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Simplified Hydrologic (Water) Cycle

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Presentation on theme: "Simplified Hydrologic (Water) Cycle"— Presentation transcript:

1 Simplified Hydrologic (Water) Cycle
Condensation Rain clouds Transpiration Evaporation Precipitation to land Transpiration from plants Precipitation Precipitation Evaporation From ocean Evaporation From ocean Surface runoff (rapid) Precipitation to ocean Rapid Infiltration and percolation Surface runoff (rapid) Groundwater movement (slow) Ocean storage Fig. 3-24, p. 54

2 Use of Water Resources Agriculture – 70% world-wide
EX: Ogallala Aquifer – Midwest US Industrial – in-stream vs. withdrawl Hydropower, cooling, process water Domestic Drinking water, bathing, sewer, cleaning, etc

3 Ogallala Aquifer One of world’s larges aquifers -174,000 square miles
30% of ground water used for agriculture in US is from here Supplies drinking water for 82% of high plains area of US Being used up considerably faster than can be replenished through rainfall

4 Types of Pollution Point Source Pollution Non-point Source Pollution

5 point source pollution
coming from a known source like a pipe, tank, or specific site easier to monitor easier to address

6 non-point source pollution
nonspecific source Could be multiple sources diffuse like runoff from storm drains or atmospheric fallout harder to control and pinpoint a source accounts for 90% of water pollution today

7 organic from life processes
examples include: sewage, animal waste, decomposing vegetation may contain pathogens Disease causing organisms

8 inorganic nonliving examples: road salt, dust, silt, clay, from construction

9 thermal heat pollution example: industrial cooling

10 toxic poisonous examples: pesticides, heavy metals, chemicals

11 Clean Water Act Water Classification
Class A – potable water, suitable for drinking supply Class B – suitable for full body contact, “fishable, swimmable” Class C – suitable for partial body contact, safe for boating

12 NSF Water Quality Index
a series of 9 weighted tests that yield a single, comprehensive assessment of the overall health of the river our most important assessment tool used world-wide to assess river water quality

13 Dissolved Oxygen (DO) the highest weighted test
sources: photosynthesis and atmospheric mixing levels peak in late afternoon and bottom out just before sunrise – why? the colder the water, the higher the solubility of DO results must be converted to % saturation low DO indicates organic pollution

14 Fecal Coliform a type of bacteria found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals 2nd most important test not dangerous but high levels may indicate the presence of pathogens expressed as colonies/100ml of water class B water must not exceed col/100ml

15 pH a measure of water acidity measured on a scale 0 – 14
below 7 is acidic, the lower the number, the more acidic each change of one on the scale indicates a 10-fold change in pH a pH of 7.5 is best for aquatic ecosystems

16 BOD a measure of the dissolved oxygen used by bacteria when breaking down organic pollution high BOD means low water quality BOD = DO(day1) – DO(day 5)

17 Temperature measured as temperature change along the river
temperature at site – temperature one mile upstream an indication of thermal pollution

18 Phosphates and Nitrates
two important plant nutrients if levels are too high – excessive plant growth and algal blooms occur, and eventually, a drop in DO when plant material decays sources: runoff from farms, lawns; effluent from wastewater treatment plants

19 Turbidity a measure of water clarity high turbidity means low clarity
high turbidity can increase water temps. (lowering DO) and make respiration difficult for aquatic organisms sources: runoff from construction sites, farms, roads

20 Total Dissolved Solids
same water quality issues as with turbidity can be measured with a conductivity meter

21 Assessing Water Quality Using Benthic Macroinvertebrate
“bottom-dwelling, big enough to see with the unaided eye, backbone-less organisms” loosely referred to as “bugs”

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24 Aquatic Insect Metamorphosis
Incomplete: egg – nymph – adult complete: egg – larva – pupa - adult

25 water quality is based on pollution tolerance and/or species diversity
pollution tolerance is based on indicator organisms – organisms that are highly sensitive to pollution; their presence is a good sign, their absence, a bad sign species diversity as an indicator of water quality – the greater the number of different types of organisms (richness), and the more evenly distributed (evenness), the better the water quality


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