Section 106 of the
Clean Water Act
Basics Webinar Glossary
401 Certification
Certification process that requires federally licensed
or permitted activities that may result in a discharge
into a water body to obtain a Section 401 water
quality certification. The purpose of the certification
is to ensure that no license or permit is issued for
any activity that could become a source of pollution
through inadequate planning or otherwise. For more
information, please see Clean Water Act Section 401
and the Final Guidance on Awards of Grants to In-
dian Tribes under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act.
General Assistance Program
Grants awarded to tribes and intertribal consor-
tia to build capacity to administer environmental
programs by providing general assistance to plan,
develop, and establish environmental protection
programs and to develop and implement solid and
hazardous waste programs. For more information,
please see 40 CFR 35.540-545.
National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System
Provision of the Clean Water Act which prohibits
discharge of pollutants from any point source into
waters of the United States unless a special permit is
issued by EPA, a state, or, where delegated a tribal
government on an Indian reservation. Program
requirements may be found in 40 CFR 122. For ad-
ditional information, refer to the Section 106 Guid-
ance, available online and from Regional staff. For
more information, please see 40 CFR 122.
Nonpoint Source
Pollution sources without a single point of origin
or not introduced into a receiving stream from
a specific outlet. This generally results from land
runoff, precipitation, drainage, or seepage. Com-
mon nonpoint sources are agriculture, forestry,
mining, construction, dams, channels, land disposal,
and city streets. For more information, please see
40 CFR 35.1605-4.
Performance Partnership Grant
Single grant combining funds from more than one
environmental program. A Performance Partnership
Grant may provide for administrative savings or pro-
grammatic flexibility to direct grant resources where
they are most needed to address public health and
environmental priorities. Each Performance Part-
nership grant has a single, integrated budget and
recipients do not need to account for grant funds in
accordance with the funds' original environmental
program sources. For more information, please see
40 CFR 35.102.
Quality Assurance Project Plan
Written document which presents in specific terms
the organization (where applicable), objectives,
functional activities, and specific quality assur-
ance and quality control activities and procedures
designed to achieve the data quality objectives of
a specific project(s) or continuing operation(s). For
more information, please see 40 CFR 35.6015.
Quality Management Plan
Written document containing quality assurance
practices consisting of policies, procedures, specifi-
cations, standards, and documentation sufficient to
produce data of quality adequate to meet project
objectives and to minimize loss of data due to out-
of-control conditions or malfunctions. For more
information, please see 40 CFR 30.54.
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State Revolving Fund
Fund providing loans, refinancing, debt insurance, debt
obligation guarantees, and grants to states for the
propagation of water pollution control programs and
activities. Loans are provided with interest rates below
standard market rates and the State Revolving Fund is
designed to provide a self-perpetuating source of fund-
ing. For more information, please see 40 CFR 35.3100 &
35.35.3135.
STORETData Warehouse
STORE! stands for Storage and Retrieval and is the
repository for digital water quality, physical, biological,
and chemical data that is submitted by tribal, state, and
federal agencies, universities, private citizens, and many
others. For more information please visit the STORE!
Data Warehouse website at www.epa.gov/storet/
index.html.
Treatment in a Manner Similar to a State
Designation required to receive Section 106 funds. Tribe
must be recognized by the Secretary of the Interior;
tribe must have a governing body; functions exercised
by tribe must pertain to the management and protec-
tion of water resources. For more information, please
see Clean Water Act Section 518, 40 CFR 130.6(d), and
40 CFR 35.583.
Water Quality Indicators
Parameters that can be measured either qualitatively
or quantitatively that can be used routinely to assess
attainment with applicable water quality standards.
These indicators are monitored to provide information
on the fundamental attributes of the water bodies and
to assess water quality standards attainment/impair-
ment status. For more information, please see "Ele-
ments of a State Water Monitoring and Assessment
Program," available on the Web at
www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/elements/.
Water Quality Standards
Provisions of tribal, state, and occasionally federal law.
Contains three basic elements: designated uses of each
waterbody or segment of waterbody; water quality
criteria to protect designated uses; and an antidegrada-
tion policy and implementation procedures to maintain
and protect existing uses, and higher quality waters.
Uses include protection and propagation offish, shell-
fish and wildlife, recreation in and on the water, public
water supply, and agricultural and industrial purposes.
For more information, please see 40 CFR 130.3.
Water Quality Exchange
Framework used by EPA, Tribes, and States to electroni-
cally submit and share water quality monitoring data
to the STORET Data Warehouse. For more information,
please visit EPA's STORET website at www.epa.gov/
storet/wqx.html.
Water Quality Assessment Report
Written document containing an atlas table of wa-
ter resources; a narrative description of water quality
monitoring programs and assessment methods; a narra-
tive description of results of water quality monitoring;
monitoring data; and a narrative description of the
extent to which water bodies meet designated uses. For
more information, please see Clean Water Act section
305(b) and the Final Guidance on Awards of Grants to
Indian Tribes under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act.
Watershed
The land area that drains into a stream; the watershed
for a major river may encompass a number of smaller
watersheds that ultimately combine at a common
point. For more information, please see EPA's Terms of
Environment website at www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/.
Watershed Approach
A coordinated framework for environmental manage-
ment that focuses public and private efforts on the
highest priority problems within hydrologically-defined
geographic areas taking into consideration both
ground and surface water flow. For more informa-
tion, please see, EPA's Terms of Environment website at
www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/.
Watershed Area
A topographic area within a drawn line connecting
the highest points uphill of a drinking water intake
into which overland flow drains. For more information,
please see EPA's Terms of Environment website at
www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/.
&EPA
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