Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT): The total distance traveled in miles by all motor vehicles of a specific group in a given area at a given time.

Walkability: A measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Factors affecting walkability include, but are not limited to: land use mix; street connectivity; residential density (residential units per area of residential use); “transparency” which includes amount of glass in windows and doors, as well as orientation and proximity of homes and buildings to watch over the street; plenty of places to go to near the majority of homes; placemaking, street designs that work for people, not just cars and retail floor area ratio. Major infrastructural factors include access to mass transit, presence and quality walkways, buffers to moving traffic (planter strips, on-street parking or bike lanes) and pedestrian crossings, aesthetics, nearby local destinations, shade or sun in appropriate seasons, street furniture, and traffic volume and speed.

Wastewater: Water that has been used in homes, industries, and businesses that is not for reuse unless it is treated.

Wastewater Effluent: Water that flows from a sewage treatment plant after it has been treated.

Water Quality: The physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to drinking water, safety of human contact, and for health of ecosystems.

Water Supply Assessment (WSA): SB 610 requires the preparation of a WSA for any development whose approval is subject to CEQA and meets the definition of “project” in California Water Code §10913. A WSA must describe the proposed project’s water demand over a 20- year period, identify the sources of water available to meet that demand and include an assessment of whether or not those water supplies are, or will be sufficient to meet the demand for water associated with the proposed project, in addition to the demand of existing customers and other planned future development.

Waters of the United States: The term “waters of the United States,” as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (33 C.F.R. § 328.3[a]; 40 C.F.R. § 230.3[s]), refers to:

1. All waters which are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;
2. All interstate waters including interstate wetlands;
3. All other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, the use, degradation, or destruction of which could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters: