APPENDIX G - Glossary
Adsorption: Quasi-reversible superficial fixing of liquid or gaseous substances (adsorbed substance) to the surface of a solid medium (adsorbent medium).
Advection: Transport of (thermal) energy or (chemical) material by physical displacement of a heat-conveying medium (air or water). Advection often is the dominant mechanism in relation to others such as diffusion (chemical) or radiation (thermal).
Aquatic containment: Submerged disposal site, not only covered but protected laterally because it is located in a depression at the bottom of or protected by submerged dikes, to avoid any dispersion of materials on the bottom.
Aquatic ecosystem: Aquatic unit, including wetlands (see definition), serving as a habitat for plant and animal communities and populations that influence each other.
Basic conditions: Conditions that exist before the performance of the project or that will serve as a reference point within the context of an environmental monitoring or surveillance program.
Benthos: All aquatic organisms living on or near sea, river or lake beds.
Bioaccumulation: Constantly increasing retention of a substance in the tissues of an organism throughout its existence (constantly increasing bioconcentration factor).
Bioconcentration: Retention of a substance in the tissues of an organism to the extent that the tissue content of this substance exceeds the content of this substance in the ambient environment, at a given time in this organism’s life.
Biodegradable: A substance or a product likely to be decomposed completely by living organisms.
Biological process: Process whereby the life activities of bacteria and other microorganisms seeking food degrade complex organic compounds into more stable, simple substances.
Biological treatment: Treatment process that uses microorganisms to break down the toxic contaminants of waste into less toxic compounds.
Biotest: a) Technique of assessment of the biological effect of a substance contained in water by observation of the changes in a biological activity; b) Test during which a substance is put in contact with a given concentration with specified organisms in order to assess the substance’s toxic effects on them. (Syn.: toxicity test, biological test).
Bioturbation: Transformation or degradation of sediments by the action of aquatic organisms moving or digging cavities within them.
Bucket: Equipment used to collect sediments. Generally consists of a pair of jaws that close on the sediments, or a clamshell that turns and bites into the sediments when it touches bottom.
Cancerogenic (or carcinogenic): Substances triggering the appearance of a cancer in a living organism.
Capitalization dredging: Dredging performed in ports and inland waterways with a view to expanding or deepening existing channels or basins, or creating new ones (initial dredging).
Characterization: Precise identification of the distinctive components of a substance, an environment or a process.
Chemical treatment: Treatment process that alters the chemical structure of the toxic contaminants of waste to reduce the toxicity, mobility or volume of waste.
Containment: Corrective actions that involve the construction of physical barriers to prevent the migration of contaminants from the matrices. In the case of contaminated sediments or dredged materials, their placement in a contained disposal site on land or located near the shore, where dikes or other similar structures isolate the materials from the neighbouring water, water bodies, surface water and groundwater during disposal.
Contaminant: Body contained in the water, the air or any other environment, which is not part of the normal composition of the environment and which gives it a harmful character. According to the Quebec Environmental Quality Act (EQA), the condition of the environment when a pollutant is present. According to the EQA, a solid, liquid or gaseous residue coming from industrial, commercial or agricultural activities, detritus, household garbage, used lubricant, demolition debris, pathological waste, animal cadaver, motor vehicle carcass, tires out of use, radioactive waste, empty container and scrap of any nature, excluding mine tailings. According to the EQA, a contaminant or a mixture of contaminants present in the environment in a concentration or quantity greater than the permissible level determined by regulation of the Government, or the presence of which in the environment is prohibited by regulation of the Government. According to the EQA, a solid, liquid or gaseous matter, a microorganism, a sound, a vibration, rays, heat, an odour, a radiation or a combination of any of them likely to alter the quality of the environment in any way.
Core drill: Device with which a sediment column (core sample) is collected, the analysis of which reveals the chronological or vertical distribution of the physical and chemical characteristics of the sediments.
Core sample: Sediment sample collected by a core drill.
Covering: Controlled and precise placement of contaminated dredged materials in an open-water disposal site followed by their covering with an insulating layer of clean materials.
