recharge area
Any area of land allowing water to pass through it and into an aquifer. See aquifer, natural recharge.
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Chapter 14 - Water Resources
Prior appropriation
Legal principle by which the first user of water from a stream establishes a legal right to continued use of the amount originally withdrawn. Compare riparian rights.
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porosity
Percentage of space in rock or soil occupied by voids, whether the voids are isolated or connected. Compare permeability.
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permeability
Degree to which underground rock and soil pores are interconnected and thus a measure of the degree to which water can flow freely from one pore to another. Compare porosity.
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Natural recharge
Natural replenishment of an aquifer by precipitation, which percolates downward through soil and rock. See recharge area.
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Hydrologic cycle
Biogeochemical cycle that collects, purifies, and distributes the earth's fixed supply of water from the environment to living organisms and then back to the environment.
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groundwater
Water that sinks into the soil and is stored in slowly flowing and slowly renewed underground reservoirs called aquifers; underground water in the zone of saturation, below the water table. Compare runoff, surface water.
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floodplain
Flat valley floor next to a stream channel. For legal purposes, the term often applies to any low area that has the potential for flooding, including certain coastal areas.
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drought
Condition in which an area does not get enough water because of (1) lower-than normal precipitation or (2) higher-than-normal temperatures that increase evaporation.
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drainage basin
See watershed.
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