OUTLINE

1. Water resources & issues

2. Increased water supplies
& sustainable water use

3. Water pollution
4. Solutions for water
pollution
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How long can you survive without water?

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4
 Water
Ø Water resources include salt water, freshwater (surface and
groundwater, aquifer, ice cap, snow, evaporated water…)

Ø Freshwater supply is continuously collected, purified, recycled

and distributed in hydrologic cycle.

Ø About
0.024% is
available
to human
to use
 Importance of water
ü Global health issue. About 3,900 children
younger than age 5 die from waterborne infectious
diseases.
ü Economic issue – vital for reducing poverty and
producing food and energy.
ü Women’s and children’s issue in developing
countries because poor women and girls often are
responsible for finding and carrying daily supplies
of water.

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 Importance of water
ü National and global security issue: increase
tensions within and between nations over access
to limited water resources that they share.
ü Environmental issue: excessive withdrawal of
water from rivers and aquifers à dropping water
tables, lower river flows, shrinking lakes, and
losses of wetlands.

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Water availability

• Comparison of
population sizes and
shares of the world’s
freshwater among the
continents.
 Surface water

ü Surface water: freshwater from precipitation and

snowmelt that flows across the earth’s land surface
and into lakes, wetlands, streams, rivers, estuaries,
and ultimately to the oceans.
ü Surface runoff: Precipitation that does not infiltrate
the ground or return to the atmosphere
ü Watershed/ drainage basin: region from which
surface water drains into body of water 9
World’s river systems and watershed
 Ground water

ØGroundwater: Most important source of

freshwater. Precipitation infiltrates the
ground and is stored in spaces in soil and
rock.
ØZone of saturation : spaces are completely
filled with water
ØWater table is located at the top of the zone
saturation
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13
 Aquifers

üAquifers: Deeper down to porous, water-

saturated layer of sand or bedrock.
üRecharge extremely slowly
üWorldwide, about 70% of the water we
withdraw each year comes from rivers, lakes,
and aquifers to irrigate cropland, industry uses
another 20%, and residences 10%.

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 Unconfined Aquifer Recharge Area

Precipitation Evaporation and transpiration Evaporation

Confined
Recharge Runoff
Area

Flowing
Recharge
artesian Stream Well
Unconfined
well requiring a
Aquifer
Infiltration Water pump
table Lake
Infiltration
Unconfined aquifer
Less permeable
material such as clay Confined aquifer
Confining impermea
ble rock layer
 Water issues - Water scarcity

• Reasons: dry climate, drought, using a water

supply more quickly than it can be
replenished, and wasteful use of water.
• More than 30 countries—mainly in the Middle
East and Africa—now face water scarcity.

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TECHNOLOGY “by 2050, three-fourths world’s
population will live in water
stressed areas”

“Countries such as India could face

significant interior strife due to inadequate water
resources”
BI

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 Water issues - Floods
Reasons:
ü Natural events: heavy rainfall,
melting snow
ü Removal of water-absorbing
vegetation
ü Draining and building on
wetlands, which naturally absorb
floodwaters.
Floodplain: the natural area around
a river where flooding normally
occurs.
 A hillside before and after deforestation

Tree plantation
Diverse
ecological
Evapotranspiration Roads Evapotranspiration decreases
habitat
Trees reduce soil destabilize Overgrazing accelerates soil
erosion from heavy hillsides erosion by water and wind
rain and wind Winds remove
Agricultural fragile topsoil
land Agricultural
land is flooded
and silted up
Gullies and
Tree roots
landslides
stabilize soil
Heavy rain erodes topsoil
Vegetation releases water Silt from erosion fills Rapid runoff
slowly and reduces flooding rivers and reservoirs causes flooding

Forested Hillside After Deforestation

19 Art
Stepped
Fig. 11-20, p. 254
20
 Ways to reduce flood risks
• Floods provide several benefits.
üCreate the world’s most productive farmland by
depositing nutrient-rich silt on floodplains.
üRecharge groundwater and help to refill wetlands,
thereby supporting biodiversity and aquatic
ecological services.
• To improve flood control, we can rely less on
engineering devices such as dams and levees
and more on nature’s systems such as wetlands
and natural vegetation in watersheds.
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Ways to reduce flood risk

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 OUTLINE

• Water resources & its issues

• Increased water supplies &
sustainable water use

• Water pollution
• Solutions for water pollution

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 How can we increase water supplies?

