Definition of "surface-water" [surface-water]

• Water which collects on the surface of the ground, and usually runs off into drains and sewers. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "About 52 percent of fresh surface-water withdrawals and about 96 percent of saline-water withdrawals were for thermoelectric-power use."
• "Groundwater can also have an important influence on the annual water budgets of arctic surface-water ecosystems."
• "Groundwater interactions with surface-water systems greatly influence water quality characteristics such as cation, anion, nutrient, and dissolved organic matter concentrations, and even the fate and behavior of toxic pollutants."