The following definitions are established for the better interpretation of this Regulation:
INFLUENT TO THE TREATMENT SYSTEM (AFLUENTE AL SISTEMA DE TRATAMIENTO): Refers to the waters entering the preliminary treatment, or the first treatment unit.
GAUGING (AFORO): measurement of a quantity of water per unit of time.
POLLUTANT (AGENTE CONTAMINANTE): any substance whose incorporation into a body of water entails the deterioration of its physical, chemical, or biological quality.
WASTEWATER (AGUA RESIDUAL): is the combination of liquids and solids carried by water, whose quality has been degraded by the incorporation of pollutants. For the purposes of this Regulation, two types are recognized: ordinary and special. ORDINARY WASTEWATER (AGUA RESIDUAL DE TIPO ORDINARIO): wastewater generated by the domestic activities of human beings (use of toilets, showers, washbasins, sinks, laundry, etc.)
SPECIAL WASTEWATER (AGUA RESIDUAL DE TIPO ESPECIAL): wastewater of a type different from ordinary.
STORM SEWER (ALCANTARILLADO PLUVIAL): public network of pipes used to collect and transport rainwater to its point of discharge into a receiving body (medio receptor).
SANITARY SEWER (ALCANTARILLADO SANITARIO): public network of pipes used to collect and transport wastewater to its point of discharge into a receiving body.
RIVERINE ALIGNMENT (ALINEAMIENTO FLUVIAL): is the separation that must exist between the wastewater treatment systems and the boundaries of those properties that border bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, streams (quebradas), brooks (arroyos), and springs (nacientes), and which is established in Article 33 of the Forestry Law (Ley Forestal, Law No. 7575 of February 5, 1996).
FLOW (CAUDAL): relationship of the volume of water per unit of time. SITE DESIGN (DISEÑO DE SITIO): It is the engineering plan indicating all the infrastructure interrelated with a work to be developed, made at a scale showing all the works to be built and existing ones, with the setbacks (retiros) from boundaries (colindancias) and bodies of water. EFFLUENT FROM THE TREATMENT SYSTEM (EFLUENTE DEL SISTEMA DE TRATAMIENTO): In wastewater management, these are the waters leaving the last treatment process.
GENERATING ENTITY (ENTE GENERADOR): individual or legal entity, public or private, responsible for the treatment and possible reuse of wastewater, or for its discharge into a receiving body or sanitary sewer. RECEIVING BODY (MEDIO RECEPTOR): is any spring (manantial), river, stream (quebrada), brook (arroyo), whether permanent or not, lake, lagoon (laguna), marsh (marisma), natural or artificial reservoir (embalse), estuary, mangrove swamp (manglar), peat bog (turbera), wetland (humedal), swamp (pantano), recharge zones, land, fresh, brackish, or salt water, where wastewater is discharged. The wastewater to be discharged must be treated. SIMPLE SAMPLE (MUESTRA SIMPLE): is that sample taken in a single and isolated manner to determine water quality at a specific time and place.
COMPOSITE SAMPLE (MUESTRA COMPUESTA): two or more simple samples that are mixed in known and appropriate proportions at the same sampling site in different time periods. The objective is to obtain the average concentrations of its quality parameters. The proportions are based on measurements of time or flow. INTEGRATED SAMPLE (MUESTRA INTEGRADA): corresponds to the mixture of simple samples, collected at different points within a time interval as close as possible, taking into account their proportion relative to the flow at each sampling point.
RIGHT OF WAY (PERMISO DE PASO): is the written authorization from the owner of a property other than the land where a work is being executed, so that a conveyance and/or evacuation system may cross that land. PROJECT (PROYECTO): set of plans, calculations, and other pertinent documents for the planning and definition of the wastewater treatment plant.
GLOBAL PROJECT (PROYECTO GLOBAL): set of plans, calculations, and other pertinent documents for the planning and definition of the work served by the treatment plant.
REGULATION FOR THE DISCHARGE AND REUSE OF WASTEWATER (REGLAMENTO DE VERTIDO Y REUSO DE AGUAS RESIDUALES): Executive Decree No. 26042-S-MINAE of April 14, 1997, published in La Gaceta No. 117 of June 19, 1997.
SETBACK (RETIRO): distance between the property boundary (lindero), buildings, bodies of water, or other clearly identified elements, and the nearest edge of the main units of the treatment plant.
REUSE (REUSO): utilization of an effluent from ordinary or special wastewater for various purposes, upon prior authorization by the competent authority based on the quality criteria established in the Regulation for the Discharge and Reuse of Wastewater (Reglamento de Vertido y Reuso de Aguas Residuales), before discharge into a receiving water body or into the soil. EASEMENT (SERVIDUMBRE): right over another's property that limits the dominion over it and is constituted in favor of the needs of another farm (finca) belonging to a different owner, or of someone who is not the owner of the burdened one.
RIGHT-OF-WAY EASEMENT (SERVIDUMBRE DE PASO): that which gives the right to enter a farm not bordering a public road.
TREATMENT SYSTEM (SISTEMA DE TRATAMIENTO): is the combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes and operations intended to eliminate solid waste, organic matter, pathogenic microorganisms, and, at times, the nutritive elements contained in the wastewater.