Cumulative environmental effects: According to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, changes suffered by the environment due to a project when the effects of this project are combined with those of other past, present and future human actions.
Data quality objectives (DQO): Predefined criteria applicable to the data used in a study or to the outcomes of this study, so as to ensure that the data is of acceptable quality to meet the program’s needs.
Designated project: For the purposes of the CEAA, means one or more physical activities that (a) are carried out in Canada or on federal lands; (b) are designated by regulations made under paragraph 84(a) or designated in an order made by the Minister under subsection 14(2) of the Act; and (c) are linked to the same federal authority as specified in those regulations or that order. It includes any physical activity that is incidental to those physical activities.
Destruction (of fish habitat): The DFO Fisheries Protection Policy Statement (October 2013) defines destruction of fish habitat as follows: “an elimination of habitat of a spatial scale, duration, and intensity that fish can no longer rely upon such habitats for use as spawning grounds, or as nursery, rearing or food supply areas, or as a migration corridor, or any other area in order to carry out one or more of their life processes.”
Dioxins: Group of about 75 chemicals of the chlorodibenzodioxin family, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, generally considered the most toxic.
Dispersion: Spreading of a substance in a system (soil, water, air) by the action of a transport mechanism or other mechanism.
Disposal site: Zone in which disposal at sea of a substance or a waste is authorized, in accordance with the conditions of a valid disposal at sea permit.
Dissolved solids: Materials dissolved in natural water and wastewater.
Ecosystem: Ecological unit belonging to the biosphere, composed of living, animal and plant elements (biocenose) and inert elements (biotope). Ecosystems thus are the functional dynamic systems of the biosphere, within which living species are both producers and consumers within the food chains.
Ecotoxicity: Capacity of a substance to trigger toxic effects not only in living species but in their organizations, their relationships with inanimate matter, and their interrelationships (biological imbalances). The ecotoxicity of a substance is more specifically related to its long-term toxic effects.
Effluent: In the case of dredged materials, decantation water (return water) from a contained deposit under the effect of filling or disposal of dredged materials.
Environmental assessment: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), assessment of the environmental effects of a designated project that is conducted in accordance with this Act. The environmental assessment of a designated project must take into account the following factors: (a) the environmental effects of the designated project, including the environmental effects of malfunctions or accidents that may occur in connection with the designated project and any cumulative environmental effects that are likely to result from the designated project in combination with other physical activities that have been or will be carried out; (b) the significance of the effects referred to in paragraph (a); (c) comments from the public — or, with respect to a designated project that requires that a certificate be issued in accordance with an order made under section 54 of the National Energy Board Act, any interested party — that are received in accordance with this Act; (d) mitigation measures that are technically and economically feasible and that would mitigate any significant adverse environmental effects of the designated project; (e) the requirements of the follow-up program in respect of the designated project; (f) the purpose of the designated project; (g) alternative means of carrying out the designated project that are technically and economically feasible and the environmental effects of any such alternative means; (h) any change to the designated project that may be caused by the environment; (i) the results of any relevant study conducted by a committee established under sections 73 or 74; and (j) any other matter relevant to the environmental assessment that the responsible authority, or — if the environmental assessment is referred to a review panel — the Minister, requires to be taken into account.
Environmental components: Constituents of the natural environment. These are usually the following components: air, water, soil, terrain, vegetation, animals, fish and avifauna.
Environmental effects: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), the environmental effects that are to be taken into account in relation to an act or thing, a physical activity, a designated project or a project are (a) a change that may be caused to the following components of the environment that are within the legislative authority of Parliament: (i) fish and their habitat, as defined in section 2 of the Fisheries Act; (ii) aquatic species as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Species at Risk Act; (iii) migratory birds as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994; and (iv) any other component of the environment that is set out in Schedule 2; (b) a change that may be caused to the environment that would occur (i) on federal lands; (ii) in a province other than the one in which the act or thing is done or where the physical activity, the designated project or the project is being carried out; or (iii) outside Canada; and (c) with respect to aboriginal peoples, an effect occurring in Canada of any change that may be caused to the environment on (i) health and socio-economic conditions; (ii) physical and cultural heritage; (iii) the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes; or (iv) any structure, site or thing that is of historical, archaeological, paleontological or architectural significance.
