The Hydrologic Cycle
This process occurs when liquid water is heated by the sun and turns into an invisible gas.
What is evaporation?
This term describes average weather conditions recorded in a region over a long period.
What is climate?
Water that does not soak into the ground during a storm and flows overland into waterways is called this.
What is runoff (or surface water)?
Underground rock formations that store water in their pores and crevices are known as these.
What are aquifers?
Municipal drinking water facilities add this chemical to kill harmful bacteria and microorganisms before sending water to homes.
What is chlorine?
Plants release water vapor into the air through their leaves during photosynthesis in this specific process.
What is transpiration?
Rainfall across Texas changes drastically based on location, increasing as you travel in this cardinal direction.
What is East (or West to East)?
Oil, trash, pet waste, and excess fertilizer carried into storm drains during rainstorms are examples of this type of broad pollution.
What is non-point source pollution?
The boundary line between the dry soil layer above and the saturated underground zone below is called this.
What is the water table?
Sewage treatment plants use these microscopic living organisms to break down organic waste in wastewater.
What are bacteria?
Water leaves behind impurities and salts when it evaporates, but it can pick up atmospheric contaminants again when it forms clouds during this process.
What is condensation?
Texas weather is strongly influenced by warm, tropical air flowing in from this large body of water.
What is the Gulf of Mexico?
Water flows over paved surfaces like asphalt and concrete up to this many times faster than over natural, unpaved ground.
What is 10 times faster?
Geographic areas where rainwater soaks deep into the ground to refill an aquifer are called these.
What are recharge areas (or recharge zones)?
Rural homes not connected to city sewer lines store and treat household wastewater using these underground systems.
What are septic systems?
The two main natural forces that power the hydrologic cycle like a giant pump.
What are solar energy (the sun) and gravity?
This oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon happens when warm waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean expand, bringing warmer, wetter weather to Texas.
What is El Niño?
These semi-aquatic mammals build natural dams that slow down flowing water and store it for later use.
What are beavers?
Located in San Marcos, Texas, this site is the second largest natural spring in America west of the Mississippi River.
What are the San Marcos Springs?
Homeowners use these storage containers under roof gutters to collect rainwater for landscape plants during dry periods.
What are rainwater barrels (or rainwater harvesting tanks)?
Approximately this percentage of all precipitation on Earth falls directly into the oceans.
What is 85%?
High humidity helps keep nighttime temperatures higher in humid cities like Houston compared to desert cities like El Paso because water acts as this.
What is a temperature buffer?
This percentage of the total precipitation falling on the continental United States returns directly to the atmosphere right away.
What is 66% (or two-thirds)?
Only about this small percentage of total rainfall soaks into the ground to become groundwater.
What is 3%?
The solid material left over after wastewater treatment is disinfected and frequently recycled into this product for agriculture.
What is fertilizer?