| aggregateGroundwaterUse |
Aggregate groundwater use |
An Aggregate Groundwater Withdrawal/Return site represents an aggregate of specific sites where groundwater is withdrawn or returned which is defined by a geographic area or some other common characteristic. An aggregate groundwater site type is used when it is not possible or practical to describe the specific sites as springs or as any type of well including 'multiple wells', or when water-use information is only available for the aggregate. |
| aggregateSurfaceWaterUse |
Aggregate surface-water-use |
An Aggregate Surface-Water Diversion/Return site represents an aggregate of specific sites where surface water is diverted or returned which is defined by a geographic area or some other common characteristic. An aggregate surface-water site type is used when it is not possible or practical to describe the specific sites as diversions, outfalls, or land application sites, or when water-use information is only available for the aggregate. |
| aggregateWaterUseEstablishment |
Aggregate water-use establishment |
An Aggregate Water-Use Establishment represents an aggregate class of water-using establishments or individuals that are associated with a specific geographic location and water-use category, such as all the industrial users located within a county or all self-supplied domestic users in a county. An aggregate water-use establishment site type is used when specific information needed to create sites for the individual facilities or users is not available or when it is not desirable to store the site-specific information in the database. |
| animalWasteLagoon |
Animal waste lagoon |
A facility for storage and/or biological treatment of wastes from livestock operations. Animal-waste lagoons are earthen structures ranging from pits to large ponds, and contain manure which has been diluted with building washwater, rainfall, and surface runoff. In treatment lagoons, the waste becomes partially liquefied and stabilized by bacterial action before the waste is disposed of on the land and the water is discharged or re-used. |
| atmosphere |
Atmosphere |
A site established primarily to measure meteorological properties or atmospheric deposition. |
| canal |
Canal |
An artificial watercourse designed for navigation, drainage, or irrigation by connecting two or more bodies of water; it is larger than a ditch. |
| cave |
Cave |
A natural open space within a rock formation large enough to accommodate a human. A cave may have an opening to the outside, is always underground, and sometimes submerged. Caves commonly occur by the dissolution of soluble rocks, generally limestone, but may also be created within the voids of large-rock aggregations, in openings along seismic faults, and in lava formations. |
| cistern |
Cistern |
An artificial, non-pressurized reservoir filled by gravity flow and used for water storage. The reservoir may be located above, at, or below ground level. The water may be supplied from diversion of precipitation, surface, or groundwater sources. |
| coastal |
Coastal |
An oceanic site that is located off-shore beyond the tidal mixing zone (estuary) but close enough to the shore that the investigator considers the presence of the coast to be important. Coastal sites typically are within three nautical miles of the shore. |
| combinedSewer |
Combined sewer |
An underground conduit created to convey storm drainage and waste products into a wastewater-treatment plant, stream, reservoir, or disposal site. |
| composite |
Composite |
A Composite site represents an aggregation of specific sites defined by a geographic location at which multiple sampling features have been installed. For example, a composite site might consist of a location on a stream where a streamflow gage, weather station, and shallow groundwater well have been installed. |
| criticalZoneObservatories |
Critical Zone Observatories |
Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) address pressing interdisciplinary scientific questions concerning geological, physical, chemical, and biological processes and their couplings that govern critical zone system dynamics. |
| ditch |
Ditch |
An excavation artificially dug in the ground, either lined or unlined, for conveying water for drainage or irrigation; it is smaller than a canal. |
| diversion |
Diversion |
A site where water is withdrawn or diverted from a surface-water body (e.g. the point where the upstream end of a canal intersects a stream, or point where water is withdrawn from a reservoir). Includes sites where water is pumped for use elsewhere. |
| estuary |
Estuary |
A coastal inlet of the sea or ocean; esp. the mouth of a river, where tide water normally mixes with stream water (modified, Webster). Salinity in estuaries typically ranges from 1 to 25 Practical Salinity Units (psu), as compared oceanic values around 35-psu. See also: tidal stream and coastal. |