Environmental repercussions: Radical positive or negative change in the quality of life of humans (health and welfare) resulting from an alteration of the environment, including the quality of the ecosystem on which human survival depends.
Extraction: Action performed on a chemical compound to release its constituent elements by the use of a solvent (acid, base, etc.).
Federal authority: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), (a) a Minister of the Crown in right of Canada; (b) an agency of the Government of Canada or a parent Crown corporation, as defined in subsection 83(1) of the Financial Administration Act, or any other body established by or under an Act of Parliament that is ultimately accountable through a Minister of the Crown in right of Canada to Parliament for the conduct of its affairs; (c) any department or departmental corporation that is set out in Schedule I or II to the Financial Administration Act; and (d) any other body that is set out in Schedule 1. It does not include the Executive Council of — or a minister, department, agency or body of the government of — Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, a council of the band within the meaning of the Indian Act, Export Development Canada or the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. It also does not include a Crown corporation that is a wholly owned subsidiary, as defined in subsection 83(1) of the Financial Administration Act, a harbour commission established under the Harbour Commissions Act or a not-for-profit corporation that enters into an agreement under subsection 80(5) of the Canada Marine Act, that is not set out in Schedule 1.
Follow-up program: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), means a program for (a) verifying the accuracy of the environmental assessment of a designated project; and (b) determining the effectiveness of any mitigation measures.
Furans: Family of products with a composition and toxicity similar to those of dioxins.
Habitat: Areas or environment where a specific type of fauna or flora lives. The habitat provides the organism concerned with everything it needs to survive. Beaches, marshlands, rocky shores, bottom sediments, mudbanks and water are all typical coastal habitats.
Heavy metals: Term that refers to metals with a relatively heavy atomic weight, such as chromium, nickel, cadmium, lead, silver, gold, mercury, bismuth, copper, etc., and that can be precipitated by hydrosulphuric acid. In the soluble state, they are often toxic. Heavy metals can accumulate along the food chain.
Hydrocarbon (HxCy): Organic compound consisting of carbon and hydrogen. Petroleum is a natural mixture of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds.
Impact hypothesis: According to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, series of statements linking the project’s activities to their possible effects on the ecosystem elements.
Industrial effluents: Liquids released into the water or gaseous emissions. Solids or liquids not released into the water are called industrial waste/residues.
Inorganic: Generic term that refers to certain chemical components. In general, they cannot be incinerated and contain carbon only in non-combustible form. Not constituted of living matter.
Inorganic materials: Chemical substances of mineral origin.
Interested party: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), means, with respect to a designated project, any person to whom it is determined that the person is directly affected by the carrying out of the designated project or the person has relevant information or appropriate expertise.
Interim measures: Management measures, such as limitation of access to the site or surveillance of its approaches, taken between the time a potential sediment contamination problem is identified and the time of remediation on the bottom of the waterway.
Invitation to tender: Procedure leading a certain number of enterprises capable of carrying out a project to prepare a proposal for a clearly defined set of tasks of a project.
Leachate: Water or any other liquid likely to contain dissolved (leached) soluble materials, such as organic salts and minerals coming from solids.
Leaching: a) entrainment by solubilisation of certain contaminants into a substance when it is put in contact with a liquid acting as a solvent (often water). In a discharge, wastes are mainly leached by rainwater; b) phenomenon of entrainment of the soluble elements of a waste by a solvent. On a landfill site, wastes are mainly leached by rainwater.
Lethal: Resulting in the death of the exposed organisms.
Maintenance dredging: Dredging intended to maintain the navigable depths in the navigation channels.
Management measures (options): Measures or actions considered necessary to limit or reduce the chemical or physical effects of dredging or disposal of dredged materials.
Mineralization: Decomposition of organic matter into mineral compounds.
Mitigation: The DFO Fisheries Protection Policy Statement (October 2013) defines mitigation as “measures to reduce the spatial scale, duration, or intensity of adverse effects to fish and fish habitat that cannot be completely avoided.”
