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Environmental Science > Hydrosphere > Flashcards

Hydrosphere Flashcards

1
Q

What are the three main human uses of water? What are the % totals?

A

Agriculture 70%
Industry 22%
Domestic use 8%

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2
Q

What is the major water consuming activity of Agriculture?

A

Irrigation

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3
Q

What is the global differences for HICs/LICs in terms of agriculture water use?

A

HICs:
- irigation is mechanised e.g. sprinkler, timed feeds
- lots of water available for agricultural areas

LICs:
- irrigation channels
- water loss through evaporation

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4
Q

What are the major water consuming activities for industry?

A

cooling
heating
washing
solvent

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5
Q

What is the global differences for HICs/LICs in terms of industry water use?

A

HICs:
- large scale
- large amounts of water needed
e.g. steel

LICs:
- smaller scale cottage industries
- less water demand
- BUT MNC location in developing countries raises demand
e.g. India’s drinks manufacturing needs over 1 million litres a day

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6
Q

Give 2 examples of water need for common products

A

17,196 litres/kg chocolate
1608 litres/kg bread

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7
Q

What are the major water consuming activities in domestic use?

A

Flushing toilets
Hygiene
Washing clothes, dishes

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8
Q

What is the global differences for HICs/LICs in terms of domestic water use?

A

HICs:
- lots of facilities requiring water use
e.g. toilets, showers, baths, washing machine, swimming pools…
- UK person uses 142L a day
- 100% uses improved water supply

LICs:
- many people do not have access to piped water
- they may collect it and bring it home from a well or stream (disease?)
- they use it sparingly
- Sudan person uses less than 6L a day
19.3% rural pop uses unimproved water sources
2 billion people do not have access to safe water

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9
Q

What percentage of the world’s water is held in:
a) the ocean (salt)
b) freshwater

A

a) 97.5%
b) 2.5%

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10
Q

What are the three forms water takes?

A
  1. solid (ice, snow)
  2. liquid (oceans, rivers lakes, rain)
  3. gas (water vapour) in atmosphere
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11
Q

Why is water referred to as a renewable resource?

A
  • the processes of the water cycle is constantly renewing the surface water and groundwater stores
  • precipitation feeds rivers and streams, and also infiltrates into the ground to replace water we use
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12
Q

What is the natural hydrological cycle?

A

the continuous movement of water between rivers, oceans, the atmosphere and the land (storage reservoirs)

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13
Q

Why is the natural hydrological cycle a closed system?

A

Because there is as much water as there will ever be - there is no external factor which can change that

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14
Q

What do we mean when we refer to the natural hydrological cycle being in dynamic equillibrium?

A

the amount of water in circulation does not change and each storage reservoir remains constant over long periods of time as the processes cancel each other out

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15
Q

What is residence time?

A

the average length of time water stays in a reservoir (auifers, oceans etc) before moving into another reservoir

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16
Q

How do we calculate residence time?

A

residence time = volume of water/rate of transfer

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17
Q

What 2 main processes drive the hydrological cycle?

A
  1. Solar energy
    - provides the energy for evaporation
  2. Gravitational/Potential energy
    - the downwards movement of precipitation
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18
Q

Give 4 properties of liquid water that is useful for life

A
  1. stays liquid over huge temp range
  2. anomalous expansion
  3. thermally stable + excellent solvent
  4. high spec heat capacity
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19
Q

Why is the state of water as a liquid important?

A
  • essential for metabolism
  • useful for aquatic organisms which avoid freezing
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20
Q

Why is it important that water is both thermally stable and an excellent solvent?

A
  • ideal for chemical reactions
  • all enzyme reactions e.g. photosynthesis occurs in solution
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21
Q

Why is high specific heat capacity of water important?

A
  • it requires a lot of energy to raise water temperature, and so a lot can be lost before water temp falls
  • so can regulate climate and reservoir temperature stability
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22
Q

Why is anomalous expansion important?

A
  • water most dense at 4 degrees and freezes top down
  • the ice crust forming on the top of the water body insulates the water underneath
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23
Q

What factors are causing global water demand to increase?

A
  • population growth
  • increased affluence causing increased use per capita
  • increased irrigation
  • industrialisation
  • climate change
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24
Q

Why is population growth increasing the global demand for water?

A
  • increased birth rate/immigration means more people need to use water
  • urban pop expected to more than double 1995-2025
  • more people also need more food,so increased irrigation
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25
Q

Why is increased affluence (leading to increased use per capita) increasing the global demand for water?

