Watersheds ppt

Human Impact
on Water
Presented by Kesler Science

1. What is the difference between
fresh and salt water?
2. What are examples of surface and
groundwater?
3. What are the parts of an aquifer?
Essential Questions:

4. What are some different types
of water pollution?
5. How can water be conserved?
Essential Questions:

Water Cycle Review
• Also called the hydrologic cycle
• The journey water takes as it
circulates from the land to the air
and back again.
• Involves evaporation,
condensation, and precipitation.
• Repeats as a never-ending cycle
Human Impact on Water
© KeslerScience.com

Natural Resource
• Naturally occurring substances
such a mineral, forest, water, and
land that are used by humans.
Renewable Resource
• A resource that can be used
repeatedly because it is replaced
naturally (cycle).
• Water fits both these criteria.

Watershed
• Basin-like land formation
defined by highpoints and
divides that descends into lower
elevations.
• Carries water from the land after
rainfall or snow melts.
• Drains all the water into a
common outlet such as a stream
channel, a reservoir, or bay

Fresh Water
• Very low amounts of dissolved
salt – less than 1%
• Examples:
•Ponds and Lakes
•Streams and Rivers
•Wetlands
• Makes up 3% of Earth’s water
resources, including ice caps
and glaciers

Salt Water
• High concentrations of salt
• 3.5% of the weight of seawater
comes from dissolved salt
(salinity)
• Examples:
•Oceans
•Seas
• Makes up 97% of Earth’s water
resources

Surface Water
• Water on the surface of the planet
• Examples:
•Ponds and Lakes
•Streams and Rivers
•Wetlands
•Oceans
• Replenished by precipitation and
groundwater
• More prone to pollution than
groundwater

Groundwater
• Water found underground in
cracks and spaces in soil, sand,
and rock.
• Stored in and moves slowly
through aquifers
• More than 50% of the people in
the U.S. get their drinking water
from groundwater.
• Largest use is irrigating crops
• Less prone to pollution
100x more water found in
groundwater than surface water

Groundwater Vocabulary
• Permeable – rock layers or
sediments that transmit
groundwater freely
a. Must include spaces (pores)
throughout the rock layer
b. Pores must be connected
• Impermeable – few or no
connected pore spaces, such as
clay
Permeable
Impermeable

Groundwater Vocabulary
• Zone of Aeration – region between
the earth’s surface and the water
table
• Water Table – the upper surface of
the Zone of Saturation (can move
up or down depending on rainfall)
• Zone of Saturation – region in the
ground in which the pore spaces
are filled with water

Aquifers
• Found underground
• Made of gravel, sand,
sandstone, or limestone
• Water can move through these
materials because they have
large connected spaces (pores)
that make them permeable.
• The flow of water depends on
the size of the spaces and how
well they are connected.

Well
• An excavation or structure created
in the ground by digging, which
accesses groundwater in an
aquifer.
• The well water is drawn by a pump
that is raised mechanically or by
hand.
• How is the well depth determined?
What might make a well “go dry?”
• Replenished by precipitation

Artesian Well
• A place in the ground where
water flows up to the surface
because of natural pressure
without being pumped.
• Water comes directly from the
aquifer or porous rock layer.
• Gravity creates the natural
pressure.
Impermeable rock layer

Water Pollution
• Contamination of bodies of
water, often by human activity,
which affects watersheds
• Occurs when pollutants are
discharged directly or indirectly
into the water.
• Along with air pollution, water
pollution is the second biggest
environmental concern.

Point Source Pollution
When the pollutants come from a
single location such as dumping
chemicals into a river.
Nonpoint Source Pollution
When pollutants are introduced into
the environment over a large,
widespread area such as agricultural
runoff.

Types of Water Pollution
• Surface water
• Oil spillage
• Chemical
• Groundwater
• Thermal
• Agricultural
Is it ok to leave in the .com on the picture?

Surface Water Pollution
• Hazardous substances coming into
contact with surface water
• Dissolves or mixes physically with
the water
• Examples: Humans dumping trash
into the waterways, especially
objects that are swept down storm
drains.
• Also, sewage

Oil Pollution
• Release of liquid petroleum
hydrocarbons (oil) into the water
• Especially harmful to marine
and other wildlife
• Usually localized, but can
spread
• Examples: oil spills

Chemical Water Pollution
• Chemicals from industries and
farmers that run off into the
waterways.
• Examples: metals and solvents
from industries
• Also, chemicals that control
weeds, insects, and pests

Groundwater Pollution
• Pesticides and chemicals wash
deep into the ground by rain
water
• Can get into the aquifers, thus
polluting the groundwater
• Anything on the surface can
eventually work its way down to
the groundwater.

Groundwater Pollution
(continued)
• Plume – the area of
groundwater affected by the
contamination
• Look at the diagram and
observe the amount of
contamination in relationship to
the point pollution.

Thermal Water Pollution
• The rise or fall in the
temperature of a natural body
of water.
• Changes the physical
properties of water, particularly
the amount of dissolved oxygen
in the water.
• Decreases fish population and
increases death to wildlife

Agricultural Pollution
• Sediments washing off fields are
the largest source of agricultural
pollution in the U.S.
• Sediments increase the cost of
treating drinking water and can
also clog fish gills, reducing their
resistance to disease.

Overuse and Waste
• Irrigation uses 30% of all
freshwater in the U.S.
• Swimming pools and water
parks
• Golf courses
• Washing cars
• Watering the lawn
What other ways do you overuse
or waste water where you live?
Estimated % of water used at home

Land Subsidence
• Withdrawing groundwater
causing the land to sink
• Causes flooding problems
• Causes a shift in the
foundations of buildings, which
can lead to their destruction

Quick Action – Human Impact on Water
Time toTattle
1. In what ways do your parents waste water?
2. How are your water conservation habits?
3. Draw a window pane of six ways you can improve
your conservation of water. Share your ideas at
home.

Check for Understanding
Can you…
compare fresh and salt water, including examples?
identify the differences between surface and groundwater, including examples?
draw and label the parts of an aquifer?
recall six different types of water pollution?
generate ideas for reducing water pollution?

Watersheds ppt

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