Fresh Water Mrs. Reese

What percentage of the Earth’s water is salt and fresh? 97% of the Earth’s water is unusable by humans because it is found in the ocean. 3% of the freshwater is found in various ways: Groundwater (deep and shallow): 23% of the 3% Rivers and Lakes: 0.34% of the 3% Glaciers: 76% of the 3% Humans can only have access to the water found underground and rivers and lakes.

Water on Earth USDS Data

Water on Earth

Describe how water is renewed on Earth? Water on Earth is renewed/recycled through the water cycle.

Water Cycle

Water Cycle Steps Water evaporates from bodies of water or transpires from plants. Evaporation and transpiration is the process that changes a LIQUID TO A GAS. This process requires an increase in energy. Clouds form through condensation. Condensation is the process of changing a GAS TO A LIQUID. This process requires a decrease in energy. Water falls from the clouds as precipitation (snow, sleet, hail, rain). Some of the water immediately evaporates again, some runs off the surface of land into rivers and lakes and eventually into the ocean, and some gets soaked underground.

What do humans use water for? Agriculture: water is used to irrigate areas where rain does not fall often enough to allow crops to grow. Industry (manufacturing of most consumer products) Transportation (Boats, Ferries, etc…) Recreation (Pools)

What do humans use water for? Life (water is essential for living things to grow, reproduce, and to stay living.) Habitats (place where an organism lives and allows it to survive) Household: showering 5 minutes (95 liters), brushing teeth (10 liters), washing hands (7.5 liters, flushing regular toilet (23 liters), washing 1 load of laundry (151 liters), dishwasher (19 liters), washing dishes by hand (114 liters)

What is Surface Water? Surface water is found in the nation's rivers, streams, creeks, tributaries, lakes, ponds, icebergs, and reservoirs.

What is an Iceberg? An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. Most of the iceberg is underwater.

What is a pond? A pond is a body of water, smaller than a lake, that collects in a hollow or a low lying area of land, water is still. Most ponds are habitats for a large number of organisms such as frogs, plants, snails, fish, turtles, birds, and algae. Since ponds are shallow, sunlight can reach all the way to the bottom and many plants grow

Pond Image

What is a lake? A lake is a body of water of considerable size contained on a low-lying area of land; water is still. Lakes can be created by humans (damming a river) or they can form by craters filling up with water. Since lakes are very deep, sunlight does not reach all the way down and that limits that number of organisms that live in the deep areas of a lake.

What is a reservoir? Reservoir is a lake that stores water for people to use.

What are tributaries and rivers? Tributaries are small streams and rivers that feed into a main river. A river is a natural waterway that transports water through a landscape from higher to lower elevations.

What is a watershed? A watershed is all the land area that supplies all the water in a river system and allows it to flow into a main river.

What is a watershed? Everyone lives in a watershed.  You and everyone in your watershed are part of the watershed community.  The animals, birds, and fish are too.  You influence what happens in your watershed, good or bad, by how you treat the natural resources, the soil, water, air, plants, and animals.  What happens in your small watershed also affects the larger watershed downstream.

A Watershed Illustration

How many watersheds does the U.S. have? The U.S. is divided into various watersheds that are separated by ridges of land (mountains). Some watersheds are small but others like the Mississippi river water shed is enormous.

What are the components of a watershed? A watershed is composed of all the surface water, such as lakes, ponds, and streams, and groundwater that supplies water to a river system.

What is groundwater? Groundwater comes from precipitation that trickles down through particles of soil and through cracks and spaces in layers of rock.

Groundwater

What is groundwater? Some underground parts are permeable (meaning that materials such as water can pass through easily). Sand and gravel are permeable. These materials are permeable because they have larger pores and the water can go through. Other parts are impermeable (meaning that materials such as water cannot pass through easily). Clay and granite are impermeable. Once water reaches the impermeable layer it is trapped and it begins to accumulate. This is called the zone of saturation. . The top of the saturation zone is the water table. This is where you have to dig to in order to tap into the water.

What is an Aquifer An aquifer is a natural underground area where large quantities of ground water fill the spaces between rocks and sediment.

What is a well? A well is a man-made aquifer for drinking and everyday uses. Wells can run dry if they are over-used. In other words, if more water is pumped at a faster rate that the well recharges.