Appendix A: Glossary of Terms (Cont.)

Leachate - Water or any other liquid that may contain dissolved (leached)

soluble materials, such as organic salts and mineral salts, derived from a solid

material. For example, rainwater that percolates through a confined disposal

facility and picks up dissolved contaminants is considered leachate.

Level bottom capping (LBC) - A form of capping in which the contaminated

material is placed on the bottom in a mounded configuration.

Open-water disposal - Placement of dredged material in rivers, lakes, estuaries,

or oceans via pipeline or surface release from hopper dredges or barges.

Sediment - Material, such as sand, silt, or clay, suspended in or settled on the

bottom of a water body. Sediment input to a body of water comes from

natural sources, such as erosion of soils and weathering of rock, or as the

result of anthropogenic activities, such as forest or agricultural practices, or

construction activities. The term dredged material refers to material that has

been dredged from a water body, while the term sediment refers to material in

a water body prior to the dredging process.

Suspended solids - Organic or inorganic particles that are suspended in water.

The term includes sand, silt, and clay particles as well as other solids, such as

biological material, suspended in the water column.

Territorial sea - The strip of water immediately adjacent to the coast of a nation

measured from the baseline as determined in accordance with the Convention

on the territorial sea and the contiguous zone (15 UST 1606; TIAS 5639) and

extending a distance of 3 nmi from the baseline.

Toxicity - Level of mortality or other end point demonstrated by a group of

organisms that have been affected by the properties of a substance, such as

contaminated water, sediment, or dredged material.

Toxic pollutant - Pollutants, or combinations of pollutants, including disease-

causing agents, that after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation,

or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or

indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the basis of information

available to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations,

physiological malfunctions, or physical deformations in such organisms or

their offspring.

Turbidity - An optical measure of the amount of material suspended in the

water. Increasing the turbidity of the water decreases the amount of light that

penetrates the water column. High levels of turbidity can be harmful to aqua-

tic life.

Appendix A Glossary of Terms