Chapter 18 Guided Reading
Case Study: Palm Beach County, Florida: Water Use, Conservation and Reuse
What are some of the benefits of using reclaimed water?
Reclaimed water is a cheap source for water and is more available to the public.
1: What are some of the factors that make water so special?
The ocean
What is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth?
The lakes
3: What is the residence time of water in the atmosphere?
9 days
Groundwater and Streams
4: What is the water table?
The highest layer of ground water
5: What is a discharge zone?
A place where the ground water is able to leak out from the ground to the surface
6: What is an aquifer?
A body of underground water where groundwater can be taken.
What is a cone of depression? How is it created?
It is when water is taken from the aquifer. The depression is the water table around the well.
7: What is an effluent stream?
What is a stream that flows all year called?
8: What is an influent stream?
A flow maintained by groundwater seeping into a channel at the subsurface.
What is a stream that doesn’t flow all year called?
Perennial Stream
Water Supply: A U.S. Example
9: What is a water budget? How is it calculated?
Inputs, outputs and storage of water.
Precipitation-evaporation= runoff
Precipitation and Runoff Patterns
10: What is the average water use for people in the U.S.?
200 gallons/day
What is the average water use for people in Europe?
100 gallons/day
What is the average water use for people in Sub-Saharan Africa?
5 gallons/day
Groundwater Use and Problems
11: How many people in the U.S. use groundwater as a source of drinking water?
Half of the people
12: What problems can groundwater overdraft cause?
River ecosystems and land subsidence damage.
13: What is happening to the Ogallala Aquifer (High Plains Aquifer)?
It is being used up quicker than it can replenish.
Desalination as a Water Source
14: What is the percentage of salt in saltwater? ______%
3.5%
15: To be used as a freshwater source, the salt content must be reduced to about ____%
0.05%
16: What are some of the environmental impacts of desalination?
Water Use
17: Describe the difference between off-stream use and in-stream use.
18: What is one of the issues with off-stream use in the Pacific Northwest?
Fish are losing population from the reducing flow of the stream.
19: Describe what happened to the Aral Sea.
The sea was being used for irrigation reducing in volume. This change has brought death to the fish
as many are dying from the left over chemicals.
Some Trends in Water use
20: What are the two biggest users of freshwater withdrawals?
Irrigation and thermoelectrics.
Water Conservation
21: What are some of the suggestions for improved irrigation to conserve water?
Public Supply and Domestic Use
22: Domestic use of water (homes) accounts for ____% of total national water
withdrawals.
12%
23: What is Southern California (San Diego) doing to help with water shortages in the
future?
They are building desalination plants and making the height of the dams higher creating more storage space.
24: List 5 things that you can do at home to help conserve water usage
* Flush solid waste
* Manage my diet
* Turn off the water when toothbrushing
*Take shorter showers
*Water plants at night
Virtual Water
25: What is virtual water?
Amount of water to make a product.
26: How much water does it take to make a cup of coffee?
40 gal.
27: How much water does it take to raise beef?
15500m^3
Wetlands
28: How do we define wetlands?
Land consisting of swamps or marshes.
29: Wetlands are very important, what are the natural service functions of wetlands?
30: How much of the original wetlands of the U.S. have disappeared? ____%
50%
Restoration of Wetlands
31: What did the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 require?
The companies had to make another wet land to make up for their damage to the wetlands.
Dams and the Environment
32: Explain the environmental impacts of dams
It causes land loss and biological/cultural resources to lose as well. The dams also restrict the movement
of going upstream.
33: What are the PROS and CONS of the Three Gorges Dam?
34: What are some of the issues associated with removing of dams?
Global Water Shortage Linked to Food Supply
35: What are the environmental issues associated with global water shortage and food
supply?
36: Water is one of our most abundant resources, why are we concerned about its
availability in the future?
The growing population requires a larger amount of water and with the depleting amount of water we have
now, it is hard to make it sustainable.
Study Questions
1: Which is more important from a national point of view, conservation of water use in
agriculture or in urban areas? Why?
I think conservation of water use in agriculture is more important. This is because of it's high use of water
already. I think that the use of water for agriculture is over-using it as half of the water doesn't even reach
crops. Conservation in water for agriculture can save much water for the rest of the world. If we can think
of ways to conserve it better, more plants could also be using the water to grow.
What are some of the benefits of using reclaimed water?
Reclaimed water is a cheap source for water and is more available to the public.
1: What are some of the factors that make water so special?
- It is able to dissolve many substances
- The solid form is less dense than it's liquid
The ocean
What is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth?
The lakes
3: What is the residence time of water in the atmosphere?
