Water Facts
The Earth is covered by this percentage of water.
What is 75%?
Rain and snow are examples of this.
What is precipitation?
Most of our freshwater comes from these.
What are glaciers?
Solids are removed from this stage of sewage treatment.
What is primary treatment?
The Earth is covered by this percentage of freshwater.
What is 3%?
When liquids changes to a gas or vapor.
What is evaporation?
Most of our drinking water comes from these.
What are aquifers?
Sludge is burned off in this stage of the sewage treatment process.
What is tertiary treatment?
1/4 of this remaining aquifer will disappear by the year 2020.
What is the Ogallala Aquifer?
What is the water cycle?
A cycle that describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.
72% of our water is used for this activity.
What is agriculture?
This substance is used to cause coagulation during the water treatment process.
What is alum?
What is eutrophication and what are the effects of it.
An excess of nutrients or organic matter that causes a decrease of dissolved oxygen.
Effects: Fish kills, plants die off, algae blooms, foul-smelling water.
What are the four steps of the water cycle, briefly explain each part.
What is precipitation (rainfall), evaporation (liquid changes to a gas or vapor), condensation (gas to a liquid), and transpiration (water movement from a plant)?
25% of the world's drinking water comes from this lake.
What are the Great Lakes?
Explain the difference between the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The Clean Water Act requires that all bodies of water need to be fishable and swimmable. The Safe Drinking Water Act regulates the amount of contaminants allowed in our water to ensure clean drinking water.
Explain what a Riparian Zone is and give three reasons as to why they are important to aquatic ecosystems.
A Riparian Zone is a narrow strip of land that borders lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. They are important to aquatic ecosystems because they increase biodiversity, increase water quality, protect against erosion, regulate temperatures, and increase property value.
Which of the steps associated with the water cycle may be responsible for helping to clean or filter our water. Identify and explain.
Evaporation because when the liquid turns to vapor and rises up to the Earth's atmosphere, almost all other chemicals and impurities are left behind.
The United States uses the most water out of all the countries in the world. Why do you think the U.S. uses the most water and give three ways to conserve water.
The U.S. does not use drip irrigation, Americans overuse their right to water, agriculture, etc.
Name and describe four steps of the water treatment process.
Aeration: brings water and air in close contact in order to remove dissolved gases
Coagulation: particles stick together
Sedimentation: uses gravity to remove suspended solids from water
Filtration: water passes through a filter to remove particles
Disinfection: removal, deactivation or killing of pathogenic microorganisms
These three human actions lead to the depletion of marine species in our oceans
What are overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution?