WATER “All is born of water; all is sustained with water.”

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WATER

“All is born of water; all is sustained with water.”

WATER FactsWATER Facts The human body is about 2/3

water. 80% of the Earth’s surface is

water 97% of all the Earth’s water is in

the form of oceans or seas. 2% of the Earth’s water is frozen

in icebergs. 1% of the world’s water is

suitable for drinking. Can only survive a few days

without water

The human body is about 2/3 water.

80% of the Earth’s surface is water

97% of all the Earth’s water is in the form of oceans or seas.

2% of the Earth’s water is frozen in icebergs.

1% of the world’s water is suitable for drinking.

Can only survive a few days without water



WATER FACTS• Average American uses 90

gallons of water a day• Average European uses 53

gallons of water a day• Average sub-Saharan uses 3-5

gallons of water a day• Average person in the Middle

Ages used 5 gallons of water a day

• Water is the 2 drink listed as the favorite of US beverages

• 2-7 gallons used to flush a toilet• 2 gallons used to brush your teeth• 9-12 gallons needed to run a load

in the average automatic dishwasher



Minnesota Waters• Land of 11,842 lakes that are 10 acres or

larger• Lakes and rivers provide more miles of

shoreline than do the coasts of California Florida and Hawaii combined

Most common name for a lake in Minnesota is “Mud Lake”. (200 named)2nd most popular is “Long” (118), followed by Rice (83), Bass (68), Mississippi River was carved out of glacial Lake Minnesota and the glacial River Warren

In your journalImagine yourself a water droplet, falling from the sky onto the

head of a squirrel gathering nuts in a park in a suburb of Minneapolis. You trickle down its forehead, onto its nose, then drip off the tip onto the grass at its feet.

Then what?

Using pictures or words, describe where you go next? And after that? And then? Finish the story of the raindrop…..





the WATER cycle

• Process of water movement from the ground to the sky and then back to the ground

• Evaporation (liquid to gas)• Condensation (gas to solid or liquid)• Precipitation (condensed water in clouds

returns to earth)• Transpiration (living plants release water

vapor)

Surface Water• Freshwater that is aboveground

– Lakes, ponds, rivers and streams

• Cities thrive where surface water is abundant– Why?



Ground water• Water below the water table where saturated conditions exist

– Water table: upper surface• Recharge zones: locations where surface waters infiltrate the

groundwater system• Discharge zones: places where groundwater flows or seeps out

at the surface (ex: spring)



Aquifers• Underground zone or body of earth material (gravel, sand and open space) from which groundwater can be obtained at a useful rate.• Usually moves slowly at rates of centimeters per day.• When water is pumped from one, water table is depressed, forming a cone of depression



Ogallala Aquifer• AKA: High Plains Aquifer• One of the world’s largest aquifers• 27% of the irrigated land in the US

overlies this aquifer system• Yields about 30% of the nation’s

ground water used for irrigation• Provides drinking water to 82% of the

people who live within the boundary

Water is being withdrawn 10 to 40 times faster than it is being replenished

Some estimate it will dry up within 25 years



Watersheds• Region where all of the

water flows down hill to a particular body of water– Lake, river or wetland

• Watersheds are all connected

• MN-all water flows out of the state in 3 directions (because it has 3 continental divides)– North to Hudson Bay– East to Atlantic– South to Gulf of Mexico



Watersheds cont.

• Belong to the Twin Cities Watershed

• Minor watershed of the school???– Examples

POLLUTION• Introduction of harmful

substances into the environment

• Toxins, nutrients, solids and bacteria

• Two underlying causes: industrialization and the human population explosion– Produce waste faster than we

can dispose of it

• Point and Nonpoint source pollution





Point Source Pollution• Addition of a pollutant directly

into a lake, river or body of water.

• Usually traced to a pipe• Examples:

– wastewater treatment facilities – industrial waste discharge – septic pipe that dumps straight

into water– (most of these are regulated by

law now)



Nonpoint Source Pollution• Pollution that can’t be directly pinpointed “polluted runoff”• Takes place on land and with rain, moves into water• Hard to control• Leading cause of pollution• Examples

– Lawn fertilizer– storm water runoff– Road salt– soil erosion– Pop cans– things flushed



Kinds of Pollutants1. PATHOGENS

– Disease-causing organisms (bacteria)

– Cholera, hepatitis, typhoid, E.coli

– human sewage is untreated or enters through storm sewers

– Animal feces wash off into water

2. ORGANIC MATTER– Biodegradable remains

of animals and plants, (nonpoint sources)

3. ORGANIC CHEMICALS– Pesticides, fertilizers,

plastics, detergents, gasoline and oil (nonpoint sources)



Kinds of Pollutants

4. INORGANIC CHEMICALS– Acids, salts, toxic metals

(point and nonpoint)

5. TOXIC CHEMICALS– Lead, mercury, household

chemicals, etc

6. PHYSICAL AGENTS– Heat and suspended solids

(soil)– Thermal pollution

7. RADIOACTIVE WASTE– From power or nuclear

plants



How it affects the Ecosystem

Biological magnification– Increase in

concentration from one level to the next

Eutrophication– Process that

increases the amounts of nutrients (esp nitrogen and phosphorus)

– Human accelerated process

– Inorganic plant nutrients get into the water from sewage and fertilizer runoff



Thermal Pollution– Occurs when industries

along water use the water in their cooling system

– Cool water is taken in, warm water is returned

– Can cause massive fish kills

– Warm water cannot hold as much oxygen as cool water



WATER “All is born of water; all is sustained with water.”

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