Chapter 11 Review
• How long can humans
typically live without
food?
• 3 Weeks
• How long can humans
typically live without
water?
• 3 days
• What two kinds of
water are found on
Earth?
• Fresh water and salt
water.
• Which type of water do
most human uses
require?
• Fresh water
• Is water a renewable or
non-renewable
resource? Why?
• Renewable resource; it
is circulated in the
water cycle.
• Why are oceans
important?
• Almost all of Earth’s
water is in the oceans.
• What percent of Earth’s
surface is covered in
water?
• 71%
• What percent of Earth’s
water is salt water in
oceans and seas?
• Nearly 97%
• About what percent of
Earth’s fresh water is
frozen in glaciers and
polar icecaps?
• Approximately 77%
• The freshwater that
humans use mainly
comes from where?
• Lakes and rivers and
from a relatively narrow
zone beneath Earth’s
surface.
• What is surface water?
• All the bodies of fresh
water, salt water, ice, and
snow that are found above
ground.
• How do streams form?
• As water from falling
rain and melting snow
drains mountains, hills,
plateaus, and plains.
• What is a river system?
• A flowing network of
rivers and streams
draining a river basin.
• What is the largest river
system in the world?
• Amazon River system.
• What is a watershed?
• The area of land that is
drained by a water system.
• Why does the amount
of water in a watershed
vary throughout the
year?
• Rapidly melting snow as
well as spring and summer
rains can dramatically
increase the amount of
water in a watershed. At
other times of the year, the
river system that drains a
watershed may be reduced
to a trickle.
• Where does most of the • Underground
freshwater that is
available for human use
exist?
• What is groundwater?
• The water that is beneath
the Earth’s surface.
• What is an aquifer?
• Body of rock or sediment
that stores groundwater.
• What is porosity?
• The percentage of the total
volume of a rock or
sediment that consists of
open spaces.
• What is permeability?
• The ability of a rock or
sediment to let fluids pass
through its open spaces or
pores.
• What is an example of a
permeable material?
• Gravel, sandstone,
limestone, sand, etc.
• What is an example of
an impermeable
material?
• Clay, granite, etc.
• What is a recharge
zone?
• An area in which water
travels downward to
become part of an aquifer.
• Why are recharge zones
environmentally
sensitive?
• Because any pollution in the
recharge zone can also
enter the aquifer.
• What is a well?
• A hole that is dug or drilled
to reach groundwater.
• According to the World
Health Organization,
how many people lack
access to a clean,
reliable source of fresh
water?
• 1 billion people.
• What are the three
major uses for water?
• Residential use, agricultural
use, and industrial use.
• Most of the freshwater
used worldwide is used
for what purpose?
• To irrigate crops
• What percent of water
used in the world is
used for industrial
purposes?
• 19%
• What percent of water
used worldwide is for
household purposes?
• 10%
• How many gallons of
water does the average
person in the United
States use per day?
• 79 gallons
• How many gallons of
water does the average
person in India used per
day?
• 11 gallons
• What does potable
mean?
• Suitable for drinking.
• What is a pathogen?
• A virus, microorganism, or
other substance that causes
disease.
• What purposes does
industry around the
world use water to
meet?
• Manufacture goods, dispose
of wastes, and to generate
power.
• How much water used
in the world is used for
agricultural purposes?
• 67%
• As much as what
percentage of the water
used in agriculture
evaporates?
• 80%
• What is irrigation?
• A method of providing
plants with water from
sources other than direct
precipitation.
• What are the various
goals that water
management projects
can meet?
• Bringing water to make a
dry area habitable, creating
a reservoir for drinking
water, or generating electric
power.
• What is a dam?
• A structure that is built
across a river to control a
river’s flow.
• What is a reservoir?
• An artificial body of water
that usually forms behind a
dam.
• What is a hydroelectric
dam?
• Use the power of flowing
water to turn a turbine that
generates electrical energy.
• 20%
• What is percent of the
world’s electrical energy
is generated using
hydroelectric dams?
