Glossary · Terms used on this site · 38 entries

Words we use, defined.

A working glossary that the crew updates whenever a new term creeps into a proposal. Plain English. We link to the relevant subsystem detail page where the term lives in context.

A field notebook page with hand-written terms and small sketches.

ADEQ: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The state agency that issues the Type 1 Reclaimed Water General Permit covering residential greywater under 400 gpd. azdeq.gov.
Basin: A graded depression that holds storm water for hours to days while it percolates into the soil. Sized to hold a 1-inch design event. See EARTH-1.
Branched drain: A gravity greywater distribution scheme that splits a single source into multiple terminations using straight-through-and-side-outlet fittings. No filters or pumps. See GWY-1.
Bushman: The poly-tank manufacturer we install most often. SLI series, mocha colorway. bushmanusa.com.
Caliche: A cemented carbonate hardpan layer common in Tucson soils, typically 18 inches to 6 feet below grade. Limits root depth and percolation; we test for it on every site walk with a hand auger.
Canale: A decorative drain spout at the parapet edge of a Sonoran-style adobe roof, dating from before downspouts were a thing. Common feature on pre-1940 buildings in Barrio Viejo and Barrio Anita.
Cistern: An above-ground or in-ground tank holding harvested rainwater. We install only above-ground polyethylene tanks. See CIS-1.
Condensate: Water condensed out of indoor air at an air-conditioning evaporator coil. Distilled, near 60°F, abundant during Tucson summer. See COND-1.
Curb cut: A 4-inch gap in the public right-of-way curb that admits street water onto the lot or right-of-way infiltration basin. Requires a TDOT ROW Use permit.
DG: Decomposed granite — the granular pavement of choice for Tucson tank pads, paths, and basin rims. Compacts well, drains fast, looks correct in this climate.
Downspout: A vertical pipe carrying water from a roof gutter to ground level. Tucson roofs typically have 4 to 8 of them.
Drip: An emitter-based irrigation method delivering water directly to plant root zones at low flow. Standard scheme for cistern-fed irrigation.
DSD: Tucson Department of Planning & Development Services. Permits cisterns, grading, and plumbing minor work. tucsonaz.gov/.../Planning-Development-Services.
ET / Solar Sync: Evapotranspiration. Modern controllers (Hunter X-Core with the Solar Sync sensor) adjust irrigation runtimes against measured local ET to match plant demand more accurately than a fixed schedule.
First flush: The initial dirty water carried off a roof at the start of a storm. Captured and discarded by a vortex filter (Wisy WFF-150) before water enters the cistern.
French drain: A perforated pipe in a gravel-and-fabric trench, used to capture and route water away from a foundation when re-grading isn't possible. See FNDN-1.
FNDN-1: Foundation perimeter detailing. The dull subsystem that prevents the expensive call. Detail page.
Grundfos: The pump manufacturer we use almost exclusively. SCALA1 for residential cistern feed; MQ3-45 for boost on long suction runs.
GWY-1: Branched-drain greywater. Code-compliant under ADEQ Type 1. Detail page.
HPO: City of Tucson Historic Preservation Office. Reviews work on contributing structures in NRHP-listed historic districts. tucsonaz.gov/.../Historic-Preservation.
Hunter X-Core: The irrigation controller line we standardize on. 4-zone or 8-zone, Solar Sync compatible. hunterindustries.com.
Infiltration rate: The rate at which water moves into soil. In Tucson clay-loam: 0.2–0.4 in/hr summer, 0.10–0.20 in/hr winter. Storm intensity above this rate produces overland runoff.
Legume: The pea family (Fabaceae). All three of our keystone canopy trees — mesquite, palo verde, ironwood — are legumes that fix nitrogen via root-nodule bacteria. Don't fertilize them.
Mulch shield: A 6″×6″ HDPE shroud at a greywater outlet that prevents mulch from clogging the line and keeps water below grade.
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places. Several Tucson historic districts (Barrio Histórico, Armory Park, El Presidio) are NRHP-listed.
Overflow: The outlet from a cistern that delivers excess water (above tank capacity) to a basin or other downstream destination. Required by code; designed to avoid pooling against the building.
PACP: NASSCO Pipeline Assessment Certification Program. Antón holds a current certification, occasionally relevant for French drain inspection. nassco.org.
Parti: An architecturally borrowed term for the central organizing diagram of a project. We use it for the hand-sketched overhead view we leave with you after a site walk.
PEX-A: Cross-linked polyethylene tubing manufactured via the Engel process. More flexible and freeze-tolerant than PEX-B; standard for COND-1 lines.
PMT: City of Tucson Plumbing Minor permit. Required for cisterns ≥ 1,500 gallons.
ROC: Arizona Registrar of Contractors. roc.az.gov. Our license: #347291 (R-37R Plumbing + R-1 General Residential).
ROW: Right-of-way. The strip of public land between the property line and the curb. Curb cuts and right-of-way basins go here.
Runoff coefficient: Fraction of rainfall on a surface that becomes runoff. Asphalt 0.85, concrete 0.95, native gravel mulch 0.30. Used in basin sizing.
SCADA: Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. The class of industrial control systems June worked on at Tucson Water for 28 years and which now runs (in vestigial form) on our larger cisterns.
Stub-out: A capped greywater-ready pipe outlet near the washing-machine standpipe, required by Tucson Ord 10597 in new residential construction since 2008.
Swale: A shallow trench oriented across slope, used to slow and infiltrate sheet flow. EARTH-1 component on sloped lots.
Type 1: The ADEQ Type 1 Reclaimed Water General Permit for greywater under 400 gpd. Free, self-administered, conditions-driven. The legal basis for residential greywater in Arizona.
WMG: Watershed Management Group. Tucson nonprofit running the co-op installer training, the Greywater Basics class, and the residential rebate education program. watershedmg.org.