text: Effluent is defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as "wastewater–treated or untreated–that flows out of a treatment plant, sewer, or industrial outfall. Generally refers to wastes discharged into surface waters". The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines effluent as "liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea".  Wastewater is not usually described as effluent while being recycled, re-used, or treated until it is released to surface water.  Wastewater percolated or injected into groundwater may not be described as effluent if soil is assumed to perform treatment by filtration or ion exchange; although concealed flow through fractured bedrock, lava tubes, limestone caves, or gravel in ancient stream channels may allow relatively untreated wastewater to emerge as springs.