GC: n
CT: Most nonpoint source pollution occurs as a result of runoff. When rain or melted snow moves over and through the ground, the water absorbs and assimilates any pollutants it comes into contact with (USEPA, 2004b). Following a heavy rainstorm, for example, water will flow across a parking lot and pick up oil left by cars driving and parking on the asphalt. When you see a rainbow-colored sheen on water flowing across the surface of a road or parking lot, you are actually looking at nonpoint source pollution.
S: NOAA – http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/04nonpointsource.html (last access: 3 December 2016)
N: 1. non-: prefix meaning “not, lack of,” or “sham,” 14c., from Anglo-French noun-, from Old French non-, from Latin non “not, by no means, not at all, not a,” from Old Latin noenum “not one” (*ne oinom, from PIE *ne “not” + *oi-no-). In some cases perhaps from Middle English non “not” (adj.), from Old English nan.
point (n): c. 1200, “minute amount, single item in a whole; sharp end of a sword, etc.,” a merger of two words, both ultimately from Latin pungere “to prick, pierce,” related to pugnus “a fist”.
source (n): mid-14c., “support, base,” from Old French sourse “a rising, beginning, fountainhead of a river or stream” (12c.), fem. noun taken from past participle of sourdre “to rise, spring up,” from Latin surgere “to rise”.
pollution (n): From Late Latin pollutionem (nominative pollutio) “defilement,” noun of action from past participle stem of Latin polluere “to soil, defile, contaminate,” from por- “before” + -luere “smear,” from PIE root leu- “dirt; make dirty”. Sense of “contamination of the environment” first recorded c.1860, but not common until c.1955.
2. Pollution of water bodies from dispersed sources such as fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides used in agriculture practices.
3. Unlike point source pollution, which enters a river course at a specific site such as a pipe discharge, diffuse pollution occurs when potentially-polluting substances leach into surface waters and groundwater as a result of rainfall, soil infiltration and surface runoff. The source of this pollution, usually due to a recent or past activity on land, is the widespread inputs of contaminants of many types. Typical examples of diffuse pollution include the use of fertiliser in agriculture and forestry, pesticides from a wide range of land uses, contaminants from roads and paved areas, and atmospheric deposition of contaminants arising from industry.
4. “diffuse pollution” (Environment): Pollution from widespread activities with no one discrete source, e.g. acid rain, pesticides, urban run-off, etc.
Diffuse pollution can be caused by a variety of activities that have no specific point of discharge. Agriculture is a key source of diffuse pollution, but urban land, forestry, atmospheric deposition and rural dwellings can also be important sources.
5. “background ambient air pollution”, “background pollution” (Environment – Atmospheric Pollution): The pollution that would exist at a given point if it were unaffected by pollution arising from a specified source.
6. non-point source pollution (Climate change): Pollution from sources that cannot be defined as discrete points, such as areas of crop production, timber, surface mining, disposal of refuse, and construction.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=non-point; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=source; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=diffuse+pollution (last access: 3 December 2016). 2. METEOTERM – International Glossary of Hydrology, WMO/UNESCO, 2011 (last access: 3 December 2016). 3. FWR – http://www.euwfd.com/html/sources-of-pollution-diffuse-pollution.html (last access: 2. December 2016). 4. IATE (last access: 3 December 2016); EEA – http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/water-pollution/diffuse-sources (last access: 2. December 2016). 5. GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=17032203 (last access: 3 December 2016). 6. METEOTERM – IPCC – Climate Change 2001 – WG II Report (last access: 3 December 2016).
GV: non-point-source pollution
S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26521712 (last access: 3 December 2016)
SYN:
S:
CR: pollution , wastewater.
