Glossary of Flood Control-Related Terms

Community Rating System
A program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that recognizes and rewards communities working to reduce flood damages through a variety of approved floodplain management and flood awareness activities. Through the program, a community can reduce the flood insurance premiums that floodprone property owners pay.

Detention/Retention Basin
A type of flood control structure designed to reduce downstream flooding by slowing stormwater runoff by routing it to a temporary storage area. Detention basins hold the water and then meter it out at a specified rate. Retention basins typically hold water in the basin, which then slowly percolates into the ground or evaporates.

Discharge
The amount of water that passes a specific point on a watercourse over a given period of time. Rates of discharge are usually measured in cubic feet per second (cfs).

Dry Well
A deep hole, covered and designed to hold drainage water until it seeps into the ground.

Encroachment
The result of placing a building, fence, berm or other structure in a floodplain in a manner that obstructs or increases the depth (or velocity) of flow on a watercourse.

Erosion
The wearing away of land by the flow of water.

Erosion Hazard Zone
Land adjacent to a watercourse regulated by Pima County Ordinance that is considered by the County Engineer to be subject to flood-related erosion losses.

Federally-Mapped Floodplain
A floodprone area that has been mapped and accepted by FEMA as the result of a flood insurance study (FIS) for a watercourse and surrounding areas. Mapped floodplains are used for flood insurance needs and for other regulatory purposes.

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
An independent federal agency established to respond to major emergencies that state and local agencies don't have the resources to handle. FEMA seeks to reduce the loss of life and protect property against all types of hazards through a comprehensive, risk-based emergency management program.

Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM)
Issued by FEMA, these maps show special hazard areas, including the 100-year floodplain. They also show flood insurance risk zones and other flood-related information applicable to a community.

Flood Insurance Study (FIS)
Hydrologic and Hydraulic studies that identify a flood hazard area, flood insurance risk zones and other flood data such as flood depths and velocities.

Flood/Flooding
A temporary condition caused by the accumulation of runoff from any source, which exceeds the capacity of a natural or man-made drainage system and results in inundation of normally dry land areas.

100-Year (or Base) Flood
A flood event that statistically has a 1 out of 100 (or one percent) chance of being equaled or exceeded on a specific watercourse in any given year. A flood event of this magnitude is often used to determine if flood insurance is either advisable or required on a property.

Flood Control
Various activities and regulations that help reduce or prevent damages caused by flooding. Typical flood control activities include: structural flood control works (such as bank stabilization, levees, and drainage channels), acquisition of floodprone land, flood insurance programs and studies, river and basin management plans, public education programs, and flood warning and emergency preparedness activities.

Floodplain
The area adjoining a watercourse that may be covered by floodwater during a flood. Storm runoff and flood events may cause alterations in the floodplain in certain areas.

Floodplain Management
A program that uses corrective and preventative measures to reduce flood and erosion damage and preserve natural habitat and wildlife resources in floodprone areas. Some of these measures include: adopting and administering floodplain regulations, resolving drainage complaints, protecting riparian habitat communities, and assuring effective maintenance and operation of flood control works.

Floodplain Use Permit
An official document which authorizes specific activities within a regulatory floodplain or erosion hazard area.

Flood Proofing
Any combination of changes to a structure or property using berms, flood walls, closures or sealants, which reduces or eliminates flood damage to buildings or property.

Floodplain Regulations
Adopted policies, codes, ordinances, and regulations pertaining to the use and development of lands that lie within a regulatory floodplain.

Floodway
The channel of a watercourse and portion of the adjacent floodplain that is needed to convey the base or 100-year flood event without increasing flood levels by more than one foot and without increasing velocities of flood water.

Hydraulics
A field of study dealing with the flow pattern and rate of water movement based on the principles of fluid mechanics.

Hydrology
A field of study concerned with the distribution and circulation of surface water, as well as water dynamics below the ground and in the atmosphere.

Levee
A man-made structure, usually an earthen embankment often reinforced with soil cement, that is designed to contain or divert the flow of water.

LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment)
An official amendment of a current Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) accepted by FEMA for a property or a structure. The LOMA verifies that the structure or portions of the property have been removed from a designated-floodplain area.

