3/7/2016
Supply of Water Resources & The Hydrologic Cycle (good news)
• Distribution of water on earth, amount of fresh water available?
• U.S. water use, how much, what for
• Unequal Distribution: floods and scarcity
• Reasons for fresh water shortages?
• Some technological solutions to water shortages (Pros and Cons):
annual transfer rates in thousands of cubic kilometers (103 km3)
• Water Pollution: general definition, analysis, source, major types of water pollution
The Salt Water Planet
~2.0% Ice Caps and Glaciers
Antarctica & Greenland Ice
Sheet
• Oceans: 71% of Earths surface
• ~97.4% salt water
– Unusable for drinking, irrigation and most industry
• ~2.6% fresh water
– Ice
– groundwater
– surface water
Freshwater
All water
Fresh water
Readily accessible freshwater?
Groundwater
0.592%
Readily accessible fresh water?
Biota
0.0001%
Lakes
0.007%
0.014%
Lakes
0.007%
Oceans and
saline lakes
97.4%
Fresh water
2.6%
0.014%
Ice caps
and glaciers
1.984%
Soil
moisture
0.005%
Ice caps
and glaciers
1.984%
Soil
moisture
0.005%
Rivers
0.0001%
Atmospheric
water vapor
0.001%
Cool map of US Rivers
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/06/infographic-this-detailed-map-shows-every-river-in-the-united-states/?viewall=true
Groundwater accounts for ~ 35 – 55 times as much water
as in all lakes, rivers, atmosphere and soil
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3/7/2016
Fresh Water: A Potentially Renewable Resource
Global Water Use 1900 ‐ 2000
Some Units of Water Measurement
Water use (cubic kilometers per year)
5,500
5,000
Total use
4,500
4,000
3,500
Agricultural use
3,000
2,500
2,000
Industrial use
1,500
1,000
Domestic use
500
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
Year
Use of Water Resources in US
US: highest per capita water use in the world:
~1280 - 1370 gallons per person/day…OR
500,000 gal/person/year
United States
Power
cooling
38%
Agriculture
41%
Industry 11%
Fig. 13.5, p. 298
Domestic 10%
400,000 liters
(106,000 gallons)
1 automobile
1 kilogram
cotton
10,500 liters
(2,400 gallons)
1 kilogram
aluminum
9,000 liters
(2,800 gallons)
1 kilogram
grain-fed beef
7,000 liters
(1,900 gallons)
1 kilogram
rice
1 kilogram
corn
1 kilogram
paper
1 kilogram
steel
5,000 liters
(1,300 gallons)
1,500 liters
(400 gallons)
880 liters
(230 gallons)
220 liters
(60 gallons)
1Kg ~ 2.2Lbs
WEB LINK:
http://thegoodhuman.com/2012/04/02/how-much-water-does-it-take/
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3/7/2016
Challenges: Unequal Distribution of Water
Unequal Distribution of Water
Storms & Floods: too much water
• Floods are a natural phenomena, replenish nutrients and groundwater
• Floods aggravated by human activities; removing vegetation for urban development, improper logging, overgrazing of domesticated animals, forest fires, mining, destruction of marsh land……
• ~39% of natural disasters deaths are caused by floods
Too Much Water / Fluvial Systems
In St. Louis, the Mississippi remained above flood stage
for 144 days between April 1 and September 30, 1993.
Ca Flood of 1862
• A 43 day storm, began in Dec 1881
• Occurs in Ca every 100 – 200 years
• Inland seas lasted for 6 months, Sacramento was underwater for over 3 months
• In Central Valley the sea was 300 long X 20 miles wide and 30 ft. deep
• ¼ of Ca economy destroyed
• >200,000 cattle drowned
Recent History / Too Much Water Hurricanes, cyclones and storms bring waves and coastal flooding
Hurricane Andrew
STORM SURGES
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Soquel Ave Bridge, Santa Cruz, 1982
(looking toward Front Street)
Bangladesh Cyclone, April 1991
• ~~158 million
Santa Cruz Mountains, 1982
Pajaro River flood, 1995
~138,000 killed, 10 million left homeless, storm surge height was 6 meters , 1.5 billion in damage
>157 million living in an are the
size of Wisconsin.
80% consists of floodplains.
Clearing of coastal Mangrove
Forests aggravates problems.
Pakistan Floods, July 2010
~2,000 fatalities, >1,000,000 homeless
In the United States, Hurricane Sandy affected 24
states, including the entire eastern seaboard from
Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachia
Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin, with
particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New
York.
Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29,
flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and
cutting power in and around the city. Damage in the
United States amounted to over $68 billion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QkBtxiowiA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1xkugQk4ck
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3/7/2016
Super Typhoon Hiayan
Philippines & Vietnam Nov 8-10th, 2013
Colorado
September 9, 2013
8 dead, 1 missing
>1 billion in damages
TYPHOON MAYSAK
APRIL 5TH, 2015
http://ulithimarineconservation.ucsc.edu/
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3/7/2016
So what can we do?
Establish a Floodplain Management Plan
South Carolina
October 2015
Too little water
What causes fresh water shortages?
•Water Stress or Scarcity: insufficient water to satisfy normal
requirements, a relationship between demand and availability.
• Do research and develop frequency curve
• Prohibit certain types of buildings / activities in high risk zones
• Build artificial levees / embankments, flood control dams
• Construct floodways that will allow water to flow through community with minimal damage
• Channelization: deepen, widen to allow > runoff
• Elevate or “flood‐proof” buildings
• There is no 1 solution…. Consider relocating? How can we increase freshwater supplies for a growing human population?
6 Technological Solutions to “Water Scarcity” or shortages
•Dry Climate
•Drought: A prolonged period where a region receives below average
precipitation. A normal, recurring feature of most climates. Or for Santa
Cruz Sandy Lydon says: We need to rewrite the sentence describing our typical weather: "A perpetual and persistent drought occasionally interrupted by unpredictable and sometimes excessive winter rains. But only occasionally”
•http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ Web Link
•http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-california-drought-20142#ixzz2vJWFBwFP (Drought in Ca pics)
1. Extract Groundwater
2. Build Dams and Reservoirs to store runoff
3. Bring in surface water from other areas: Watershed Transfer 4. Desalination
5. IPR (Indirect Potable Reuse)
6. Improve Efficiency of Water Use
Zone of aeration, saturation , water table
~2 million Mi3 of fresh water stored
underground. ~50% is in upper ½ mile
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3/7/2016
Ground Water
Aquifers and Aquicludes
Porosity and Permeability
Zone of Recharge, Zone of Discharge and Artesian Conditions
River Water moves ~meters/sec
Groundwater Flow Rates vary: ~1mm – 1 Km per day
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How much groundwater is moving?
Q=KIA, or Q=K*Head*A, or Q=K*Rise/Run* Area K=permeability coefficient or “hydraulic conductivity" , Zone of Discharge, Flow Rates and Artesian Conditions
Cone of Depression
Ogallala Aquifer
~450,000km2
Cone of Depression
In some places, water is pumped
out 8 – 10 times faster than
recharge rate. Original
water table
Initial water table
Cone of
depression
SOUTH DAKOTA
holds ~3,608 Km3
Lowered
water table
~30% of all ground water
used for irrigation in US.
WYOMING
NEBRASKA
KANSAS
COLORADO
Provides drinking water for ~82% of
people living within the area
OKLAHOMA
In 2000, irrigation withdrawals
were ~17 billion gal/day!
NEW MEXICO
Less than 61 meters (200 ft)
61-183 meters (200-600 ft)
More than 183 meters (600 ft)
(as much as 370 meters or 1,200 ft.
in places)
TEXAS
0
100
0
160
Kilometers
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Named in 1898 after it’s “type locality” in Ogallala Nebraska.
Deposition of material occurred between ~30 – 2 million yrs BP. Consists of coarse and fine grain sedimentary rock and sediments.
Most of the water came from melting of the last glacial max, 5,000 – 10,000 yrs ago.
Between 1980 to present, rate of drop has decreased in areas due better irrigation, wind breaks, crop rotation, terracing.
Groundwater
Overdrafts:
High
Moderate
Some areas have been rising.
Minor or none
The Ogallala Aquifer
9 meters of subsidence
in ~52 years, 1925 – 1975
Since late 1970’s
subsidence decreased
to <1m due to reduced
groundwater pumping
Subsidence:
High
Moderate
Minor or none
Long Beach CA
withdraw of petroleum resulted in up to 9 meters of ground subsidence
Salt Water Intrusion
• Often problematic in coastal aquifers
– Rate of pumping > rate of recharge
– Inland water table drops
– Seawater begins to fill in voids – Solutions?: dig deeper wells, move well locations, watershed transfer or find other source, use less water?
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3/7/2016
In Ca: ~17 million acre feet of water are pumped per year (afy)
( 1 acre foot ~ 325,851 gallons)
~1.3 million afy of overdraft
Source SQWD
Summary
Advantages / Disadvantages of Extracting Groundwater
• Year round use
• Provides drinking water for over 2 billion people, >1 billion people in Asia
• No evaporation, responds less to dry seasons
• Often less expensive to develop than surface water systems
• Potential problems caused by overuse
– Water table lowering, “overdraft”, increases cost to “mine” aquifers – Crustal or “Fluid Loss” subsidence
– Chemical contamination of groundwater
– Reduced stream flow
– Salt water intrusion
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