Mitigation measures: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), measures for the elimination, reduction or control of the adverse environmental effects of a designated project, including restitution for any damage to the environment caused by those effects through placement, restoration, compensation or any other means.
Mobility: Capacity of substances, under the influence of physical or chemical processes, to be released from their original medium or environment.
Offsetting: The DFO Fisheries Protection Policy Statement (October 2013) defines offsetting as : “measures to counterbalance serious harm to fish by maintaining or improving fisheries productivity after all feasible measures to avoid and mitigate impacts have been undertaken.”
Organic: Term that means carbon-based chemical components; in general, combustible. Regarding living creatures.
Organic matter: Chemical substances of animal or plant origin, or more correctly, with a carbon-based structure. This category includes most carbon compounds; most organic materials are combustible and a great many are volatile.
Organochloride: A synthesized organic chemical substance, derived from chlorine molecules and used for various purposes: insecticides, pesticides (e.g., DDT), fungicides, refrigerants, etc. Organochlorides are generally toxic and persistent.
Organochloride compound: Organic hydrocarbon in which one or more chloride atoms exist: typical compounds (HCB, HCH, dieldrin, DDT, PCB).
PCB: Generic name for polychlorinated biphenyls, organic compounds composed of phenolated compounds and chlorine atoms.
Permanent alteration to fish habitat: The DFO Fisheries Protection Policy Statement (October 2013) defines permanent alteration to fish habitat as: “an alteration of fish habitat of a spatial scale, duration and intensity that limits or diminishes the ability of fish to use such habitats as spawning grounds, or as nursery, rearing, or food supply areas, or as a migration corridor, or any other area in order to carry out one or more of their life processes.”
Physicochemical characterization: Analysis of sediments or interstitial water to determine its physicochemical properties or constituents (e.g., pH, particle size distribution, major ion concentrations, cation exchange capacity, redox potential, salinity, ammonia, total organic carbon, and total volatile sulphides).
Pollutant: A substance or a body that contaminates an environment. Physical, chemical or biological agent that harmfully alters the natural balance.
Pollution: Contamination of a natural environment by the direct or indirect human introduction of toxic products. Action of polluting, i.e. introducing an undesirable substance into an environment. Degradation of an environment after introduction of a pollutant.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH): Hydrocarbons in which the carbon atoms are arranged in two or more cycles.
Project: According to the CEAA, in relation to a physical work, any proposed construction, operation, modification, decommissioning, abandonment or other undertaking in relation to that physical work, or any proposed physical activity not relating to a physical work that is prescribed or is within a class of physical activities that is prescribed pursuant to regulations made under paragraph 59(b).
Proponent: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), means the person, body, federal authority or government that proposes the carrying out of a designated project.
Quality assurance program: Duplication of all or part of the laboratory analyses to ensure that the desired precision and reproducibility levels are obtained.
Quality control program: Duplication of part of the chemical analyses (generally in an independent external laboratory) to estimate the overall quality of the outcomes obtained and determine, if necessary, what changes can be made to achieve or maintain the desired quality levels.
Registry: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), means the Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry established under section 78 of the Act and consisting of an Internet site and project files.
Release of dredged materials: In this report, this term means any spill of dredged materials into a country’s inland waters, regardless of whether these are deliberate disposal in open water, materials escaped from uncontained disposal sites (beach nourishment and other reuse), losses from a contained disposal site (effluents, surface runoff, percolation) or overflow from barges, hopper dredges or other transport vessels.
Remedial dredging: Dredging in navigable waters and in ports specifically intended to fight pollution.
Remediation: In relation to contaminated bottom sediments, elimination or mitigation of the effects of contamination by treatment, immobilization, extraction or other types of operation.