• Aquifers provide drinking water for nearly half of the

world’s people.
• Water tables are falling in many areas of the world
because the rate of pumping water from aquifers
(mostly to irrigate crops) exceeds the rate of natural
recharge from rainfall and snowmelt.

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Rainwater tank

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26
1. Withdrawing groundwater

– Withdrawing large amounts of groundwater causes the

sand and rock in aquifers to collapse.
– Coastal areas can pull saltwater into freshwater aquifers.
The resulting contaminated groundwater is undrinkable
and unusable for irrigation.
TECHNOLOGY
BI

Land sink because of overexploitation of groundwater

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in Bangkok
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 Withdrawing groundwater has
advantages and disadvantages

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Solutions for groundwater depletion

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 2. Large dams and reservoirs

• Dams are structures

built across rivers to
block some of the flow of
water.
• Dammed water usually
creates a reservoir, a
store of water collected
behind the dam.

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Provides Flooded land
irrigation destroys
water above forests or
and below
dam cropland and
displaces
people

Large losses
of water
through
evaporation
Provides
water for
drinking
Deprives
downstream
cropland and
Reservoir estuaries of
useful for nutrient-rich
recreation silt
and fishing

Risk of
Can produce failure and
cheap devastating
electricity downstream
(hydropower) flooding

Reduces down-
stream flooding
of cities and Disrupts
farms migration and
spawning of
some fish
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Fig. 11-12a, p. 247
TECHNOLOGY

The Three Gorges Dam (Yangtze River, China)

BI

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BI TECHNOLOGY

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36
California aqueduct brings
water hundreds of miles,
across deserts, mountains
Giant damps, pumps, canals
to transort water form water
rich area to water poor area
 3. Desalination
• Desalination involves removing dissolved salts
from ocean water or from brackish water in
aquifers or lakes for domestic use.
– Distillation involves heating saltwater until it
evaporates (leaving behind salts in solid form) and
condenses as freshwater.
– Reverse osmosis (or microfiltration) uses high
pressure to force saltwater through a membrane
filter with pores small enough to remove the salt.

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Desalinization
40
 Desalination

Three major problems

ü The high cost
ü Pumping large volumes of seawater kills many marine
organisms and also requires large inputs of energy to run
the pumps.
ü Desalination produces huge quantities of salty wastewater
that must go somewhere.

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What can you learn from this chart?
 Worldwide water use

• Agriculture: 70%
• Industry: 20%
• Domestic use: 10%

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 How can we use freshwater more
sustainably?

• Reduce freshwater waste

– An estimated 66% of the freshwater used
in the world is unnecessarily wasted.
– 2 reasons:
üCost of fresh water is low
üLack of government subsidies for
improving the efficiency of fresh water use
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 How can we use freshwater more
sustainably?

• Cut freshwater
waste in irrigation
– About 60% of the
irrigation water
worldwide does
not reach the
targeted crops.

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 Drip irrigation
(efficiency 90–95%)

Gravity flow
(efficiency 60%)

Center pivot
(efficiency 80%–95%)
Water usually pumped
Above- or below- from underground and
ground pipes or tubes sprayed from mobile
Water usually comes from deliver water to boom with sprinklers.
an aqueduct system or a individual plant roots.
nearby river.
 How can we use freshwater more
sustainably?
• Cut freshwater waste in industry & homes
– Producers of chemicals, paper, oil, coal, primary
metals, and processed food consume almost
90% of the water used by industry in the United
States.
– Flushing toilets with freshwater is the largest use
of domestic water in the US.
– 30–60% of the freshwater major cities in less-
developed countries is lost, primarily through
leakage in water mains, pipes, pumps, and
valves.
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How much water do you use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=125&v=sCwJwTBLdI
E&feature=emb_title
 How can we use freshwater more sustainably?

• Cut
freshwater
waste in
industry &
homes

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 We need to use water more sustainably

Each of us can help

bring about such a
“blue revolution” by
using and wasting
less water to reduce
our water footprints.

