Glossary

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t
Temperature
The degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or object expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch. Synonyms: T
Abbreviation: T

Terra Preta
Terra Preta (literally “black earth”) is the name for the highly fertile and carbon-rich soil which has been formed by pre-Columbian native populations by incorporating large amounts of charred residues (charcoal) into the soil together with nutrient-rich material (e.g. human and animal manure (rich in P and N), waste including mammal and fish bones (rich in P and Ca), ash residues of incomplete combustions (rich in Ca, Mg, K, P and charcoal), kitchen and garden waste etc.). The charcoal black carbon, due to its polycyclic aromatic structure, is chemically and microbiologically stable and persists in the environment over centuries. Over the time, the persistent black carbon molecules get partly oxidized produces carboxylic groups on the edges of the black carbon backbones which act as a trap for nutrients in the soil preventing them from being washed out. Terra preta has a large potential for preserving fertile soils and for carbon sequestration from the atmosphere as it acts as a long-term carbon sink. Synonyms: TP
Terra Preta Sanitation
Terra preta sanitation is the concept of reuse of organic wastes (e.g. garden and kitchen wastes, human faeces and urine) by producing highly fertile and long lasting terra preta soils in a four-step process: (1) collection, (2) lacto-fermentation, (3) addition of charcoal and vermicomposting, (4) incorporation of terra preta compost into soils. Synonyms: TPS
Abbreviation: TPS

Tertiary Treatment
Tertiary treatment encompasses unit processes following on secondary treatment. Tertiary treatment of wastewater becomes necessary when high removal of solids, BOD and nutrients (e.g. dissolved nitrate and phosphate) is required. Examples of tertiary treatment processes are clarification, chemical phosphorus and nitrogen removal, disinfection of the effluent or digestion or dessiciation of excess sludge. Tertiary treatments are generally more difficult and expansive than primary or secondary treatment and only used to reach high environmental standards.

The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation
The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation Synonyms: CPHEEO
Abbreviation: CPHEEO

Thermal Power Plant
Technology used for the conversion of chemical energy in the biogas into electricity. In principle the chemical energy of the combustible gases is converted to mechanical energy in a controlled combustion system. This mechanical energy then activates a generator to produce electrical power. Gas turbines and internal combustion engines are the most common thermal power plants used in this kind of energy conversion.

Thermophile
Thermophiles are organisms adapted to life at warm temperature.
Thermophilic
See thermophile.

Thermophilic Composting
Composting is possible at high temperatures (thermophilic composting) and at low temperatures (ambient or mesophilic composting). Thermophilic composting is faster and more efficient to inactivate pathogens, but it requires specific optimal conditions to take place (moisture content of 50 to 60 %, C/N ratio of 30 to 35) and can therefore be difficult to manage. Synonyms: High-temperature Composting

Thickening Pond
Thickening ponds are designed to separate solids and liquids of faecal sludge in order to process each other separately (e.g. in waste stabilisation ponds for the liquid, respectively in drying beds or by composting for the solids). They are designed as simple ponds in which faecal sludge is filled and solids settle to the ground. Fresh sludge (e.g. from latrines or unsewered public toilets) will require long retention times during which settled sludge will undergo further stabilisation by anaerobic digestion. Partially digested sludge with little organic matter and easy settable solids (e.g. from septic tanks, anaerobic digesters etc.) will require retention times of some hours only and settled sludge is desludged more frequently. Short retention time thickening ponds are often called settling tanks, while long retention and stabilisation thickening ponds are called sedimentation or anaerobic ponds.

Toilet Linked Biogas Plant
A toilet linked biogas plant is an anaerobic biogas digester which receives the excreta (and eventually flushing water) directly from a toilet through a pipe. The anaerobic biogas digester in that case is generally designed for the integrated treatment of toilet prodcuts, animal manure and kitchen and garden waste at the rural household.

Toilet Systems
Toilet systems are sanitation facilities that allow the safe and convenient defecation and urination. These systems sometimes also include the collection and even the on-site treatment (i.e. composting toilet, UDDTs, terra preta toilet) of the human faeces and urine.

Tools to Ensure Sustainability
Ensuring sustainability includes the conceptualising, planning and implementation of a project so that it is socially accepted, economically viable, environmentally sound, and durable.

Topsoil
The upper part of the soil, root zone. Synonyms: A-horizon
Total Coliform
Total coliforms include faecal and non faecal coliforms. Synonyms: TC
Abbreviation: TC

Total Dissolved Solid
The total dissolved solids is the content of all inorganic and organic substances contained in a liquid in molecular, ionized or micro-granular (colloidal ) suspended form. Generally the operational definition is that the solids must be small enough to survive filtration through a sieve the size of two micrometers. Synonyms: TDS
Abbreviation: TDS

Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen
TKN is the total amount of organic and ammonia nitrogen. Synonyms: TKN
Abbreviation: TKN

Total nitrogen
Total nitrogen (mg/l). TN = TKN (ammonia + organic nitrogen) + NO2- + NO3-. Synonyms: TN
Abbreviation: TN

Total phosphorus
Total phosphorus (mg/l). Total phosphorus includes the amount of phosphorus in dissolved (reactive) and particle form. Phosphorous is a nutrient essential to the growth of organisms, and is commonly the limiting factor in the primary productivity of surface water. Wastewater is a typical source of phosphorus possibly contributing to the eutrophication of surface waters. Synonyms: TP
Abbreviation: TP