| facility |
Facility |
A non-ambient location where environmental measurements are expected to be strongly influenced by current or previous activities of humans. *Sites identified with a "facility" primary site type must be further classified with one of the applicable secondary site types. |
| fieldPastureOrchardOrNursery |
Field, Pasture, Orchard, or Nursery |
A water-using facility characterized by an area where plants are grown for transplanting, for use as stocks for budding and grafting, or for sale. Irrigation water may or may not be applied. |
| glacier |
Glacier |
Body of land ice that consists of recrystallized snow accumulated on the surface of the ground and moves slowly downslope (WSP-1541A) over a period of years or centuries. Since glacial sites move, the lat-long precision for these sites is usually coarse. |
| golfCourse |
Golf course |
A place-of-use, either public or private, where the game of golf is played. A golf course typically uses water for irrigation purposes. Should not be used if the site is a specific hydrologic feature or facility; but can be used especially for the water-use sites. |
| groundwaterDrain |
Groundwater drain |
An underground pipe or tunnel through which groundwater is artificially diverted to surface water for the purpose of reducing erosion or lowering the water table. A drain is typically open to the atmosphere at the lowest elevation, in contrast to a well which is open at the highest point. |
| house |
House |
A residential building for a single or small number of families. |
| hydroelectricPlant |
Hydroelectric plant |
A facility that generates electric power by converting potential energy of water into kinetic energy. Typically, turbine generators are turned by falling water. |
| laboratoryOrSamplePreparationArea |
Laboratory or sample-preparation area |
A site where some types of quality-control samples are collected, and where equipment and supplies for environmental sampling are prepared. Equipment blank samples are commonly collected at this site type, as are samples of locally produced deionized water. This site type is typically used when the data are either not associated with a unique environmental data-collection site, or where blank water supplies are designated by Center offices with unique station IDs. |
| lakeReservoirImpoundment |
Lake, Reservoir, Impoundment |
An inland body of standing fresh or saline water that is generally too deep to permit submerged aquatic vegetation to take root across the entire body (cf: wetland). This site type includes an expanded part of a river, a reservoir behind a dam, and a natural or excavated depression containing a water body without surface-water inlet and/or outlet. |
| land |
Land |
A location on the surface of the earth that is not normally saturated with water. Land sites are appropriate for sampling vegetation, overland flow of water, or measuring land-surface properties such as temperature. (See also: Wetland). |
| landfill |
Landfill |
A typically dry location on the surface of the land where primarily solid waste products are currently, or previously have been, aggregated and sometimes covered with a veneer of soil. See also: Wastewater disposal and waste-injection well. |
| networkInfrastructure |
Network infrastructure |
A site that is primarily associated with monitoring or telemetry network infrastructure. For example a radio repeater or remote radio base station. |
| ocean |
Ocean |
Site in the open ocean, gulf, or sea. (See also: Coastal, Estuary, and Tidal stream). |
| outcrop |
Outcrop |
The part of a rock formation that appears at the surface of the surrounding land. |
| outfall |
Outfall |
A site where water or wastewater is returned to a surface-water body, e.g. the point where wastewater is returned to a stream. Typically, the discharge end of an effluent pipe. |
| pavement |
Pavement |
A surface site where the land surface is covered by a relatively impermeable material, such as concrete or asphalt. Pavement sites are typically part of transportation infrastructure, such as roadways, parking lots, or runways. |
| playa |
Playa |
A dried-up, vegetation-free, flat-floored area composed of thin, evenly stratified sheets of fine clay, silt or sand, and represents the bottom part of a shallow, completely closed or undrained desert lake basin in which water accumulates and is quickly evaporated, usually leaving deposits of soluble salts. |
| septicSystem |
Septic system |
A site within or in close proximity to a subsurface sewage disposal system that generally consists of: (1) a septic tank where settling of solid material occurs, (2) a distribution system that transfers fluid from the tank to (3) a leaching system that disperses the effluent into the ground. |
