Water Issues

The Hydrologic Cycle

Water Facts It covers the planet, but only 3% is fresh water and most of that is ice. Therefore less than 1% is available for human use Canada holds 20% of the worlds fresh water supply 1:3 Canadians depends on the Great Lakes for their water. Waterloo Region gets its water from Lake Erie.

Water Cycle Terms Evaporation – water changes state from a liquid to a gas Condensation – water vapour condenses into a liquid Precipitation – when water falls from the sky (liquid or solid) Transpiration – when water evaporates off plants & Trees

In the North American homes, faucets are opened an average of 70 times a day.

How many litres of water it takes to make: 10 = one sheet of paper 70 = one apple 91 = ½ kg of plastic 93 = one beer 120 = one glass of wine 140 = one cup of coffee 1,300 = one kg of wheat 12,000 = one pair of jeans 16,000 = one kg of leather

Producing a single car requires about 120,000 litres of water; 80,000 litres to make the ton of steel 40,000 litres for the remaining factors of production

Over half the total amount of water consumed in the United States alone goes to irrigate land growing feed for livestock. Enormous additional quantities of water must also be used to wash away the animals’ excrement.

To produce a single pound of meat takes an average of 15,150 litres of water – as much as a typical family uses for all its combined household purposes in a month!

To produce a day’s food for one meat-eater takes over 15,000 litres of water; for lacto-ovo vegetarians, only 4,500 litres; for a pure vegetarian, only 1,100 litres. It takes less water to produce a year’s food for a pure vegetarian than to produce a month’s food for a meat-eater.

The water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a naval destroyer.

“The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.” - Buddhist proverb

1 flush of a toilet uses as much water as the average person in the developing world uses for a whole day’s worth of washing, cooking, and drinking.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “each person needs 55 litres of water/day for drinking, cooking, and basic cleanliness.” An average person in Mozambique - 9 litres/day An average person in North America – 450 litres/day

In countries where water is scarce, women and children (not men) often walk more than 3 km/day each way to collect water.

Water Pollution There are 3 Types of Water Pollution 1.Physical – floating garbage, old tires paper etc in a lake, ocean or river 2.Biological – bacteria and viruses that enter lakes and rivers from a variety of sources (ie raw sewage into the Great lakes) 3.Chemical – most dangerous; often odorless, colourless and tasteless in our water but deadly (pesticides and herbicides, medicine)

Water Pollution Over 60 chemicals have identified in the Great Lakes. Theses are known chemicals – who knows what other nasty substances are beneath the surface. Theses chemicals are highly toxic and can cause harm to living creatures. Categories Toxin – Poisonous substance Carcinogen – causes cancer Mutagen – Causes birth defects

Biomagnification Def – how toxins move up the food chain; concentration increases at each trophic level of the food chain