-
Makeup water: Water added to the flow of water used to cool condensers
in electric power plants. This new water replaces condenser water lost during
passage of the cooling water through
cooling towers or
discharged in blowdowns.
-
ariculture: Cultivation of
fish and shellfish in estuarine and coastal areas. Compare aquiculture.
-
Marsh: A type of wetland
that does not accumulate appreciable peat deposits and is dominated by herbaceous
vegetation. Marshes may be either fresh water or saltwater and tidal or non-tidal.
-
Maximum
Contaminant Level (MCL):
The maximum level of a contaminant
allowed in water by federal law. Based on health effects and currently available
treatment methods.
-
Mechanical
aeration: Use
of mechanical energy to inject air into water to cause a waste stream to absorb
oxygen.
-
Mechanical
flotation: A
term used in the mineral industry to describe the use of dispersed air to produce
bubbles that measure 0.2 to 2 mm in diameter.
-
Media: Materials that
form a barrier to the passage of certain suspended solids or dissolved liquids
in filters.
-
Median streamflow: The rate of discharge
of a stream for which there are equal numbers of greater and lesser flow occurrences
during a specified period.
-
Medium-size
water system:
A water system that serves
3,300 to 50,000 customers.
-
Megawatt: A unit of electricity
equivalent to 1000 kilowatts.
-
Melting: The changing
of a solid into a liquid.
-
Meltwater: Water that comes
from the melting ice of a glacier or a snowbank.
-
Membrane: A thin barrier
that allows some compounds or liquids to pass through, and troubles others.
It is a semi-permeable skin of which the pass-through is determined by size
or special nature of the particles. Membranes are commonly used to separate
substances.
-
Mermaid: A fabled marine
creature usually represented as having the head, trunk, and arms of a woman
and a lower part like the tail of a fish.
-
Mesotrophic: Reservoirs and
lakes which contain moderate quantities of nutrients and are moderately productive
in terms of aquatic animal and plant life.
-
Metabolize: Conversion of
food, for instance soluble organic matter, to cellular matter and gaseous by-products
through a biological process.
-
Meteoric
water: New water
derived from the atmosphere.
-
Metering: Use of metering
equipment that can provide essential data for charging fees based on actual
customer use.
-
Method blank: Laboratory grade
water taken through the entire analytical procedure to determine if samples
are being accidentally contaminated by chemicals in the lab.
-
MFS: Micro Filtration
System, it serves full automatic solid/ liquid separation.
-
Microbial
growth: The multiplication
of microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, diatoms, plankton, and fungi.
-
Micrograms
per liter: Micrograms
per liter of water. One thousands micrograms per liter is equivalent to 1 milligram
per liter. This measure is equivalent to parts per billion (ppb).
-
Micro-irrigation: Irrigation systems
that apply water directly to, or very near, the soil surface, either above the
ground or into the air, in discrete drops, continuous drops, small streams,
mist, or sprays. These include drip systems, spray systems, jet systems, and
bubbler systems. Also referred to as drip, low pressure or low volume irrigation.
The efficiencies of these micro-irrigation systems range from 75 to 95 percent,
however, an average of 80 percent is commonly used for estimating water requirements.
-
Micron: A unit to discribe
a measure of length, equal to one millionth of a metre.
-
Microorganisms: Organisms that
are so small that they can only be observed through a microscope, for instance
bacteria, fungi or yeasts.
-
Migration: The movement
of oil, gas, contaminants, water, or other liquids through porous and permeable
rock.
-
Milligrams
per liter - mg/L:
Milligrams per liter of
water. This measure is equivalent to parts per million (ppm).
-
Million
gallons per day (Mgal/d):
A rate of flow of water.
-
Mineral
Water: Contains
large amounts of dissolved minerals such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and
iron. Some tap waters contain as many or more minerals than some commercial
mineral waters. There is no scientific evidence that either high or low mineral
content water is beneficial to humans.
-
Minimum
streamflow: The
specific amount of water reserved to support aquatic life, to minimize pollution,
or for recreation. It is subject to the priority system and does not affect
water rights established prior to its institution.
-
Mining water
use: Water use
for the extraction of minerals occurring naturally including solids, such as
coal and ores; liquids, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural
gas. Also includes uses associated with quarrying, well operations (dewatering),
milling (crushing, screening, washing, floatation, and so forth), and other
preparations customarily done at the mine site or as part of a mining activity.
Does not include water used in processing, such as smelting, refining petroleum,
or slurry pipeline operations. These uses are included in industrial water use.
-
Miscibility: The ability of
two liquids to mix.
-
Mist: Liquid particles
measuring 40 to 500 micrometers, are formed by condensation of vapour. By comparison,
fog particles are smaller than 40 micrometers.
-
Mixture: Various elements,
compounds or both, that are mixed.
-
Model: A simulation,
by descriptive, statistical, or other means, of a process or project that is
difficult or impossible to observe directly.
-
Molecules: Combinations
of two or more atoms of the same or different elements held together by chemical
bonds.
-
Monitoring
of water: Monitoring
of water use by an industry, using metering for example, to provide baseline
information on quantities of overall company water use, the seasonal and hourly
patterns of water use, and the quantities and quality of water use in individual
processes.
-
Municipal
discharge: Discharge
of effluent from wastewater treatment plants, which receive wastewater from
households, commercial establishments, and industries in the coastal drainage
basin.
-
Municipal
sewage: Sewage
from a community which may be composed of domestic sewage, industrial wastes
or both.
-
Municipal
Sludge: Semi
liquid residue that remains from the treatment of municipal water and wastewater.