• Interrupting a river’s flow
can have consequences,
what are these
consequences?
• Land behind a dam is flooded –
people are displaced and
entire ecosystems can be
destroyed. Fertile sediment
builds up behind a dam instead
of enriching the land farther
down the river and farmland
below may be less productive.
Dam failure can be another
problem – if a dam bursts the
people living along the river
below may be killed.
• What is one method to
help prevent so much
water loss due to
evaporation in
agricultural uses of
water?
• Drip irrigation systems.
• What is the most widely
used water
conservation practice in
industry?
• The recycling of cooling
water and wastewater.
• What are some
household technologies
that have been
developed to save
water?
• Low-flow toilets, watering
at night, xeriscaping.
• What are two possible
solutions to water
shortage problems?
• Desalination and
transporting fresh water.
• What is desalination?
• The process of removing
salt from ocean water.
• Why is it not possible
for some countries to
use desalination
practices?
• It consumes a lot of energy
and is too expensive.
• What is water
pollution?
• The introduction into water
of waste matter or
chemicals that are harmful
to organisms living in the
water or to those that drink
or are exposed to the water.
• What are the two
underlying causes of
water pollution?
• Industrialization and rapid
human population growth.
• What pollution comes
from two types of
sources, what are these
sources?
• Point and nonpoint sources
• What is point-source
pollution?
• Discharged from a single
source
• What is an example of
point-source pollution?
• Factory, wastewater
treatment plant, leaking oil
tanker, etc.
• What is non-point
source pollution?
• Pollution that comes from
many sources rather than
from a single specific site.
• What is an example of
non-point source
pollution?
• Pollution in a body of water
from streets and storm
sewers.
• What is wastewater?
• Water that contains wastes
from homes or industry.
• What is one way
communities have used
wastewater sludge?
• Toxicity can be reduced to
safe levels and used as
fertilizer; combined with
clay to make bricks.
• What is artificial
eutrophication?
• A process that increases the
amount of nutrients in a
body of water through
human activities, such as
waste disposal and land
drainage.
• What are the major
causes of
eutrophication?
• Fertilizer and phosphates
• Why is eutrophication
not a positive
occurrence in an
ecosystem?
• Eutrophication can lead to
excessive algae growth.
Algal blooms can form.
Also, as algae die and
decompose, most dissolved
oxygen is used and fish and
other organisms suffocate
in the oxygen-depleted
water.
• What is thermal
pollution?
• A temperature increase in a
body of water that is caused
by human activity and that
has harmful effect on water
quality and on the ability of
that body of water to
support life.
• What detrimental
effects can thermal
pollution have on an
ecosystem?
• It can cause large fish kills if
the discharged water is too
warm for the fish to survive.
If the temperature of a body
of water rises even a few
degrees, the amount of
oxygen the water can hold
decreases significantly.
• How do pollutants
usually enter
groundwater?
• When polluted surface
water percolates down from
the Earth’s surface.
• Why is groundwater
pollution one of the
most challenging
environmental
problems in the world?
• It recharges very slowly, so
the process for some
aquifers to recycle water
and purge contaminants
can take hundreds of years.
Pollution can cling to the
rock and soil that make up
an aquifer, so even if all of
the water in an aquifer were
pumped out and replaced
with clean water, the
groundwater could still
become depleted.
• What percent of ocean
pollution is from
activities on land, near
the coasts?
• At least 85%
• Approximately how
many gallons of oil from
tanker accidents is
spilled into the ocean
each year?
• About 37 million gallons
• What is
biomagnification?
• The accumulation of
pollutants at successive
levels of the food chain.
• What was the Clean
Water Act of 1972
designed to
accomplish?
• Restore and maintain the
chemical, physical, and
biological integrity of the
nation’s waters.
• As a result of the Clean • 30%
Water Act of 1972, lakes
that are fit for
swimming has
increased by what
percent?
• What resulted from the
Oceans Act of 2000?
• Created the U.S.
Commission on Ocean Policy
to develop
recommendations for a new
coordinated and
comprehensive national
ocean policy.