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Water Rerouces Water quality
Water pollution
0.024% is available Harms humans/ other
living organisms
Point sources Nonpoint sources

Pollutants

Surface water Ground water Ocean

pollution pollution pollution

Streams Lake and

reservoir Plastic Domestic Agricultural Industrial Mining
\rivers
pollution waste waste activities facilities

Eutrophication

Increase water Use water more Cutting

supplies sustainably waste
water

Withdraw Large dams Desalination Increase Protect aquifers,

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and reservoirs water forests, ecosystems
ground water
 OUTLINE

• Water resources & its issues

• Increased water supplies &
sustainable water use

• Water pollution
• Solutions for water pollution

52
 Water pollution Water quality

Harms humans/ other

Point sources Nonpoint sources living organisms

Pollutants

Surface water Ground water Ocean

pollution pollution pollution

Stream Lake and Agricultural Industrial Mining

reservoir activities facilities
s \rivers
pollution

Plastic waste Domestic waste

Eutrophication

Sollutions??? 53
 Water pollution

• Water pollution is any

change in water quality
that harms humans or
other living organisms
or makes water
unsuitable for human
uses such as drinking,
irrigation, and
recreation.

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 Water pollution

• Point sources discharge

pollutants at specific
locations through drain
pipes, ditches, or sewer
lines into bodies of surface
water.
• It is easy to identify,
monitor, and regulate.

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 Water pollution
• Nonpoint sources are broad, diffuse areas, rather
than points, from which pollutants enter bodies of
surface water or air.
– Difficult and expensive to identify and control
discharges from many diffuse sources.

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 Water pollution
• Agricultural activities are the leading cause of
water pollution, including sediment from erosion,
fertilizers and pesticides, bacteria from livestock
and food-processing wastes, and excess salts
from soils of irrigated cropland.
• Industrial facilities, which emit a variety of
harmful inorganic and organic chemicals, are a
second major source of water pollution.
• Mining is the third biggest source of water
pollution. Surface mining disturbs the land by
creating major erosion of sediments and runoff of
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toxic chemicals.
Plastic waste
60
 1. Surface water pollution
Stream and river (flowing
water)
• untreated sewage, industrial
wastes, and discarded trash

• Flowing rivers and streams

can recover rapidly from
moderate levels of degradable,
oxygen-demanding wastes
through a combination of
dilution and biodegradation of
such wastes by bacteria. 62
This highly polluted
river in central
China is greenish-
black due to
uncontrolled
pollution from
thousands of
factories.

63
 Surface water pollution

Lake and reservoir pollution (stable

water)
• Lakes and reservoirs are generally less effective at
diluting pollutants than streams.
• Lakes and reservoirs are more vulnerable than
streams to contamination by runoff or discharge of
plant nutrients, oil, pesticides, and nondegradable
toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and
arsenic.
• Many toxic chemicals and acids also enter lakes
and reservoirs from the atmosphere. 64
 Surface water pollution

Lake and reservoir pollution

• Eutrophication refers to the natural nutrient
enrichment of a shallow lake, estuary, or slow-
moving stream usually caused by runoff of plant
nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates from
surrounding land.
• Near urban or agricultural areas, human activities
can greatly accelerate the input of plant nutrients to
a lake (cultural eutrophication).

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66
 Lake and reservoir pollution

• Too many nutrients

(nitrogen and
phosphorous) in the
water causes algal
blooms and decreased
oxygen in water
• Little or no oxygen
• Causes “dead zones” in
water

http://study.com/academy/lesson/human-causes-of-eutrophication.html
Severe cultural eutrophication has covered this 68
lake near the Chinese city of Haozhou with algae.
 2. Groundwater pollution
• Common pollutants: fertilizers, pesticides,
gasoline, and organic solvents can seep into
groundwater
• When groundwater becomes contaminated, it
cannot cleanse itself of degradable wastes as
quickly as flowing surface water does.
• Little is known about groundwater pollution
because it is expensive to locate, track, and test
aquifers.

69
 Principal sources of groundwater Polluted air
contamination in the U.S.
Hazardous
waste
injection well
Pesticides
and fertilizers
Coal strip Deicing
mine runoff road salt
Buried gasoline
and solvent
tanks Cesspool,
Pumping Gasoline septic
well station tank
Water
Waste lagoon pumping well Sewer
Landfill

Accidental Leakage
spills from faulty
casing
Discharge
Freshwater
aquifer
Groundwater
flow

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 3. Ocean pollution
• 80-90% of municipal sewage is dumped into oceans
without treatment.
• Scientists also point to the underreported problem of
pollution from cruise ships.
• Harmful algal blooms can result from the runoff of sewage
and agricultural water.
• Every year, because of harmful algal blooms, at least 400
oxygen-depleted zones form in coastal waters around the
world.

