Terminology Services

Terms & Acronyms

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Term	Acronym	Vocabulary	Vocabulary Type	Definitions
septic tank		Environmental Issues Terms & Acronyms	Glossary and Key Word List	Definition: An underground tank to collect wastes from homes that are not connected to a municipal sewer system. Waste goes from the home to the tank and is decomposed by bacteria. Solids and dead bacteria settle to the bottom as sludge while the liquid portion flows into the ground through drains. While properly placed and maintained septic systems can effectively treat domestic wastewater, others are a major source of ground water and surface water pollution.
Septic Tank		Septic Systems Glossary	Glossary and Key Word List	Definition: A buried, watertight tank designed and constructed to receive and partially treat raw wastewater. The tank separates and retains settleable and floatable solids suspended in the wastewater and discharges the settled wastewater for further treatment and dispersal to the environment.
Septic tank		Greenhouse Gas Emissions	Glossary and Key Word List	Definition: Underground tank for treatment of wastewater from a home in rural and suburban areas. Bacteria in the tank decompose organic wastes and the sludge settles to the bottom of the tank. The effluent flows out of the tank into the ground through a field of drainpipes.
Septic Tank		Terms of Environment	Glossary and Key Word List	Definition: An underground storage tank for wastes from homes not connected to a sewer line. Waste goes directly from the home to the tank.
Septic Tank		EPA EV-Built Environments-Waste Systems	Taxonomy	Definition 1: An underground tank to collect wastes from homes that are not connected to a municipal sewer system. Waste goes from the home to the tank and is decomposed by bacteria. Solids and dead bacteria settle to the bottom as sludge while the liquid portion flows into the ground through drains. While properly placed and maintained septic systems can effectively treat domestic wastewater, others are a major source of ground water and surface water pollution. [Environmental Issues Terms & Acronyms] Definition 2: Water-tight covered receptacle designed to receive or process, through liquid separation or biological digestion, the sewage discharged from a building sewer. The effluent from such receptacle is distributed for disposal through the soil and settled solids and scum from the tank are pumped out periodically and hauled to a treatment facility.[40 CFR 280.12 (CFR 2018)] Definition 3: Buried, watertight tank designed and constructed to receive and partially treat raw wastewater. The tank separates and retains settleable and floatable solids suspended in the wastewater and discharges the settled wastewater for further treatment and dispersal to the environment. [Septic Systems Glossary]
Septic Tank Effluent Gravity Collection System	STEG Collection System	EPA EV-Built Environments-Waste Systems	Taxonomy	Definition: Collection system that uses septic tanks to separate solids and allow gravity flow of effluent to a subsequent component. [EPA Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/owow_keep/NPS/chesbay502/pdf/chesbay_glossary.pdf]
Septic Tank Effluent Pump Collection System	STEP Collection System	EPA EV-Built Environments-Waste Systems	Taxonomy	Definition: Collection system that uses a septic tank to separate solids and incorporates a pump and associated parts to convey effluent under pressure to a subsequent component. [EPA Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/owow_keep/NPS/chesbay502/pdf/chesbay_glossary.pdf]

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