Bankfull discharge

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-002718",
  "term": "Bankfull discharge",
  "field": "Environment",
  "term_source": "Bankfull Discharge",
  "definition": "1. For a natural channel that is not adapting to hydrologic change in its watershed, it is the discharge that occurs when the water just fills the channel to the top of its banks and begins to overflow onto a floodplain.\n\n2. The discharge at which channel maintenance is most effective, that is, the discharge at which moving sediment, forming or removing bars, forming or changing bends and meanders, and generally doing work that results in the average morphologic characteristics of channels.",
  "subject": "Natural environments",
  "references": [
    "EPA Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/owow_keep/NPS/chesbay502/pdf/chesbay_glossary.pdf; Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/bankfull-discharge/"
}