This document discusses water conservation and provides information about freshwater usage. It begins by asking three big questions: where does water come from, why do we need to conserve it, and how can we conserve it? It then provides details on the water cycle, sources of freshwater, and how freshwater is used in the US, with the largest uses being thermoelectric power and irrigation. The document emphasizes that freshwater is a precious resource and stresses the importance of conservation given increasing demands on freshwater supplies from factors like climate change, population growth, and other human activities. It provides some tips for conserving water such as using refillable water bottles and implementing best practices around domestic, industrial, and agricultural water usage.
9. How do we use freshwater in US?
In addition to home use, fresh water is used for
transportation, agriculture, heating and cooling,
industry, livestock, and many other purposes. That one
percent of water is primarily used in eight different
ways, or categories:
• Domestic. Residential home indoor and outdoor use,
such as drinking, cleaning, and watering lawns
• Public supply. Public and commercial buildings, such
as schools and restaurants
• Irrigation. Watering systems for farms that grow
food
10. Freshwater Usage
• Livestock. Watering systems for animals on ranches
and farms
• Aquaculture- Watering systems for fish farms and
hatcheries
• Industrial -Water used for manufacturing products,
including food, paper, and petroleum products
• Mining- Water used for extracting natural resources
such as metals, minerals, natural gas, and oil
• Thermoelectric- Water used for generating electricity
using steam-driven generators
11. Estimated Water Use in US
From the American Water Works Assoc.
Thermoelectric 49%
Public Supply 11%
Domestic 1%
Irrigation 31%
Other- 8%: Mining 1%, Industrial 4%, Aquaculture 2%, Livestock 1%
13. Keeping track of freshwater
• Rain gauges- not evenly distributed, none over
oceans, measures at local level which varies widely
• Weather radar- ground-based, not evenly
distributed, not over oceans, measures at local level
• Satellites: operational and research, global level
NOAA, NWS- operational: predicting, forecasting
NASA- research:
Impact of climate change on freshwater availability
Impact of global rainfall on natural disasters:
drought, tropical cyclones, landslides, etc…
World health concerns: water-borne disease, water
availability, etc…
14. GPM: Setting the Standard!
• NASA’s GPM mission will set the standard for how we
measure precipitation across the globe. In this short
video, you will learn how GPM will be able to
accomplish this-
• http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/videos/for-good-
measure
16. Conservation
• What is “conservation”?
• What are some things that we should try to
conserve?
• What is the difference between a renewable
resource and a non-renewable resource?
• Which type of resource is water?
• Why should we conserve water?
• How can we conserve water?
Use this slide to reinforce the fact that water exists in three forms- and help them to discover that it is the temperature that causes water to change from one form to the other.
In the pie charts above, the top pie chart shows that over 99 percent of all water (oceans, seas, ice, most saline water, and atmospheric water) is not available for our uses. And even of the remaining fraction of one percent (the small brown slice in the top pie chart), much of that is out of reach. Considering that most of the water we use in everyday life comes from rivers (the small dark blue slice in the bottom pie chart), you'll see we generally only make use of a tiny portion of the available water supplies. The bottom pie shows that the vast majority of the fresh water available for our uses is stored in the ground (the large grey slice in the second pie chart). http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html
Where is Earth's water located and in what forms does it exist? You can see how water is distributed by viewing these bar charts. The left-side bar shows where the water on Earth exists; about 97 percent of all water is in the oceans. The middle bar shows the distribution of that three percent of all Earth's water that is freshwater. The majority, about 69 percent, is locked up in glaciers and icecaps, mainly in Greenland and Antarctica. You might be surprised that of the remaining freshwater, almost all of it is below your feet, as groundwater. No matter where on Earth you are standing, chances are that, at some depth, the ground below you is saturated with water. Of all the freshwater on Earth, only about 0.3 percent is contained in rivers and lakes—yet rivers and lakes are where most of the water we use in our everyday lives exists.
Discuss difference between fresh and salt water- emphasize need for freshwater to meet our needs, explain why we can’t use salt water for our needs
You can skip these slides unless you have time and want to discuss the ways we use freshwater in our daily lives.
See note for previous slide
Graphic display of data presented- amount of freshwater we use in US for various purposes.
This short video (2:01) "For Good Measure" explains why scientists turn to satellites to get a worldwide view of rainfall. Filmed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., with a cast of more than 20 volunteers, the video walks through how rain touches our lives and how scientists plan to improve measurements with the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement mission. The video can be downloaded in HD at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011200/a011219/