Water Glossary

Whether you are new to water issues, a long time water user, a water leader, and/or an interested citizen, you know that the world of water has a language of its own. At the Salazar Rio Grande del Norte Center at Adams State University, we are working with many partners to provide water education and to develop and share resources for our community’s understanding of water issues. We hope that these will support you in our shared work to create the best possible water future for our region. In this spirit, our first edition of a water glossary, focused on the headwaters of the Rio Grande in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, was developed as a resource for all. We aim to grow from here and continue to build a “Rio Grande Library” of resources, information and data for our collective uses.

While we have invested time and care in the creation of this glossary, we recognize that it is an on-going work in progress, as with any glossary or dictionary. We sincerely welcome your input, corrections, additions, and/ or revisions of the definitions in this version. Please send your thoughts and recommendations to us at salazarriograndecenter@adams.edu. We will appreciate your suggestions on specific definitions, needed additions, and any other commentary on this document-in-progress and will incorporate changes into future versions of this glossary.

Thank you for your interest and we hope that this will be a useful resource, as we learn together about the language of water and use our collective knowledge and care for our shared water future.