Using Multi-Objective Management to Reduce Flood Losses in Your

Appendix C
Terms and Acronyms
100-year flood: See “base flood.”
Section 404: (1) Section of the Clean Water Act that establishes a program to
regulate the discharge of dredged and fill material into waters of the United States,
including wetlands.
Section 404: (2) The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard
Mitigation Grant Program, authorized by Section 404 of the Stafford Act.
ASCS: Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, the old name for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Consolidated Farm Service Agency.
ASFPM: Association of State Floodplain Managers.
Base flood: The flood having a 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any
given year, also known as the “100-year” or “1% chance” flood. The base flood
is a statistical concept used to ensure that all properties are protected to the same
degree against flooding.
Basin: See “watershed.”
Best management practices: Pollution controls for nonpoint source pollution.
The controls can include structural, vegetative, or management systems to prevent
water pollution originating from human activity.
BFE: Base flood elevation. The elevation of the crest of the base or 100-year
flood.
BMP: Best management practice.
Carrying capacity: The level of use or extent of modification an environmental
or human-made system may bear without experiencing unacceptable deterioration
or degradation.
CDBG: Community Development Block Grant administered by the Department
of Housing and Urban Development and state, county, or municipal housing or
community development agencies.
Coastal high hazard flooding: A condition of flooding subject to high velocity
waters, including, but not limited to, hurricane wave wash or tsunamis. Coastal
high hazard flooding is mapped as a velocity zone on a Flood Insurance Rate
Map. Coastal flooding without the high velocity hazard is mapped as a Zone A.
Coastal barrier: Offshore formations of sand lying generally parallel to mainland
coastlines. They may be connected to the mainland or they may be spits or
islands.
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