inventory:
A listing, by source, of the amount of air pollutants discharged into the
atmosphere of a community; used to establish emission standards.
Emission Standard:
The maximum amount of air polluting discharge legally allowed from a single
source, mobile or stationary.
Emissions Trading:
The creation of surplus emission reductions at certain stacks, vents or similar
emissions sources and the use of this surplus to meet or redefine pollution
requirements applicable to other emissions sources. This allows one source to
increase emissions when another source reduces them, maintaining an overall
constant emission level. Facilities that reduce emissions substantially may
"bank" their "credits" or sell them to other facilities or industries.
Emulsifier:
A chemical that aids in suspending one liquid in another. Usually an organic
chemical in an aqueous solution.
Encapsulation:
The treatment of asbestos-containing material with a liquid that covers the
surface with a protective coating or embeds fibers in an adhesive matrix to
prevent their release into the air.
Enclosure:
Putting an airtight, impermeable, permanent barrier around asbestos-containing
materials to prevent the release of asbestos fibers into the air.
End-of-the-pipe:
Technologies such as scrubbers on smokestacks and catalytic convertors on
automobile tailpipes that reduce emissions of pollutants after they have formed.
Endangered Species:
Animals, birds, fish, plants, or other living organisms threatened with
extinction by anthropogenic (man-caused) or other natural changes in their
environment. Requirements for declaring a species endangered are contained in
the Endangered Species Act.
Endangerment Assessment:
A study to determine the nature and extent of contamination at a site on the
National Priorities List and the risks posed to public health or the
environment. USEPA or the state conducts the study when a legal action is to be
taken to direct potentially responsible parties to clean up a site or pay for
it. An endangerment assessment supplements a remedial investigation.
Endrin:
A pesticide toxic to freshwater and marine aquatic life that produces adverse
health effects in domestic water supplies.
Energy Management System:
A control system capable of monitoring environmental and system loads and
adjusting HVAC operations accordingly in order to conserve energy while
maintaining comfort.
Energy Recovery:
Obtaining energy from waste through a variety of processes (e.g. combustion).
Enforceable Requirements:
Conditions or limitations in permits issued under the Clean Water Act Section
402 or 404 that, if violated, could result in the issuance of a compliance order
or initiation of a civil or criminal action under federal or applicable state
laws. If a permit has not been issued, the term includes any requirement which,
in the Regional Administrator's judgment, would be included in the permit when
issued. Where no permit applies, the term includes any requirement which the RA
determines is necessary for the best practical waste treatment technology to
meet applicable criteria.
Enforcement:
USEPA, state, or local legal actions to obtain compliance with environmental
laws, rules, regulations, or agreements and/or obtain penalties or criminal
sanctions for violations. Enforcement procedures may vary, depending on the
requirements of different environmental laws and related implementing
regulations. Under CERCLA, for example, USEPA will seek to require potentially
responsible parties to clean up a Superfund site, or pay for the cleanup,
whereas under the Clean Air Act the Agency may invoke sanctions against cities
failing to meet ambient air quality standards that could prevent certain types
of construction or federal funding. In other situations, if investigations by
USEPA and state agencies uncover willful violations, criminal trials and
penalties are sought.
Enforcement Decision Document (EDD):
A document that provides an explanation to the public of USEPA's selection of
the cleanup alternative at enforcement sites on the National Priorities List.
Similar to a Record of Decision.
Engineered Controls:
Method of managing environmental and health risks by placing a barrier between
the contamination and the rest of the site, thus limiting exposure pathways.
Enhanced Inspection and Maintenance (I&M):
An improved automobile inspection and maintenance program--aimed at reducing
automobile emissions---that contains, at a minimum, more vehicle types and model
years, tighter inspection, and better management practices. It may also include
annual computerized or centralized inspections, under-the-hood inspection--for
signs of tampering with pollution control equipment--and increased repair waiver
cost.