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 Residential areas, factories, and farms all
contribute to the pollution of coastal waters

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Deadzones

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 Ocean Pollution from Oil

Crude and refined petroleum reach the ocean from

a number of sources and become highly disruptive
pollutants.
– Tanker accidents and blowouts at offshore oil drilling
rigs.
– Urban and industrial runoff from land, much of it from
leaks in pipelines and oil-handling facilities.
– At least 37% of the oil reaching the oceans is waste
oil, dumped, spilled, or leaked onto the land or into
sewers by cities and industries, and by people
changing their own motor oil.
74
 OUTLINE

• Water resources & its issues

• Increased water supplies &
sustainable water use

• Water pollution
• Solutions for water pollution

75
Reducing surface water pollution from
nonpoint sources

– Reduce soil erosion by keeping cropland

covered with vegetation.

Woodchips as mulch 76
Reducing surface water pollution from
nonpoint sources
– Organic farming can also help prevent water
pollution caused by nutrient overload.
– Reduce the amount of fertilizer that runs off into
surface waters and leaches into aquifers by using
slow-release fertilizer, using no fertilizer on
steeply sloped land, and planting buffer zones
of vegetation between cultivated fields and
nearby surface waters.

77
Reducing surface water pollution from
nonpoint sources

– Control runoff and infiltration of manure from

animal feedlots by planting buffers and locating
feedlots and animal waste sites away from
steeply sloped land, surface water, and flood
zones.

78
 Laws can help to reduce water pollution
from point sources
• Set standards for allowed levels of key water
pollutants
• Shifting the focus of the law to water pollution
prevention instead of focusing mostly on end-of-pipe
removal of specific pollutants.
• Greatly increased monitoring for violations of the law.
• Much larger mandatory fines for violators.
• Regulating irrigation water quality.
• Expand the rights of citizens to bring lawsuits to
ensure that water pollution laws are enforced.
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TECHNOLOGY

Management
Authority

Laws, regulations

Responsible
parties
BI

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TECHNOLOGY

Changes of pH, turbidity

(colour), salinity or
temperature

Early warning, automated

sampling to double check
BI

81
There are many ways to purify drinking
water
• More-developed countries usually store surface
water in a reservoir to increasing dissolved
oxygen content and allow suspended matter to
settle, then pumped water to a purification plant
and treat it to meet government drinking water
standards.
• Technology to convert sewer water into pure
drinking water.

82
 Sewage treatment reduces water
pollution
• In urban areas most waterborne wastes flow through a
network of sewer pipes to wastewater or sewage
treatment plants.

83
There are many ways to purify drinking
water
– Exposing a clear plastic
bottle filled with
contaminated water to
intense sunlight can kill
infectious microbes in as
little as three hours.
– The Life Straw is an
inexpensive portable water
filter that eliminates many
viruses and parasites from
water drawn into it.
=> reducing poverty, and 84
slowing population growth.
Ways to prevent and clean up
contamination of groundwater

85
 Reducing ocean water pollution

• The key to protecting the oceans is to

reduce the flow of pollution from land
and air and from streams emptying
into these waters.

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Ways to help reduce or prevent water
pollution

87
 Three big ideas
• One of the major global environmental problems
is the growing shortage of freshwater in many
parts of the world.
• We can use water more sustainably by cutting
water waste, raising water prices, and
protecting aquifers, forests and other
ecosystems that store and release water.
• Reducing water pollution requires preventing it,
working with nature to treat sewage, cutting
resource use and waste, reducing poverty,
and slowing population growth. 88
Water Rerouces Water quality
Water pollution
0.024% is available Harms humans/ other
living organisms
Point sources Nonpoint sources

Pollutants

Surface water Ground water Ocean

pollution pollution pollution

Streams Lake and

reservoir Plastic Domestic Agricultural Industrial Mining
\rivers
pollution waste waste activities facilities

Eutrophication

Increase water Use water more Cutting

supplies sustainably waste
water

Withdraw Large dams Desalination Increase Protect aquifers,

89
and reservoirs water forests, ecosystems
ground water
Reducing water pollution???

90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwV9O
YeGN88

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