Total Sanitation Campaign
The Total Sanitation Campaign aims at improving the quality of life of people in rural areas through the creation of open-defecation-free and fully sanitised villages. The programme was launched in 1999. The campaign is designed as a demand-driven, community-led programme and is implemented by state governments. There is currently an emphasis on developing information, education and communication activities to improve attitudes and knowledge about how sanitation, safe water and hygiene relate to health. The campaign also acknowledges the role of subsidies in encouraging the poor to construct individual household latrines.
Total Solid
Total solids refer to the residue remaining after a wastewater sample has been evaporated and dried at a specific temperature (103–105 °C). It is generally measure in mg/L. TS is the sum of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). The Total solids value is used to assess the reuse potential of wastewater and to determine the most suitable type of treatment operation and process. Synonyms: TS
Total Suspended Solid
The total suspended solids correspond to the total solid particulate matter contained in water. They are generally removed by sedimentation and settling or floating. Suspended solids can lead to the development of sludge deposits and anaerobic conditions if untreated wastewater is discharged into the aquatic environment. Synonyms: TSS
Abbreviation: TSS
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org
Total Volatile Solid
Total volatile solids are those solids that can volatise and be burned off when the total solids are ignited (500 +/- 50 °C). Synonyms: TVS
Abbreviation: TVS
References:
Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Reuse
Toxins
Toxins are substances that can harm aquatic and human life. They are created by a wide variety of human practices and products like heavy metals, pesticides and organic compounds like PCB’s.
Tradable Water Rights
Tradable water rights are one of several market-based instruments used in water management and pollution control. In economic theory, they are increasingly seen as an efficient instrument for implementing environmental and natural resources management policies, even though they are among the most challenging means in terms of both their design and implementation.
Train-the-Trainers
Are you interested in becoming a trainer on Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management? Then check out the SSWM Train-the-trainers section, a specific module for trainers on how to carry out trainings and capacity development courses based on the SSWM Toolbox. You’ll learn everything you need to know to prepare, run and evaluate your own trainings: You’ll find briefs about pre-training preparations, learn more on the art of facilitation, including training methods, and know what you need to do after the training. Synonyms: T-o-T, ToT, Training-of-Trainers
Abbreviation: ToT, T-o-T

Transfer Stations
Transfer Stations act as intermediate dumping points for faecal sludge when it cannot be easily transported to a (semi-)centralised treatment facility. A vacuum truck must empty transfer stations when they are full. Synonyms: Underground Holding Tank
Transfer Stations and Sewer Discharge Stations
Sludge and septage emptied from on-site sanitation systems needs to be transferred to (semi-)centralised infrastructures for further treatment, reuse or appropriate discharge. Transfer stations or (sometimes called underground holding tanks) act as intermediate dumping points sludge when it cannot be easily transported to the treatment facility. A vacuum truck must empty transfer stations when they are full. Sewer discharge stations are similar to transfer stations, but instead of simply being a holding tank, the stations are connected to the sewer and can be legally accessed and used for discharging septage and sludge into the sewer so that it can be transported to a (semi-)centralised treatment facility. Thus, transfer and sewer discharge stations reduce transport distance, may encourage more community-level emptying solutions and prevent illegal dumping.
Transpiration
Water loss of the plant to the atmosphere through the plants stoma.
Treated Water
Water that has been chemically or biological polluted, but after having been treated is now safe to be reused or discharged to the environment.

Trench Latrine
Excreta disposal system especially suited for emergency situations. Shallow or deep trench latrines (from 15 to 200cm) are pit latrines with trenches instead of slabs and superstructure. They can be arranged as simple trench latrines or as multiple trench latrines. In the latter case they are an improvement of an open defecation field. They should be at a distance of 15-30m from any groundwater source and the bottom of any latrine at least 1.5m above the water table. Latrines should be backfilled when full to within 0.2m from the slab. Synonyms: Deep trench latrine, Shallow Trench Latrine
Trihalomethane
THMs are chemical compounds in which three of the four hydrogen atoms of methane (CH4) are replaced by halogen atoms. They are environmental pollutants and are known to be carcinogenic. Disinfection of drinking water with chlorine can cause the formation of THM if organic matter (THM precursors) is present. See also DBPs. Synonyms: THM
Abbreviation: THM

Turbidity
Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates.
References:
Turbidity
Turbine
A turbine is a machine which transforms the kinetic energy of fluids (a liquid or a gas) into a rotation energy. A water turbine for instance uses the flow of a river to produce rotation energy and run a generator.

Typhoid
"Typhoid and paratyphoid fevers are infections caused by bacteria which are transmitted from faeces through ingestion. Clean water, hygiene and good sanitation prevent the spread of typhoid and paratyphoid. Contaminated water is one of the pathways of transmission of the disease. Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract and bloodstream. Symptoms can be mild or severe and include sustained fever as high as 39°-40° C, malaise, anorexia, headache, constipation or diarrhoea, rose-coloured spots on the chest area and enlarged spleen and liver. Most people show symptoms one to three weeks after exposure. Paratyphoid fever has similar symptoms to typhoid fever but is generally a milder disease."