Enrichment:
The addition of nutrients (e.g. nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon compounds) from
sewage effluent or agricultural runoff to surface water, greatly increases the
growth potential for algae and other aquatic plants.
Entrain:
To trap bubbles in water either mechanically through turbulence or chemically
through a reaction.
Environment:
The sum of all external conditions affecting the life, development and survival
of an organism.
Environmental Assessment:
An environmental analysis prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy
Act to determine whether a federal action would significantly affect the
environment and thus require a more detailed environmental impact statement.
Environmental Audit:
An independent assessment of the current status of a party's compliance with
applicable environmental requirements or of a party's environmental compliance
policies, practices, and controls.
Environmental/Ecological Risk:
The potential for adverse effects on living organisms associated with pollution
of the environment by effluents, emissions, wastes, or accidental chemical
releases; energy use; or the depletion of natural resources.
Environmental Equity/Justice:
Equal protection from environmental hazards for individuals, groups, or
communities regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status. This applies to
the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies, and implies that no population of people should be
forced to shoulder a disproportionate share of negative environmental impacts of
pollution or environmental hazard due to a lack of political or economic
strength levels.
Environmental Exposure:
Human exposure to pollutants originating from facility emissions. Threshold
levels are not necessarily surpassed, but low-level chronic pollutant exposure
is one of the most common forms of environmental exposure (See: threshold
level).
Environmental Fate:
The destiny of a chemical or biological pollutant after release into the
environment.
Environmental Fate Data:
Data that characterize a pesticide's fate in the ecosystem, considering factors
that foster its degradation (light, water, microbes), pathways and resultant
products.
Environmental Impact Statement:
A document required of federal agencies by the National Environmental Policy Act
for major projects or legislative proposals significantly affecting the
environment. A tool for decision making, it describes the positive and negative
effects of the undertaking and cites alternative actions.
Environmental Indicator:
A measurement, statistic or value that provides a proximate gauge or evidence of
the effects of environmental management programs or of the state or condition of
the environment.
Environmental Justice:
The fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, incomes, and educational
levels with respect to the development and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies.
Environmental Lien:
A charge, security, or encumbrance on a property's title to secure payment of
cost or debt arising from response actions, cleanup, or other remediation of
hazardous substances or petroleum products.
Environmental Medium:
A major environmental category that surrounds or contacts humans, animals,
plants, and other organisms (e.g. surface water, groundwater, soil or air) and
through which chemicals or pollutants move. (See: ambient medium, biological
medium.)
Environmental Response Team:
USEPA experts located in Edison, N.J., and Cincinnati, OH, who can provide
around-the-clock technical assistance to USEPA regional offices and states
during all types of hazardous waste site emergencies and spills of hazardous
substances.
Environmental Site Assessment:
The process of determining whether contamination is present on a parcel of real
property.
Environmental Sustainability:
Long-term maintenance of ecosystem components and functions for future
generations.
Epidemiology:
Study of the distribution of disease, or other health-related states and events
in human populations, as related to age, sex, occupation, ethnicity, and
economic status in order to identify and alleviate health problems and promote
better health.
Epilimnion:
Upper waters of a thermally stratified lake subject to wind action.
Episode (Pollution):
An air pollution incident in a given area caused by a concentration of
atmospheric pollutants under meteorological conditions that may result in a
significant increase in illnesses or deaths. May also describe water pollution
events or hazardous material spills.
Equilibrium:
In relation to radiation, the state at which the radioactivity of consecutive
elements within a radioactive series is neither increasing nor decreasing.
Erosion:
The wearing away of land surface by wind or water, intensified by land-clearing
practices related to farming, residential or industrial development, road
building, or logging.
Estimated Environmental Concentration:
The estimated pesticide concentration in an ecosystem.
Estuary:
Region of interaction between rivers and near-shore ocean waters, where tidal
action and river flow mix fresh and salt water. Such areas include bays, mouths
of rivers, salt marshes, and lagoons. These brackish water ecosystems shelter
and feed marine life, birds, and wildlife. (See: wetlands.)
