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Civil Engineering Vocab

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The process of adding air to water. Air can be added to water by either passing air through water or passing water through air. In wastewater treatment - air is added to freshen wastewater and to keep solids in suspension. With mixtures of wastewater






2. A sewer that receives wastewater from many tributary branches or sewers and serves a large territory and contributing population.






3. A large - public park - often highly scenic and isolated belonging to and operated by the federal government.






4. A sewer installed to connect two separate sewers. If one sewer becomes blocked - wastewater can back up and flow through the interconnector to the other sewer.






5. A 19th- and 20th-century planned community traditionally featuring careful mixes of housing - open space - commercial activity and recreation. Examples include Reston - Va. - and Columbia - Md. - in the United States - and Harlow and Stevenage in Gre






6. A professional who designs - plans - and manages outdoor spaces ranging from entire ecosystems to residential sites and whose media include natural and built elements; also referred to as a designer - planner - consultant. Not to be confused with lan






7. A small tank (usually covered) or a storage facility used to store water for a home or farm. Often used to store rainwater.






8. The property of a material or soil that permits considerable movement of water through it when it is saturated.






9. The taking in or soaking up of one substance into the body of another by molecular or chemical action (as tree roots absorb dissolved nutrients in the soil).






10. An opening or point of access in a building wastewater pipe system for rodding or snake operation.






11. A reservoir for the storage of filtered water of sufficient capacity to prevent the need to vary the filtration rate with variations in demand. Also used to provide chlorine contact time for disinfection.






12. An agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - primarily responsible for planning and overseeing the use of national forest lands by private - commercial and government users.






13. A large pipe to which a series of smaller pipes are connected. Also called a HEADER.






14. A sewer that discharges into a branch or other sewer and has no other common sewer tributary to it. Sometimes called a 'street sewer' because it collects wastewater from individual homes.






15. The protection - improvement and use of natural resources according to principles that will assure the highest economic or social benefits for people and the environment now and in the future.






16. A trained builder or installer of landscapes - retained to implement the plans of landscape architects.






17. A reactor or basin in which baffles or other devices create a series of compartments. The environment and the resulting microbial population within each compartment can be controlled to some extent by the operator. The environmental conditions (food






18. A septic tank or other holding tank which serves as a temporary wastewater storage reservoir for a Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP) system. See SEPTIC TANK.






19. A collection pipe to which building laterals are connected.






20. The oxidation ditch is a modified form of the activated sludge process. The ditch consists of two channels placed side by side and connected at the ends to produce one continuous loop of wastewater flow and a brush rotator assembly placed across the






21. A U.S. government agency charged with administering vast areas of public land.






22. Sedimentation basin overflow weir. A plate with Vnotches along the top to ensure a uniform flow rate and avoid shortcircuiting.






23. Legal right to use the property of others for a specific purpose. For example - a utility company may have a fivefoot easement along the property line of a home. This gives the utility the legal right to install and maintain a sewer line within the e






24. Any attempt to restore to beneficial use land that has lost its fertility and stability; most often applies to mining reclamation - such as the restoration of strip mines and quarries.






25. Narrowly defined - an extended view or prospect from a site which - many times - is as important as or more important than the site itself.






26. Federal agency responsible for producing and managing many federally-funded public service programs - especially those affecting housing and public spaces.






27. The formation of separate layers (of temperature - plant - or animal life) in a lake or reservoir. Each layer has similar characteristics such as all water in the layer has the same temperature. Also see THERMAL STRATIFICATION.






28. Acronym for 'Computer Aided (i.e. - Assisted) Design and Drafting -' a digital design process in which landscape architects use computers to help produce precise drawings and details for the construction of a project.






29. The legal grant of right-of-use to an area of designated private property.






30. Downward movement of the soil or of a structure which it supports






31. The angle between a horizontal line andthe slope or surface of unsupported material such as gravel - sand -or loose soil. Also called the 'natural slope.'






32. Horizontal shoring members - usually square - rough cut timber - that are used to hold solid sheeting - braces or vertical shoring members in place. Also called STRINGERS.






33. OE The pressure at a specific elevation exerted by a body of water at rest - or _ In the case of groundwater - the pressure at a specific elevation due to the weight of water at higher levels in the same zone of saturation.






34. A tank used to store a chemical solution of known concentration for feed to a chemical feeder. A day tank usually stores sufficient chemical solution to properly treat the water being treated for at least one day. Also called an AGE TANK.






35. A U.S. government agency responsible for developing and enforcing regulations that guide the use of land and natural resources.






36. A branch of biology dealing with the relationship between living things and their environment.






37. Sewers are surcharged when the supply of water to be carried is greater than the capacity of the pipes to carry the flow. The surface of the wastewater in manholes rises above the top of the sewer pipe - and the sewer is under pressure or a head - ra






38. A manhole which fills and allows raw wastewater to flow out onto the street or ground.






39. A separate pipe - conduit or open channel (sewer) that carries runoff from storms - surface drainage - and street wash - but does not include domestic and industrial wastes. Storm sewers are often the recipients of hazardous or toxic substances due t






40. The running off of water from a land surface or subsurface - such as through sewers or natural means.






41. Branch or lateral sewers that collect wastewater from building sewers and service lines.






42. A pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water. The term 'collection line' is often used also.






43. Any method of determining the weight a compacted material is able to support without damage or displacement. Usually stated in pounds per square foot.






44. A chamber or well built at the curbline of a street to admit gutter flow to the storm water drainage system. Also see STORM WATER INLET and CATCH BASIN.






45. Any designated use or activity on a piece of land.






46. A sewer line that receives wastewater from many tributary branches and sewer lines and serves as an outlet for a large territory or is used to feed an intercepting sewer.






47. A downspout or pipe installed to drain a roof gutter to a storm drain or other means of disposal.






48. Record of an area's natural and man-made resources - including vegetation - animal life - geological characteristics and mankind's presence in such forms as housing - highways and even hazardous wastes.






49. The prepared and compacted base on which a manhole is constructed.






50. The creative illustration - planning and specification of space for the greatest possible amount of harmony - utility - value and beauty.