Appendix A9
Abbreviations and Glossary
A9.1 Abbreviations used in this ReportADAS – The Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, now trading as ADAS
AIDS– Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
AWWARF– American Waterworks Association Research Foundation BGS– British Geological Survey
CCDC– Consultant in Communicable Disease Control or Consultant in Public Health Medicine
CCTV– Closed circuit television
CDSC– Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre
COPGAP-Water– Code of Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Water
CPHM– Consultant in Public Health Medicine DAF– Dissolved air flotation
DAPI– 4’6-diamidino-2-phenyl indole (blue emitting fluorogen) DETR– Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions DWI– Drinking Water Inspectorate
DOE– Department of the Environment (now DETR) EHO– Environmental Health Officer
ELISA– enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay GIS– Geographical Information System GP– General Practitioner
HIV– Human immunodeficiency virus HSE– Health and Safety Executive IMT– Incident Management Team
MAFF– Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food MRA– Microbiological risk assessment
NTU – Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (a measure of turbidity of a water sample)
OCP– Outbreak control plan
OCT– Outbreak Control Team
PCR– polymerase chain reaction (a laboratory method for amplifying DNA or RNA of an organism to aid identification)
PEPFAA – Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Agricultural Activity – A Code of Good Practice
PHLS– Public Health Laboratory Service
SCIEH– Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health
SOAFD – Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department
SPDL– Scottish Parasite Diagnostic Laboratory
UKWIR– United Kingdom Water Industry Research Limited
UV– Ultraviolet radiation
WRc– formerly the Water Research Centre, now trading as WRc plc
A9.2 Glossary
This glossary is a general aid to the reader of this Report and is not intended to be definitive.
Abstraction – The removal of water from surface water or groundwater, usually by pumping.
Adit– horizontal or near-horizontal tunnel extending outward from a well or shaft below the water table, designed to increase well productivity; passage from the surface by which a mine is entered and drained.
Antibody– a specific substance produced by the body’s immune system in response to a particular infection.
Aquifer– a permeable geological formation that is capable of both storing and transmitting water in significant amounts.
Arenaceous – a term applied to rocks that have been derived from sand or that contain sand.
Backwash– cleaning water treatment filters by reversing the water flow.
Catchment– the area of land which drains into a watercourse.
CD4 – a group of lymphocytes which are important in mediating the immune response; counting CD4 cells provides a guide to the potential for mounting an immune response to foreign substances and organisms.
Clostridium– an anaerobic spore-forming bacterium.
Coagulant– a substance added in water treatment to cause coagulation of particles.
Collector well – a particular design of well, usually constructed in unconsolidated alluvial or fluvio-glacial formations, comprising a central large-diameter shaft from which radial galleries or collectors have been driven to increase the production potential of the source.
C. parvum– a species within the genus Cryptosporidium.
Cryptosporidiosis – the illness produced by infection with
Cryptosporidium.
Cytokines– biologically active, soluble fractions secreted by lymphocytes and other cells.
Dual porosity aquifer – aquifer in which a certain proportion of the total storage capacity of the system is provided by the interstices in the rock matrix, while the fractures provide the dominant flow-path.
Epidemiology – a study of factors affecting health and disease in a population.
Final water– fully treated drinking water at the point where it leaves a water treatment works.
Fissure flow – the preferential flow of groundwater through dilated cracks, joints, bedding planes or other features of secondary porosity within an aquifer.
Flocculation– the aggregation of very fine organic or inorganic particles to form larger particles (floc) which can be moved by separation purposes, such as sedimentation, flotation or filtration, as part of the treatment of drinking water. Flocs are generally produced by the addition of chemicals. Flow lines – lines indicating the direction of groundwater movement. Fluorescent labelled monoclonal antibody – a monoclonal antibody with an attached fluorescent dye to aid oocyst identification when using a microscope.
Fluvio-glacial – pertaining to streams flowing from glaciers or to the deposits made by such streams.
Genotype– the genetic constitution of an organism.
Giardia – a protozoal parasite capable of infecting man and causing diarrhoea.
Groundwater – naturally occurring sub-surface water in the saturated zone of a rock.
Groundwater vulnerability – the tendency or likelihood for contaminants to reach a specified position in the groundwater system after introduction at some location above the uppermost aquifer.
Hazard – a property or situation that in particular circumstances could lead to harm.
Health authority – an authority established within the National Health Service to provide or secure the provision of health services to its area on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health.
High transmissivity– capable of transmitting a large amount of water.
Hydraulic gradient – the prevailing inclination of the water table or piezometric surface which provides the driving force to transmit groundwater through an aquifer.
IFN-gamma – a soluble factor which activates certain white cells to increase their bactericidal activity.
ILN-1– interleutenin 1, important in the immune process.
Immunocompromised – individuals with an impaired or inefficient immune response.
Immunoglobulins – proteins of importance to the mounting of an immune response.
Intergranular flow – flow occurring between the grains of a rock.
Intrinsic aquifer vulnerability – groundwater vulnerability determined without reference to the attributes and behaviour of particular contaminants.
Karst (Karstic) – an area of limestone or other highly soluble carbonate rock, in which the landforms are of dominantly solutional origin and in which the drainage is underground in solutionally enlarged fractures and conduits.
Losing reaches of rivers – locations in a watercourse where surface water is percolating through the bed of the watercourse into the underlying aquifer.
Monoclonal antibody – an antibody produced in a laboratory which recognises one specific part of a specific micro-organism.
Oocyst – the environmentally resistant transmissable form of
Cryptosporidiumexcreted in the faeces of an infected person or animal.
Outbreak – two or more linked cases of disease.
Pathogen – a micro-organism capable of causing disease
Phenotype– the sum of the observable characteristics of an organism.
Porosity– the ratio of the volume of the interstices to the total volume of a rock, expressed as a fraction or a percentage. Effective porosity includes only the interconnected pore spaces available for groundwater transmission.
Private water supply– any supplies of water provided otherwise than by a statutorily appointed water utility.
Recycling– the return of water which cannot enter the supply system, for example the initial filtrate after backwashing, to the treatment plant inlet.
Risk– a combination of the probability, or frequency, of occurrence of a defined hazard and the magnitude of the consequences of the occurrence.
Risk estimation is concerned with the outcome or consequences of an intention, taking account of the probability of occurrence; risk evaluation
is concerned with determining the significance of the estimated risks for those affected, it therefore includes the element of risk perception; risk perception is the overall view of risk held by a person or group and includes both feeling and judgement; risk assessment consists of risk estimation and risk evaluation.
Sinkhole– the point at which a surface stream sinks underground.
Slurry– animal wastes in a semi-liquid form.
Soil leaching potential – a composite measure of the ability of a soil to attenuate a diffuse source pollutant.
Solution feature – closed depressions a few metres to a few hundred metres in diameter and depth formed by solution action in soluble rocks, notably limestones.
Source protection zones – a series of concentric zones around an abstraction within which special policies apply to activities which might affect groundwater. The outermost zone covers the complete catchment area of the source, which is also called the well capture zone.
Specific capacity– the yield of a well per unit of draw down.
Sporozoite– the motile stage of Cryptosporidiumwhich is released after excystation.
Surveillance– the process of monitoring the number of cases of disease in the community.
Water supply zone– A discrete area in the community, of not more than 50,000 population, generally supplied from a single source of water, for example water treatment works or service reservoir.
