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Distribution graph (distribution hydrograph)

A unit hydrograph of direct runoff modified to show the proportions of the volume of runoff that occurs during successive equal units of time.

Diversion

A turning aside or alteration of the natural course of a flow of water, normally considered physically to leave the natural channel. In some states, this can be a consumptive use direct from another stream, such as by livestock watering. In other states, a diversion must consist of such actions as taking water through a canal, pipe, or conduit.

Dividends

Profits of a firm that are distributed to its investors (stockholders).

Division of Labor

Assigning of specific tasks to workers and productive resources; it is a reflection of economic specialization.

Doctrine of Prior Appropriation

The two cardinal principles of this doctrine are that beneficial use of water, not land ownership, gives the basis of the right to use water and that priority of use, not equality of right, is the basis of the division of water between appropriators when there is not enough for all. ...Today all the western states have adopted statutes codifying these rules.” (Chow, 1964). “Appropriative water rights have a priority based on the date of first usage. In times of shortage, junior appropriators are cut off while senior appropriators receive their full allotment.” (Sophocleous, 1998) This doctrine is not a part of Illinois water law.

Doctrine of Riparian Rights

“Riparian rights are a form of real property, a part of land law. The rights are appurtenant to the land; that is, they are attached to it in the sense that a person who purchases or inherits riparian land automatically acquires the water right.”... “Under this doctrine, the law gives equal rights to the use of water to owners of land which borders upon or touches a stream or watercourse. A riparian right to the use of water exists whether the use is made or not; hence, a riparian owner can initiate a use at any time and insist that his rights be accommodated with other uses or that a share of the water be allotted to him. The nature of the right is usufructuary - the riparian does not own the water, but owns only the right to use it on his riparian land and to have it flow to his land so that it may be used. Developed in the humid climates of England and the eastern US, riparian law seems to be based upon an unspoken premise that if rights to use are restricted to those persons that have access to the water through the ownership of the banks, and if those persons will restrict their demands on the water to reasonable uses, there will be enough for all.” (Chow, 1964) See Doctrine of Prior Appropriation.

Dolomite

A carbonate sedimentary rock composed of more than 50 percent of the mineral calcium magnesium carbonate (CaMg(CO3)2).

Domestic water use

Water for household purposes, such as drinking, food preparation, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, flushing toilets, and watering lawns and gardens. Also called residential water use. The water may be obtained from a public supply or may be self- supplied. Estimation of self-supplied water use quantities is indirect.

Doppler Radar

A type of weather radar that determines whether atmospheric motion is toward or away from the radar. It uses the Doppler effect to measure the velocity of particles suspended in the atmosphere.

Double cropping

The practice of consecutively producing two crops of either like or unlike commodities on the same land within the same year. An example of double cropping might be to harvest a wheat crop by early summer and then plant corn or soybeans on that acreage for harvest in the fall. This practice is only possible in regions with long growing seasons.

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