Chapter 11
Water
Water
 Two kinds
 Salt water
 Freshwater
 We can only live a few days without
water, but we can live a month without
food
The water cycle
 Continuous movement of
water between earth and its
atmosphere
 Is water a renewable
resource?
Global water distribution
 What percent of earth is covered by water?
 About two thirds, or more specifically 71%
 What percentage of that water is salt water?
 97%
 So 3% of water on earth is fresh water
 Most of this is ICE (77%)
 A lot is GROUNDWATER (22%)
 Less than 1% is SURFACE WATER (that we can drink)!
Water
Mr. Turri
Surface water
 Fresh water on Earth’s land surface
 Remember we said less than 1% of Earth’s
water is surface water!
 Sources of fresh water in the form of surface
water include :
 Rivers
 Streams
 Lakes
River systems
 A flowing network of rivers and streams draining a
river basin
 Other rivers and streams flow into other rivers and
streams…making a larger river.
Mississippi River System
Watersheds
 The area of land that is drained by a river
 Biggest in the US in the Mississippi
Groundwater
 Most of the freshwater available for human use cannot
be seen – it exists underground
 When it rains some water goes into the streams and
rivers, but most of it percolates down through the soil
and into the rocks below
 This water is called groundwater
The water table
 As you travel down through the earths surface,
eventually you reach a point where the soil is saturated
with water, this is the water table.
CHAPTER 11
Water
Water management
 Aqueduct – huge channels that move water from one
place to another
 Often used when natural water distribution isn't
enough
Dams
 - a structure built to control the flow
of water
 Reservoir – an artificial lake that
will form behind the dam
ervation
 Agriculture
 Drip irrigation system: deliver water directly to plant
roots
 Industry – recycling of used water
 Residential – change habits/technology
olutions
 Desalination – The process of removing salt form salt
water
 Pros?
 Cons?
 Transporting water
 Bags
 Icebergs
T-Russ
Trying to Douglas
Water
ater Pollution
 Introduction of chemical, physical, or biological
agents that degrade water quality
 Adversely affect the organisms that depend on water
Point source pollution
 Pollution from a single source
Non-point source
 Comes from many different sources that are often
difficult to identify
Wastewater
 Water that contains waste from homes or industry
Artificial Eutrophication
 Nutrients are good for water….but…
 TOO much can be bad: When nutrients break down or
decompose, they use up oxygen.
 Fertilizers cause excess phosphorus and nitrogen to
enter surface water through sewage or runoff.
Eutrophication
Thermal Pollution
 Did you ever think warmth can be a pollutant?
 It can, if a body of water rises just a few degrees, large
amount of fish can die.
 Like eutrophication, thermal pollution causes
decreased levels of oxygen in water, cold water holds
more oxygen.
Groundwater Pollution
 Groundwater can get polluted through
 Pesticide
 Herbicide
 Petroleum products
 Very difficult to clean
Ocean Pollution
 Most of the pollution that occurs in the ocean comes
from ACTIVITIES ON LAND.
 Oil spills
Oil spills
 How do we clean up oil spills?
 Booms: Barriers to prevent the oil from spreading
 Dispersants: chemicals that break up the oil so that it is
diluted by more water

Pros/cons
 Skimmers: remove oil from the surface of water
 Burning
Ecosystem
 Biomagnification – buildup of pollutants at higher
levels of the food chain
Cleaning up
 Cuyahoga River
 Clean Water Act of 1972 – Goal was to make all surface
water clean enough to swim and fish in by ’83.
 Not met, but 30% increase
 Clean Air Act of 1990 – requires oil tankers traveling
US water to have double hulls