| shore |
Shore |
The land along the edge of the sea, a lake, or a wide river where the investigator considers the proximity of the water body to be important. Land adjacent to a reservoir, lake, impoundment, or oceanic site type is considered part of the shore when it includes a beach or bank between the high and low water marks. |
| sinkhole |
Sinkhole |
A crater formed when the roof of a cavern collapses; usually found in limestone areas. Surface water and precipitation that enters a sinkhole usually evaporates or infiltrates into the ground, rather than draining into a stream. |
| soilHole |
Soil hole |
A small excavation into soil at the top few meters of earth surface. Soil generally includes some organic matter derived from plants. Soil holes are created to measure soil composition and properties. Sometimes electronic probes are inserted into soil holes to measure physical properties, and (or) the extracted soil is analyzed. |
| spring |
Spring |
A location at which the water table intersects the land surface, resulting in a natural flow of groundwater to the surface. Springs may be perennial, intermittent, or ephemeral. |
| stormSewer |
Storm sewer |
An underground conduit created to convey storm drainage into a stream channel or reservoir. If the sewer also conveys liquid waste products, then the "combined sewer" secondary site type should be used. |
| stream |
Stream |
A body of running water moving under gravity flow in a defined channel. The channel may be entirely natural, or altered by engineering practices through straightening, dredging, and (or) lining. An entirely artificial channel should be qualified with the "canal" or "ditch" secondary site type. |
| subsurface |
Subsurface |
A location below the land surface, but not a well, soil hole, or excavation. |
| thermoelectricPlant |
Thermoelectric plant |
A facility that uses water in the generation of electricity from heat. Typically turbine generators are driven by steam. The heat may be caused by various means, including combustion, nuclear reactions, and geothermal processes. |
| tidalStream |
Tidal stream |
A stream reach where the flow is influenced by the tide, but where the water chemistry is not normally influenced. A site where ocean water typically mixes with stream water should be coded as an estuary. |
| tunnelShaftMine |
Tunnel, shaft, or mine |
A constructed subsurface open space large enough to accommodate a human that is not substantially open to the atmosphere and is not a well. The excavation may have been for minerals, transportation, or other purposes. See also: Excavation. |
| unknown |
Unknown |
Site type is unknown. |
| unsaturatedZone |
Unsaturated zone |
A site equipped to measure conditions in the subsurface deeper than a soil hole, but above the water table or other zone of saturation. |
| volcanicVent |
Volcanic vent |
Vent from which volcanic gases escape to the atmosphere. Also known as fumarole. |
| wastewaterLandApplication |
Wastewater land application |
A site where the disposal of waste water on land occurs. Use "waste-injection well" for underground waste-disposal sites. |
| wastewaterSewer |
Wastewater sewer |
An underground conduit created to convey liquid and semisolid domestic, commercial, or industrial waste into a treatment plant, stream, reservoir, or disposal site. If the sewer also conveys storm water, then the "combined sewer" secondary site type should be used. |
| wastewaterTreatmentPlant |
Wastewater-treatment plant |
A facility where wastewater is treated to reduce concentrations of dissolved and (or) suspended materials prior to discharge or reuse. |
| waterDistributionSystem |
Water-distribution system |
A site located somewhere on a networked infrastructure that distributes treated or untreated water to multiple domestic, industrial, institutional, and (or) commercial users. May be owned by a municipality or community, a water district, or a private concern. |
| waterSupplyTreatmentPlant |
Water-supply treatment plant |
A facility where water is treated prior to use for consumption or other purpose. |
| waterUseEstablishment |
Water-use establishment |
A place-of-use (a water using facility that is associated with a specific geographical point location, such as a business or industrial user) that cannot be specified with any other facility secondary type. Water-use place-of-use sites are establishments such as a factory, mill, store, warehouse, farm, ranch, or bank. See also: Aggregate water-use-establishment. |
| wetland |
Wetland |
Land where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface (Cowardin, December 1979). Wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica. Wetlands are areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. Wetlands may be forested or unforested, and naturally or artificially created. |