Ethylene Dibromide (EDB):
A chemical used as an agricultural fumigant and in certain industrial processes.
Extremely toxic and found to be a carcinogen in laboratory animals, EDB has been
banned for most agricultural uses in the United States.
Eutrophic Lakes:
Shallow, murky bodies of water with concentrations of plant nutrients causing
excessive production of algae. (See: dystrophic lakes.)
Eutrophication:
The slow aging process during which a lake, estuary, or bay 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.
Evaporation Ponds:
Areas where sewage sludge is dumped and dried.
Evapotranspiration:
The loss of water from the soil both by evaporation and by transpiration from
the plants growing in the soil.
Exceedance:
Violation of the pollutant levels permitted by environmental protection
standards.
Exclusion:
In the asbestos program, one of several situations that permit a Local Education
Agency (LEA) to delete one or more of the items required by the Asbestos Hazard
Emergency Response Act (AHERA); e.g. records of previous asbestos sample
collection and analysis may be used by the accredited inspector in lieu of AHERA
bulk sampling.
Exclusionary Ordinance:
Zoning that excludes classes of persons or businesses from a particular
neighborhood or area.
Exempt Solvent:
Specific organic compounds not subject to requirements of regulation because
they are deemed by USEPA to be of negligible photochemical reactivity.
Exempted Aquifer:
Underground bodies of water defined in the Underground Injection Control program
as aquifers that are potential sources of drinking water though not being used
as such, and thus exempted from regulations barring underground injection
activities.
Exemption:
A state (with primacy) may exempt a public water system from a requirement
involving a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), treatment technique, or both, if
the system cannot comply due to compelling economic or other factors, or because
the system was in operation before the requirement or MCL was instituted; and
the exemption will not create a public health risk. (See: variance.)
Exotic Species:
A species that is not indigenous to a region.
Experimental Use Permit:
Obtained by manufacturers for testing new pesticides or uses thereof whenever
they conduct experimental field studies to support registration on 10 acres or
more of land or one acre or more of water.
Experimental Use Permit:
A permit granted by USEPA that allows a producer to conduct tests of a new
pesticide, product and/or use outside the laboratory. The testing is usually
done on ten or more acres of land or water surface.
Explosive Limits:
The amounts of vapor in the air that form explosive mixtures; limits are
expressed as lower and upper limits and give the range of vapor concentrations
in air that will explode if an ignition source is present.
Exports :
In solid waste program, municipal solid waste and recyclables transported
outside the state or locality where they originated.
Exposure:
The amount of radiation or pollutant present in a given environment that
represents a potential health threat to living organisms.
Exposure Assessment:
Identifying the pathways by which toxicants may reach individuals, estimating
how much of a chemical an individual is likely to be exposed to, and estimating
the number likely to be exposed.
Exposure Concentration:
The concentration of a chemical or other pollutant representing a health threat
in a given environment.
Exposure Indicator:
A characteristic of the environment measured to provide evidence of the
occurrence or magnitude of a response indicator's exposure to a chemical or
biological stress.
Exposure Level:
The amount (concentration) of a chemical at the absorptive surfaces of an
organism.
Exposure Pathway:
The path from sources of pollutants via, soil, water, or food to man and other
species or settings.
Exposure Route:
The way a chemical or pollutant enters an organism after contact; i.e. by
ingestion, inhalation, or dermal absorption.
Exposure-Response Relationship:
The relationship between exposure level and the incidence of adverse effects.
Extraction Procedure (EP Toxic):
Determining toxicity by a procedure which simulates leaching; if a certain
concentration of a toxic substance can be leached from a waste, that waste is
considered hazardous, i.e."EP Toxic."
Extraction Well:
A discharge well used to remove groundwater or air.
Extremely Hazardous Substances:
Any of 406 chemicals identified by USEPA as toxic, and listed under SARA Title
III. The list is subject to periodic revision.
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