LOMR (Letter of Map Revision)
An official revision of a current Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) accepted by FEMA, which reflects changes in mapped areas for flood zones, floodplain areas, floodways and flood elevations.

Map Repository
An agency or entity designated to maintain official FEMA flood insurance rate maps for the community as well as LOMAs and LOMRs to those maps.

National Flood Insurance Act of 1968
An Act passed by Congress that established the National Flood Insurance Program as a means of mitigating flood damages. The Act makes flood insurance available to communities that adopt and enforce measures to reduce flood losses. Prior to the Act, property owners in floodprone areas typically were not able to obtain this coverage through private insurance companies.

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
A federal program that allows property owners to purchase insurance protection against losses due to flooding. In order to participate in this program, local communities must agree to implement and enforce measures that reduce future flood risks in special flood hazard areas.

Pima County Floodplain and Erosion Hazard Management Ordinance
An ordinance in Pima County that regulates the subdivision of land, and the construction of residential, commercial and industrial structures. The ordinance regulates virtually all uses or improvements that divert, retard or obstruct flood water and provides for the protection of county riparian habitat resources.

Reach
A term used to describe a specific length of a stream or watercourse. For example, the term can be used to describe a section of a stream or watercourse between two bridges.

Regulatory Floodplain
A portion of the geologic floodplain that may be inundated by the base flood where the peak discharge is 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) or greater. Regulatory floodplains also include areas which are subject to sheet flooding, or areas on existing recorded subdivision plats mapped as being floodprone .

Riparian Habitat
Plant communities that occur in association with any spring, cienega, lake, watercourse, river, stream, creek, wash, arroyo, or other body of water. Riparian habitats can be supported by either surface or subsurface water sources.

Setback
The minimum distance required between a man-made structure and a watercourse. This distance is measured from the top edge of the highest channel bank or the edge of the 100-year flood water surface elevation.

Sheet Flooding
A condition where stormwater runoff forms a sheet of water to a depth of six inches or more. Sheet flooding is often found in areas where there are no clearly defined channels.

Stormwater
Precipitation from rain or snow that accumulates in a natural or man-made watercourse or conveyance system.

Variance
Legal permission to build a structure in a manner that would otherwise be prohibited by an ordinance.

Watercourse
Any major or minor river, creek, wash, arroyo, or man-made channel.

Watershed
An area from which water drains into a lake, stream or other body of water. A watershed is also often referred to as a basin, with the basin boundary defined by a high ridge or divide, and with a lake or river located at a lower point.

Zone A (unnumbered)
Zone A is a Special Flood Hazard Area identified by FEMA that is subject to inundation from a 100-year flood event. Because detailed hydraulic analyses have not been performed, no base flood elevation or depths are shown. Mandatory flood insurance requirements apply.

Zone AE and A1-30
Special Flood Hazard Areas subject to inundation by the 100-year flood determined by a Flood Insurance Study (FIS). Base flood elevations are shown within these zones and mandatory flood insurance requirements apply. (Zone AE is used on newer maps in place of Zones A1-30.)

Zone AH
Special Flood Hazard Areas subject to inundation by 100-year shallow flooding (usually areas of ponding) with average depths between one and three feet. Base flood elevations derived from detailed hydraulic analyses are shown in this zone. Mandatory flood insurance requirements apply.

Zone AO
Special Flood Hazard Areas subject to inundation by 100-year shallow flooding, usually resulting from sheet flow on sloping terrain, with average depths between one and three feet. Average flood depths derived from detailed hydraulic analyses are shown within this zone. Mandatory flood insurance requirements apply.

Zone B, C and X
Areas that have been identified in a community flood insurance study as having moderate or minimal hazard from flooding. Buildings or other improvements in these zones could be flooded by severe, concentrated rainfall, in the absence of adequate drainage systems. Flood insurance is available in participating communities, but it is not required in these zones. (Zone X is used on newer maps in place of Zones B and C.)

Zone D
Unstudied areas where flood hazards are undetermined but where flooding is possible. No mandatory flood insurance requirements apply, but coverage is available in participating communities.