Water
water cycle
Evaporation
• Heat energy from the sun causes water
in puddles, streams, rivers, seas or
lakes to change from a liquid to a water
vapor.
• This is called evaporation.
• The vapor rises into the air and collects
in clouds.
Condensation
• Water vapor collects in clouds. As the
clouds cool the water vapor condenses
into water drops.
• This is called condensation.
• These drops fall to the earth as rain,
snow or hail.
Precipitation
• Water falls to the earth from
clouds. Mainly as rain, but
sometimes as snow and hail.
• This is called precipitation.
Transpiration
• Transpiration is the process by which
plants lose water out of their leaves.
• Transpiration gives evaporation a bit of
a hand in getting the water vapor back
up into the air.
Condensation
The movement through plants
The Clouds form
Transpiration
Precipitation
The rain falls
Evaporation
The vapor rises
The Water Cycle Movie
• http://www.brainpop.com/science/ecology/
watercycle/index.asp
• Watch the movie
• Take a Quiz
WATERSHEDS
Connecting Weather to
the Environment
Produced by the COMET® Program in partnership with
the National Environmental Education Foundation
What is a watershed?
A watershed is an area of land from
which all runoff drains, or 'sheds' to the
same river, lake, or other body of water.
Runoff-Water travels downhill and enters
into rivers and lakes.
Everyone lives in a watershed
You don’t need to visit the Grand Canyon
to see a watershed. You’re already in one!
Your own backyard is
part of a watershed.
The System of Watersheds
Watersheds are like pieces of a
puzzle: Each is part of a larger
picture or mosaic.
A Nested System
Larger watersheds contain smaller
watersheds, which contain even smaller
ones.
Watershed Addresses
Just as our homes have street addresses,
our neighborhood watersheds have
environmental addresses.
Where does our water come from?
All of our freshwater starts as precipitation, which
moves continually through the hydrologic cycle.
Condensation
Precipitation
Snowmelt
Evaporation
Streams
and rivers
Springs
Lakes
Aquifers
Ocean Storage
Groundwater
flow to oceans
Infiltration
into the
ground
The Surface-Groundwater System
• Ground Water- flows underground as springs or underground
rivers. Water underground is stored in an aquifer.
•Surface and underground water bodies form an interconnected system. Surface water recharges groundwater
storage.
•Groundwater also flows up into surface water bodies.
Aquifers
• Aquifer: a body of saturated rock or
sediment through which water can move
easily
Ground Water
• Brain Pop Video
• Ground Water Quiz
What is a Water Table?
• Water Table-The water table is the
underground depth at which point the
ground is totally saturated with water.
• Much of the Earth's water is actually locked
up underground, and while it may not be as
physically obvious as big lakes and rivers, it
is critically important.
• When underground water deposits are large
enough to be considered sustainable for use,
they are known as aquifers. The water table
could also be thought of as the top of the
aquifer.
Water Table
Drinking Water Sources
Most water
systems (80%) in
the U.S. use a
ground water
source for drinking
water, but the
majority of the
population (66%)
are served by
surface water
sources.
Weather & Watersheds: Pollution
What is the most common cause of
pollution in streams, rivers, and oceans?
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-x0AJQ5zHQ&feature=fvwrel
1. Dumping of garbage by cities
2. Surface water running off yards,
streets, paved lots, and farm
fields
3. Trash washed into the ocean
from beaches
4. Waste dumped by factories
Sources of Pollution
Precipitation runoff from farms, lawns, and paved surfaces is
the leading source of water pollution in America today.
What’s in the water?
Main pollutants:
•Fertilizers
•Herbicides
•Insecticides
•Oil, grease, and
toxic chemicals
from urban areas
•Sediment
•Road Salt
•Bacteria and
Nitrogen
•Air pollutants
Protecting Watersheds:
What You Can Do Everyday
Simple Ways to Protect Your Watershed
• Don’t Dump or Litter
• Water and Landscape Wisely
• Control the Flow
• Pick up After Rover
• Fix that Leak
• Participate in a Cleanup
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku5dgUtXcLo&featur
e=related
Terracing
• Terracing-Terracing is a soil
conservation practice applied to
prevent rainfall runoff on sloping land
from accumulating and causing serious
erosion. It also helps collect run-off.
What is a Basin?
• Basin is an extent or an area of land where surface
water from rain and melting snow or ice gathers to
a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where
the waters join another water body, such as a river,
lake, or ocean.
What is a Spring?
• A spring is a point where water flows out of
the ground. A spring may flow the whole
year or only sometimes. This depends on the
water getting into the ground all of the time
(rain) or only once in a while (snow melting).
What is a Cone of Depression?
• A cone of depression occurs in an aquifer
when groundwater is pumped from a well.
• A cone results from changing groundwater
flow direction. As the well pulls water up
from underground, soils falls inward, which
creates a cone shape.