| Cofferdam | A barrier wall, open at the top and designed to prevent water from entering. |
| Crest Gate | A mechanical installation replacing flashboards. A Crest Gate provides a level of control unattainable by flashboards. |
| Cubic Feet per Second | A unit expressing rates of discharge. One cubic foot per second is equal to the discharge through a rectangular cross section, one foot wide by one foot deep, flowing at an average velocity of one foot per second. It is also approximately 7.48 gallons per second. |
| Dam Crest | The top of the dam, not including flashboards or crest gate. |
| Drawdown | The process in which the water is drained from the head pond, usually associated with maintenance or repairs. |
| False Attraction | The misleading of migratory fish away from fish passage facilities, caused by water movement |
| Fish Passage | General term for all the different methods for fish to be transported above or around a dam. |
| Flashboard | Wooden boards, supported by metal pins, which increases the headpond level to operational levels. |
| Headpond | The water body created by the impoundment. |
| High Flow | An event where the water flowing downstream is above the hydraulic capacity of the plant. |
| Hydraulic Capacity | The maximum amount of water that the project can use. Usually measured as cubic feet per second. |
| Impoundment | The body of water created by a dam. |
| Megawatt | A unit of electrical power equal to one million watts, in North America the average U.S. household uses 10.6 megawatt hours per year. |
