Receiving Waters
Rivers, streams, lakes, or any body of water into which wastewater is discharged.

Region 5
The EPA's regional office that covers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Related Program - Environmental Protection Agency

Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program REMAP
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program work on a regional scale. The St. Louis River is a Great Lakes example of a REMAP study. Cooperators include MED, GLNPO, NRRI, MPCA, UWS, and EPA Region 5. Related Programs - Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program

Regional Permit
A type of general permit that may be issued by a division or district engineer (Army Corps of Engineers), after compliance with other procedures, for activities in navigable waters of the U.S. or wetlands. Related Program - Section 404, 33 CFR

Regulation
Rules that outline specific procedures developed by federal or state agencies which are used to implement laws.

Remedial Action Plan RAP
These are federally-mandated local plans designed to restore environmental quality to Areas of Concern on the Great Lakes (there are 8 in Lake Superior and there were initially 43 in the U.S. and Canada). The Areas of Concern were identified for their persistent pollution problems. Remedial Action Plans were called for by a protocol added to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1987. Related Program - Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

Report to Congress on Toxic Air Deposition to the Great Waters
See Great Waters Study.

Residence Time
The time required for a water body to exchange its entire volume of water. Lake Superior takes about 173 to 191 years to flush its entire volume. This is an important factor used in determining the residence time of toxic pollutants in the lake. Also referred to as flushing time.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act RCRA
A federal law that established a comprehensive cradle to grave system for regulating hazardous waste.

Riparian Area
Vegetated ecosystems found along any stream or river. These areas characteristically have a high water table and are subject to periodic flooding and influence from the adjacent water body.

Riprap
Rock or other large material that is placed to protect streambanks or lakeshores from erosion due to runoff or wave action.

Risk Assessment
A complex process by which scientists determine the harm that a substance, activity, lifestyle, or natural phenomenon can inflict on human health or the environment. The process involves analyzing scientific data to describe the form, dimension, and characteristics of risk. Assessments are usually predictive estimates of how risky a particular situation is. See also risk management, ecological risk assessment comparative risk analysis.

Risk Management
The process by which risk assessment results are used with other information to make regulatory decisions. Risk management asks, What shall we do about this risk? See also risk assessment and ecological risk assessment.

Risk Reduction
Anything, such as education, regulation, or remediation, that reduces the adverse effects of exposure to risks from a substance, activity, lifestyle, or natural phenomenon.

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899
A federal statute that allows the Army Corps of Engineers to regulate the creation of obstructions and filling of navigable waters of the U.S. (33 U.S.C 401-413).

River Watch
A citizen-based volunteer water monitoring, education and outreach program on Lake Superior sponsored by the EPA. The primary emphasis of the program is to work with secondary school teachers and students to incorporate River Watch concepts into existing course curricula. Also see St. Louis Riverwatch.

Ruffe
See Eurasian ruffe.

Ruffe Control Plan
The Ruffe Control Task Force Committee (appointed by the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force) developed this integrated plan encompassing the legal requirements mandated by the Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to control the Eurasian ruffe. The program provides assessment and control measures including range reduction by chemical treatments, prevention of ballast water transport, and monitoring and surveillance. The plan also emphasizes research and public education as essential components of a ruffe control effort.

Ruffe Control Task Force Committee
An organization representing academic, business, shipping, fisheries management, and fishing interests Great Lakes-wide that developed a five-part plan aimed at controlling the spread of ruffe to western Lake Superior. Chaired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this task force was established in 1991 by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.

Rule
See Regulation.