9 days
Groundwater and Streams
4: What is the water table?
The highest layer of ground water
5: What is a discharge zone?
A place where the ground water is able to leak out from the ground to the surface
6: What is an aquifer?
A body of underground water where groundwater can be taken.
What is a cone of depression? How is it created?
It is when water is taken from the aquifer. The depression is the water table around the well.
7: What is an effluent stream?
What is a stream that flows all year called?
8: What is an influent stream?
A flow maintained by groundwater seeping into a channel at the subsurface.
What is a stream that doesn’t flow all year called?
Perennial Stream
Water Supply: A U.S. Example
9: What is a water budget? How is it calculated?
Inputs, outputs and storage of water.
Precipitation-evaporation= runoff
Precipitation and Runoff Patterns
10: What is the average water use for people in the U.S.?
200 gallons/day
What is the average water use for people in Europe?
100 gallons/day
What is the average water use for people in Sub-Saharan Africa?
5 gallons/day
Groundwater Use and Problems
11: How many people in the U.S. use groundwater as a source of drinking water?
Half of the people
12: What problems can groundwater overdraft cause?
River ecosystems and land subsidence damage.
13: What is happening to the Ogallala Aquifer (High Plains Aquifer)?
It is being used up quicker than it can replenish.
Desalination as a Water Source
14: What is the percentage of salt in saltwater? ______%
3.5%
15: To be used as a freshwater source, the salt content must be reduced to about ____%
0.05%
16: What are some of the environmental impacts of desalination?
- Change in fluctuations of ecosystems
- Increase of salinity in other bodies of water killing organisms
Water Use
17: Describe the difference between off-stream use and in-stream use.
- Offsteam: Removed and returned later back to the source
- In-stream: Not returned as it is used up in other stuff.
18: What is one of the issues with off-stream use in the Pacific Northwest?
Fish are losing population from the reducing flow of the stream.
19: Describe what happened to the Aral Sea.
The sea was being used for irrigation reducing in volume. This change has brought death to the fish
as many are dying from the left over chemicals.
Some Trends in Water use
20: What are the two biggest users of freshwater withdrawals?
Irrigation and thermoelectrics.
Water Conservation
21: What are some of the suggestions for improved irrigation to conserve water?
- Improving irrigation
- Monitor the inputs/outputs of water
- Grow crops w/ less water intake.
Public Supply and Domestic Use
22: Domestic use of water (homes) accounts for ____% of total national water
withdrawals.
12%
23: What is Southern California (San Diego) doing to help with water shortages in the
future?
They are building desalination plants and making the height of the dams higher creating more storage space.
24: List 5 things that you can do at home to help conserve water usage
* Flush solid waste
* Manage my diet
* Turn off the water when toothbrushing
*Take shorter showers
*Water plants at night
Virtual Water
25: What is virtual water?
Amount of water to make a product.
26: How much water does it take to make a cup of coffee?
40 gal.
27: How much water does it take to raise beef?
15500m^3
Wetlands
28: How do we define wetlands?
Land consisting of swamps or marshes.
29: Wetlands are very important, what are the natural service functions of wetlands?
- Contain groundwater recharge
- Used as sponge for water
- Can filter water
30: How much of the original wetlands of the U.S. have disappeared? ____%
50%
Restoration of Wetlands
31: What did the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 require?
The companies had to make another wet land to make up for their damage to the wetlands.
Dams and the Environment
32: Explain the environmental impacts of dams
It causes land loss and biological/cultural resources to lose as well. The dams also restrict the movement
of going upstream.
33: What are the PROS and CONS of the Three Gorges Dam?
- Pros: Provides fresh water reservoir and provides electricity.
- Cons:Restrict upstream movement. Fragmentation of ecosystems
34: What are some of the issues associated with removing of dams?
- Expensive
- Fragmentation of river
Global Water Shortage Linked to Food Supply
35: What are the environmental issues associated with global water shortage and food
supply?
- Drying of the water
- Depletion of groundwater
- Rivers aren't able to deliver water to the ocean.
36: Water is one of our most abundant resources, why are we concerned about its
availability in the future?
The growing population requires a larger amount of water and with the depleting amount of water we have
now, it is hard to make it sustainable.
Study Questions
1: Which is more important from a national point of view, conservation of water use in
agriculture or in urban areas? Why?
I think conservation of water use in agriculture is more important. This is because of it's high use of water
already. I think that the use of water for agriculture is over-using it as half of the water doesn't even reach
crops. Conservation in water for agriculture can save much water for the rest of the world. If we can think
of ways to conserve it better, more plants could also be using the water to grow.