Water Resources

Question 1

The ease with which fluids pass through a rock is determined by the rock’s

Answer 1

Permeability

Question 2

Which of the following would probably have the highest porosity?

Answer 2

Sandstone

Question 3

Most of the water in the hydrosphere is found in

Answer 3

The oceans

Question 4

The vadose zone is also known as the

Answer 4

Unsaturated Zone

Question 5

The water table

Answer 5

Is the top of the zone of saturation

Question 6

When the groundwater leaves the aquifer via escaping the surface in a spring or flowing into a stream it results in

Answer 6

Discharge

Question 7

To be useful as a source of water, a rock must be

Answer 7

Both porous and permeable

Question 8

Artesian conditions require

Answer 8

A confined aquifer

Question 9

If the water were unconfined, the height to which the water’s pressure would raise the surface is called as the _______ surface

Answer 9

Potentiometric

Question 10

Groundwater flow is best explained by

Answer 10

Darcy’s Law

Question 11

Hard water is

Answer 11

Water containing high levels of dissolved calcium and magnesium

Question 12

Limitations on the use of surface water as a water source include

Answer 12

All choices correct- Look up

Question 13

The largest reservoir of unfrozen freshwater is

Answer 13

Groundwater

Question 14

Around an actively pumped well in an unconfined aquifer, a ____________ may develop in the water table

Answer 14

Cone of Depression

Question 15

Possible consequences of excessive groundwater withdrawal include

Answer 15

Surface Subsidence

Question 16

Recharge of groundwater

Answer 16

Varies according to the geology and climate of the region and so groundwater may have been underground a few years (Karst regions) to 10,000 years or more (southwestern USA).

Question 17

Most of the water consumed in the United States is consumed by

Answer 17

Agricultural Activities

Question 18

A problem associated with aquifers in coastal regions is

Answer 18

Saltwater Intrusion

Question 19

The quality of water can be measured using which of the following ways:

Answer 19

All- look up

Question 20

Along its length, the Colorado River

Answer 20

Is greatly reduced in volume by heavy use and evaporation loss from reservoirs

Question 21

What is groundwater?

Answer 21

Typically not “underground lakes and streams” but occurs in tiny pore spaces. In sediment or sedimentary rocks, adjacent grains do not fit together, so there is PORE SPACE between the grains where groundwater can be stored. All types of rocks have FRACTURES that provide openings in which groundwater can accumulate. If the fractures are connected, the water can flow. Some rocks (like limestone) get eroded by water, forming CAVES that can be filled with water.

Question 22

What controls how water flows through rocks?

Answer 22

1. Porosity
2. Permeability
3. Hydraulic Conductivity

Question 23

Porosity

Answer 23

Volume percentage of rock that consists of voids or openings. Porosity is a measure of the rock’s ability to hold water. It is the proportion of the volume of rock that is open space. PRIMARY is during rock formation and SECONDARY is after rock forms (joints, dissolution, fractures)

Question 24

Permeability

Answer 24

Capacity of a rock to transmit fluid through pore space and fractures. Rocks that allow water to flow easily are referred to as permeable, while those that do NOT are referred to as impermeable. It really is the ability of a fluid to move through a rock or sediment… proportional to the void spaces, conduits like number, size, straightness, and also measured in terms of water velocity.

Question 25

Hydraulic Conductivity

Answer 25

The ease with which a material will transmit a fluid. Takes into consideration properties of the material (permeability) and the fluid (density and viscosity)

Question 26

How do permeability and porosity relate to groundwater?

Answer 26

Confined and unconfined aquifers.

Question 27

Acquifer

Answer 27

Large body of permeable, saturated material through which groundwater can flow

Question 28

How and where does groundwater flow?

Answer 28

1. Water table has the same general shape as the overlying land surface
2. The water table is deeper under mountains, so the slope is subdued here
3. Groundwater flows downslope
4. Where groundwater intersects the land surface, lakes, rivers, or wetlands may occur.

Question 29

What controls the rate of groundwater flow?

Answer 29

1. Permeability
   - The rate of flow is strongly controlled by the permeability of a rock type. Flow is fastest in highly permeable cavernous limestone.
   - Flow is moderately fast in a porous conglomerate or well-sorted sandstone.
   - Flow is slower in shale, which has small pores, and in a granite with poorly connected fractures.
2. Hydraulic Gradient
   - To a lesser degree, the rate of flow is controller by the steepness of the water table.

Question 30

Potentiometric Surface

Answer 30

Heigh to which the water’s pressure would raise the water if the water were confined

Question 31

How do we mine groundwater?

Answer 31

Qanats used for past 3000 years. They are a water management system used to provide a reliable supply of water to human settlements in hot, arid, and semi-arid climates.

Question 32

Using ground water, what do you want?

Answer 32

Good Supply– adequate volume, as pure as possible

At low cost – for drilling, pumping, treat, transporting

Question 33

What happens when we OVER mine groundwater?

Answer 33

1. Cone of depression: mining groundwater can lower the surrounding water table
2. Land subsidence: groundwater depletion
3. Saltwater intrusion

Question 34

Where does your water come from?

Answer 34

1. Kaw river treatment plant

2. Clinton reservoir water treatment plant

Question 35

As water travels over land surface, it dissolves natural occurring minerals and can pick up substances?

Answer 35

viruses and metals, salts, pesticides and herbicides, organic chemicals from industrial or petroleum use.