A
  • more money can be spent on washing and appliances that use more water e.g. swimming pools, washing machines, despite modern water-saving machines
  • in poor communities, domestic use may be limited to how much you can carry
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26
Q

Why does increased irrigation lead to increased water demand?

A
  • subsistence farming relies on natural water availability, and so will adapt to different types of farming if water is unavailable e.g. nomadic herding vs arable farming
  • expansion of commercial agriculture increases income that can be invested in irrigation schemes, which may pump water from storage reservoirs
  • irrigation now uses more water than all other human uses combined
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27
Q

Why does industrialisation increase water demand?

A

-heavy industry such as chemical and steel industries or paper making use lots
- service industries use little except for domestic workers

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28
Q

Why does climate change increase water demand? (Lots)

A
  • hotter summers = drier land
  • more water needed for irrigation, domestic, agriculture, drinking etc
  • disrupts precipitation
  • rising sea levels = salinisation of groundwater
  • glacier melt that previously was a water supply

-droughts/floods spread disease

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29
Q

What is ‘water withdrawn’?

A

the total volume removed a water source e.g. lake, river

  • a portion of this water may be returned to its source to be used again e.g. hydroelectric power
30
Q

What is ‘water consumed’?
Give an example

A

the amount of water removed for use and not returned to its source e.g. agricultural irrigation

31
Q

What does the water AVAILABILITY look like in the UK?

A

NW = more water, less people, less demand
- lots of water available

SE =less water, more people, growing pop, more demand
- insufficient water available

Greatest demand: summer
Greatest demand: winter

Storage reservoirs and transfer schemes

32
Q

What does the changing water situation look like in the UK?

A

household demand will increase
non household will decrease

15L used per day for drinking water and food prep - out of 142L, that’s a lot of time and money wasted on treatment.

33
Q

What are the human impacts on the hydrological cycle?

A

deforestation
agriculture
urban development
global climate change

34
Q

What impact is deforestation having on the hydrological cycle?

A
  • vegetation intercepts rainfall that then may evaporate before it reaches the ground
  • tree roots take up water from the soil
  • without trees there will be lower rainfall downwind as more water infiltrates ground/flows into streams
35
Q

What impact is agriculture having on the hydrological cycle?

A

Water does not infiltrate easily into soil compacted by heavy machinery/livestock
- soil moisture decreases
- runoff increases

Irrigation increases evaporation

Loss of soil biota (e.g. worms) reduces infiltration, increases runoff, reduces water retention

36
Q

What impact does urban development have on the hydrological cycle?

A

Increased impermeable surfaces (concrete, tarmac)
- increased runoff/flooding
- reduced infiltration

37
Q

What are the impacts of global climate change on the hydrological cycle?

A

Higher global temps
- affect rates of melting/evaporation/condensation/wind patterns
- all affects precipitaion rates/times/location

Rapid snow/ice melt
- normally reduces extremes, when falls seasonally
- now, melt just increases flooding

38
Q

What are aquifers?

A

rocks which hold water that is then exploited as a resource

39
Q

What are the essential characteristics of aquifers?

A

High porosity
Permeability
Associated geological structures

40
Q

What is porosity?
Why do aquifers need it?
Give an example of rocks that are porous

A

The measure of the proportion of a rock’s volume that is space that can hold water

So it can hold water

Chalk, limestone, sandstone

41
Q

What is permeability?
Why does an aquifer need it?
Give a bad example

A

the measure of the ease with which water can flow through the rock because of the interconnections/size between pore spaces

So water can move through the pores and fissures

Clay is porous, but the pores are too small for water to flow through easily

42
Q

What associated geological features do aquifers require and why?

A

Impermeable rock below
- stopping the water draining out

Permeable rock above it
- allowing it to recharge

43
Q

Why are aquifers a good option as a water source?

A
  • cheaper than reservoirs
  • no evaporation loss
  • rainwater may take centuries to reach the water table, therefore it is usually clean so needs less treatment
44
Q

How much of the UK’s water supply is from aquifers?
Why isn’t it more?

A

1/3

Because if we exploited all of them, the stuff on top would collapse

45
Q

Why is recharge of aquifers important?

Consider:
a) precipitation recharge
b) ice age recharge
c) ancient aquifers

A

If the aquifer is recharged by rainfall percolating to the ground, abstraction can be sustainable if we do not exceed the recharge rate

If they are the aquifers recharged during the last ice age 10-20,000 years ago, they may not be getting recharged now and exploitation is unsustainable, and could lead to shortage

If they are ancient, their water if often saline and so when used for irrigation, they can cause soil salination (evaporation)
- osmotic dehydration/death of crops

46
Q

What are the two types of aquifers?

