Jargon Busters
If it isn't here, Johnston Smith Consulting Limited, Consulting Engineers in the UK have an excellent webpage giving "Definitions of Words or Terms".
- "Bag It and Bin It" campaign:
- A UK national, water industry-led campaign to encourage people to bag and bin disposable products — whether in their own household waste bins or in special disposal bins in public toilets — rather than flushing them down the toilet.
- Black water:
- This is water contaminated with human waste. The name is normally only used for water that has been solely collected from a toilet and stored in a tank for subsequent disposal.
- Bolognese (Bolognaise = French name):
- This is a "minced beef in sauce served with spaghetti" dish popular in the UK. This link gives a sample recipe, but remember - don't pour the fat down the sink, use a Fat TrapTM!
- CBS:
- Refer to Cotton Bud Sticks. Plastic rods with cotton wool wound around both ends.
- Cotton bud sticks (CBS):
- Most commonly made as plastic rods with cotton wool wound around both ends. Those made of plastic will persist in the environment. They are common in sewage related debris (SRD).
- Drum screen:
- A tubular construction which filters rubbish out of sewage, letting human waste only through. It uses a steel mesh around the walls of the tube as a filter.
- Dry weather overflow:
- A dry weather overflow is when a break, blockage, bottleneck or some other failure of the wastewater network causes a discharge of sewage into water such as a stream or the coast. Typical 'dry weather' is defined as having received no rainfall on the day of the event and to have received a maximum of 5mm for two preceding days.
- E-brochure:
- A promotional booklet or pamphlet that contains descriptive information or advertising supplied in electronic format instead of paper.
- "FOG":
-
Fat, Oil and Grease are collectively known in the industry as "FOG". It is the residue from cooking
with fat or oil and / or from cooking food containing grease. Individually, they glue to the walls of the pipes and narrow them, rather like Atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries). "FOG" breaks free and glues to other walls repeatedly until it reaches the treatment plant where it is skimmed off the surface of the settling tanks and trucked to the landfill. Some will get through and pollute the sea.
"FOG" is an industrial acronym. - Green Apple Award:
- Refer "Green Organisation". See also our webpage about the Green Apple Award for 2006.
- Green Organisation:
- UK-based organisation, the organisers of the Green Apple Awards, publishers of the Green Book. It is an independent, non-political, non-activist, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world.
- Grey water:
- "Grey water" is wastewater from the hand basin, shower, bath, spa bath, washing machine, laundry tub, kitchen sink and dishwasher. Basically, it is all the wastewater from a house or office building which is not from the toilet.
- Human Waste:
- Just because you're human and you've got some waste it doesn't mean that what you've got is "human waste". "Human waste" is not stuff like sanitary towels, nappies, cotton bud sticks, paint or cooking oil. "Human waste" means "natural human waste". You made it. Personally. The other stuff is "Unnatural human waste".
- MCS:
- Marine Conservation Society. A UK charity "dedicated to caring for our seas, shores and wildlife".
- SAS:
- Surfers Against Sewage. A UK organisation set up by surfers who noticed that they were frequently ill after surfing. Their mission statement is that they "campaign for clean, safe recreational water, free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, nuclear waste and marine litter".
- Sewage:
- The water-borne wastes of a house or community.
- Sewage related debris (SRD):
- Detritus found on the sea shore that comes from sewage outfalls discharging raw, or inadequately treated sewage. Consists of cotton bud sticks, sanitary towels, backing strips, plastic tampon applicators, tampons, nappies, condoms, toilet fresheners and faeces that have entered the marine environment via sewage outfalls.
- Sewage Treatment Works:
- The site which contains all the necessary plant and equipment for the treatment of sewage.
- Sewage Treatment Plant:
- The items of equipment or structures which treat the sewage.
- "Sewer Litter":
- A FOG-Catcher-only term for any of the large number of items that should not go down the toilet. Invented because we couldn't find an official term.
- Sewerage:
- This term is used to describe such items as a "sewerage system" or "sewerage network" (for example - sewage runs in a sewerage system).
- SRD:
- Refer to Sewage related debris.
- Water Company:
- A UK limited liability company set up under the Water Industry Act 1991 or other UK Act to provide water and dispose of sewage in a region of the UK.
- Water UK:
- The industry association that represents all UK water and wastewater service suppliers at national and European level.