Q2_LESSON 1_ WATER RESOURCES Flashcards
What percentage of the Earth’s surface is covered by water?
71%
What percentage of the Earth’s water is in the oceans?
97.5%
Sources of water
- Ocean: A vast body of saline water
- Hydrologic process
Saltwater Reservoir
Sources of Water
Where is most of the Earth’s fresh water found?
Frozen in glaciers in Greenlandand
Ice sheets in Antarctica.
FRESH WATER RESERVOIR
- Permanent
- Recrystallized snow
Glaciers (68.7%)
FRESH WATER RESERVOIR
- Unmelted snow covered by another layer
- Accumulates and becomes compacted
- Is influenced by global climate and hydrological cycle
Ice sheets
FRESH WATER RESERVOIR
- Soil, rock, sediment that’s been frozen for more than 2 consecutive years
- Thaws during summer and refreezes during winter
Permafrost (0.8%)
What is the global mechanism by which water moves from the air to the Earth and back?
Water cycle
What are the main components of the Earth’s water cycle?
- Precipitation
- Infiltration
- Runoff
- Groundwater discharge
- Evapotranspiration.
FRESH WATER RESERVOIR
- Found in the rock and soil layers beneath the surface
- Largest reservoir
- 30.2%
Groundwater (30.1%)
Water stored in the soil, used by plants, and released into the air.
Green water
Water in runoff and drainage that recharges groundwater and streams.
Blue Water
What percentage of Earth’s freshwater that is neither frozen nor underground is found in the atmosphere?
10%
What is the prime source of drinking water, energy, and irrigation for people?
Surface Water
SURFACE WATER RESERVOIR
- Moving body of water
- Flows downslope towards sea level because of gravity
- Defined passages called Channels
- 1.6% surface and atmospheric water
Streams
SURFACE WATER RESERVOIR
- Large inland bodies of fresh or saline water
- Water colelcts in low area (deplession) and behind natural or man made dams
- holds the largest amount of fresh water?
Lakes (67.4%)
- Water covers the surfcace for a significant period
Wetlands (8.5%)
TYPES OF WETLAND RESERVOIR
Shallow wetland around lakes, streams and oceans
Marsh
TYPES OF WETLAND RESERVOIR
- Lush trees and vegetation
- Slow moving rivers
- Low lying
Swamps
TYPES OF WETLAND RESERVOIR
- Freshwater from streams meets saltwater from sea
Estuary
SUMMARY
TYPES OF WATER SOURCES
- Saltwater Reservoirs
- Freshwater Reservoirs
- Surface Water Reservoirs
- Wetlands
SUMMARY
FRESHWATER RESERVOIR
- Glaciers
- Ice Sheets
- Permafrost
- Ground Water
SUMMARY
SURFACE WATER RESERVOIR
- Stream
- Lakes
SUMMARY
WETLANDS
- Marsh
- Swamp
- Estuary
ACTIVITIES THAT AFFECT WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY
Is a huge contributor to water pollution, from fertilizers used for row crops to the manure created by animals
Agriculture
ACTIVITIES THAT AFFECT WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY
- Is another human activity that places considerable strain on drinking water
- Fracking and coal mining
- Uses a great deal of water
- Their waste products can pollute groundwater, and therefore drinking water, as well.
Fossil Fuel Production
ACTIVITIES THAT AFFECT WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY
- A technique where coal mining companies remove tops of mountains to reveal coal.
- It can also degrade the drinking water of communities that live near the mining sites.
Mountain Top Removal Mining
ACTIVITIES THAT AFFECT WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY
- Drinking water might have a drug problem.
- Health providers as well as livestock producers use millions of pounds of pharmaceutical drugs each year
- Some of those are ending up in treated drinking water.
Pharmaceuticals
ACTIVITIES THAT AFFECT WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY
- Changing of land from rural to urban.
- Considering the degradation of drinking water in some places, like in Asia,
- Population density in key watersheds has expanded rapidly since the beginning of the
20th century.
Development and Land use changes