A

Confined - covered on all sides by rock

Unconfined - partially exposed

47
Q

How can we monitor aquifer depletion?
Why is it important?

A
  1. checking the level of the water table in wells or boreholes using electronic pressure sensors
    - slow
    - difficult to coordinate on a large scale
  2. Satellite data to observe gravitational differences on the Earth’s surface
    - GRACE
48
Q

How does GRACE work?

A
  • gravitational field is determined by features and topography including aquifers and groundwater on the surface
  • satellite orbit is partially gravity determined
  • changes in distance between twin GRACE satellites indicate changes in grav. field
  • whole Earth surveyed every 30 days
49
Q

What does GRACE stand for?

A

Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment

50
Q

How can we replenish aquifers?

A
  1. Reduce abstraction levels
  2. Alternative supply sources
  3. Recharging Aquifers
51
Q

How can we reduce aquifer abstraction rate?

A

Industrial & Agricultural - licenses
Domestic - conservation

52
Q

What alternative supply sources can replace aquifers?

A

Increasing capacity of other stores e.g. reservoirs

53
Q

How can we recharge aquifers?
Give an example

A

Put water back into them

North London Aquifer Recharge Scheme (NLARS)
- tops up a chalk aquifer with treated water after heavy rainfall to use as a back up resource to boost supply during droughts

54
Q

What effect can over-exploitation of rivers have for drinking water?

A
  • water and food shortage
55
Q

What effects can over-exploitation of rivers have for industry?

A
  • high concentration of pollutants in the river
  • loss of productivity and jobs
56
Q

What effects can over-exploitation of rivers have for agriculture?

A
  • not enough for irrigation
57
Q

What strategies are implemented in water conservation?

A
  1. Low volume uses
  2. Recycling used water
  3. Pollution Control
  4. Reduced wastage
58
Q

What methods are included within low volume water uses?

A
  • Low-water appliances
  • Xeriscaping
  • Low-volume irrigation
59
Q

How do low-water appliances contribute to low volume water uses?
Give examples

A

They limit the flow rate while maintaining a high water pressure, or use minimum water

  • low flow shower heads
    (10-15L/minute reduced to 6/8L)
  • dishwashers
  • dual flush toilets
60
Q

What is xeriscaping?

A

Managing parks/gardens/verges etc by planting them with more drought resistance vegetation so they require less watering

61
Q

How does low-volume irrigation work?

A

drip irrigation delivers water directly to plants which leads to lower evaporation losses than overhead sprays

62
Q

How do we recycle used water?

A

GREY WATER
- water that has already been used but is still quite clean can be reused e.g. bath water used to flush toilets/water gardens

63
Q

Why do we need to implement water pollution control?
Can we treat it?

A
  • many activities e.g. industry produce contaminated water which cannot be reused and may pollute other water sources such as rivers
  • effluent treatment processes usually treat it
64
Q

Give examples of water pollution control

A
  • oil pollution treatment
  • sewage treatment
  • acid mine drainage
  • heavy metal waste control
  • landfill leachate treatment
  • buffer strips next to rivers to reduce fertiliser runoff
65
Q

Why is there a lot of water wastage in the UK?

A
  • water infrastructure in poor condition
  • 20% water intended for public supply is lost from leaking pipes
  • leaking appliances e.g. taps
  • fixed fees do not encourage careful use
  • water consuming appliances
66
Q

How can we reduce water wastage UK?

A
  • repair and maintain leaks and breaks
  • install water meters charging customers to pay to the volume of water used: less water will reduce the bill
67
Q

What percentage of water usage in the home do toilets account for?
How can we reduce this?

A

30%

  • don’t flush every visit
  • install water displacement device reducing water per flush
  • install dual/low flush
68
Q

Give examples of how can we reduce personal water usage

A
  • showers not baths
  • use new/water saving appliances
  • minimum kettle fill
  • recycle water from washing
  • collect gutter water/water butts
  • xeriscaping
69
Q

Why might water need treatment before use?
How many tests are there for UK drinking water?

A

natural problems
human problems

  • 3 million tests - 99% pass
  • 1% includes faecal coliforms, lead, pH etc…
70
Q

Why is surface water stored in open storage reservoirs before treatment?

A
  • dilutes contaminants from incoming water with pre-held water
  • debris/sediments settle out
  • sunlight breaks down organic material
  • some bacteria die
71
Q

What criteria does water have to pass to be deemed usable?

A

pH
Heavy Metals (e.g. lead)
Dissolved Oxygen
Calcium content
Cl2 retention
Turbidity
Pesticides
E. coli
Clostridium perfringens

Environmental Science (5 decks)

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