Responsible authority: For the purposes of the CEAA (2012), the responsible authority with respect to a designated project that is subject to an environmental assessment is (a) the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, in the case of a designated project that includes activities that are regulated under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act and that are linked to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as specified in the regulations made under paragraph 84(a) or the order made under subsection 14(2); (b) the National Energy Board, in the case of a designated project that includes activities that are regulated under the National Energy Board Act or the Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act and that are linked to the National Energy Board as specified in the regulations made under paragraph 84(a) or the order made under subsection 14(2); (c) the federal authority that performs regulatory functions, that may hold public hearings and that is prescribed by regulations made under paragraph 83(b), in the case of a designated project that includes activities that are linked to that federal authority as specified in the regulations made under paragraph 84(a) or the order made under subsection 14(2); or (d) the Agency, in the case of a designated project that includes activities that are linked to the Agency as specified in the regulations made under paragraph 84(a) or the order made under subsection 14(2).
Response plan: Program allowing quick and effective implementation of all the necessary means of response in case of emergency. Planning of the measures to be taken to deal with the unexpected in case of an accident. Within the context of an EMSP, all the control, mitigation, management or action measures considered necessary during the work to limit or reduce the physicochemical and biological impacts and the impacts on the human environment of dredging and sediment management activities. This response plan can also include the upward or downward revision of the EMSP. The emergency preparedness plans and the occupational health and safety programs are an integral part of a response plan.
Resuspension: New mixture of sediment particles and pollutants with water by storms, currents, organisms and human activities, such as dredging.
Risk: Measurement of the probability and severity of a harmful effect on health, physical property or the environment.
Screening: For the purposes of the CEAA, description of the designated project — other than one that is subject to a required environmental assessment — that includes the information prescribed by regulations to provide the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Sediments: Layer of materials coming from any source, rock, or organic or volcanic material and transported by water from the original site to the disposal site. In watercourses, sediments are alluvial materials that move in suspension or by bed-load transport.
Serious harm to fish: The DFO Fisheries Protection Policy Statement (October 2013) defines serious harm to fish as: “the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat. (Subsection 2(2)).”
Silt: Type of soil with cohesive properties, composed of grains with a diameter between 0.002 mm and 0.006 mm.
Solids: All materials, whether dissolved or not, volatile or not, present in sewers or water supply lines.
Spill: Any short-term accidental or deliberate release into the environment likely to cause a nuisance to the environment.
Study area: Unit formed by the study site and its vicinity (i.e., every sector likely to influence the study site), which requires surveillance or assessment.
Submersion: Action of disposal of substances at sea, in an estuary or in fresh water.
Suspended particulate matter (SPM): Matter that can be deposited or retained by filtering.
Sustainable development: Set of practices favouring development of resources that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. According to the CEAA (2012), development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Total organic carbon (TOC): Measures the quantity of carbon in a sample coming from organic materials only. This test is performed by combustion of the sample and analysis of the carbon dioxide produced.
Toxicity: Capacity of a substance to trigger alterations or disruptions in the functions of a living organism, leading to harmful effects, the most severe of which is the death of this organism. A substance’s toxicity depends on the concentration and the duration of exposure. Two types of toxicity are distinguished: acute toxicity (short term) and chronic toxicity (long term).
Toxicity testing: Experiment with a view to determining the effect of a material or a substance on a population of a given species of organisms which have experienced specified conditions. Usually the proportion of organisms affected and the degree of the effect manifested after exposure to a given test substance are measured.
Toxic substance: Substance that may cause death, disease, behavioural anomalies, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological or reproductive anomalies or physical deformation in any organism or its offspring or that may become toxic after concentration in the trophic network or when combined with other substances.
Turbidity: Characteristic of water that is not transparent.
Valued ecosystem components: Any environmental component considered important by the proponent, the public, scientists and governments participating in the assessment process. Both cultural values and scientific concerns can serve as criteria to assess the importance of these components.
Volatility: Propensity to change into vapour. Chemicals with low vapour pressure are very volatile.
Volatile organic compound (VOC): Any carbon compound except carbon oxides, metallic carbides, carbonates and cyanides, likely to be found in the atmosphere at ambient pressure and temperature (e.g.. organic solvents, light hydrocarbons). The definition of a volatile organic compound often refers to specific sampling and analysis methods (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).
Waste: Residues, materials, substances or debris released after a production or manufacturing process or use.
Source: Modified from Michaud (2000).