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APES Test 5
Test on chapters 13 and 20
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Approximately what percentage of the water on Earth is saltwater? | 97% |
A drought in the 1930s transformed large parts of the Midwest into a "Dustbowl." This is an example of | Desertification |
One way to conserve water in agriculture is to employ | Drip Irrigation |
Drip irrigation | Most efficient irrigation method consisting of a network of plastic tubing installed with small pinholes to deliver drops of water more precisely. It reduces 90% of water waste. |
The Ogallala aquifer is a one-time deposit of water and has such a slow recharge rate. It is | Considered non-renewable |
What is the Colorado River project | A large-scale water diversion project |
The freshwater from precipitation and snowmelt | Surface water |
Evaporation from the leaves of plants into the atmosphere | Transpiration |
Underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock through which groundwater flows | Aquifer |
Upper surface of the zone of saturation | Water table |
Confined aquifer | Aquifer below the land surface that is saturated with water and pressurized |
A forested hillside will help eliminate | Flooding |
One method of desalination is | Reverse osmosis |
Which best explains the general downward trend in Colorado River flow from 1910 to 1970 | Damming of the Colorado River |
What can be inferred from river flow decreasing | Drought |
Colorado River Case Study | Lots of dams that provide water and power to 30 million people but it is over tapped and there is a drought so not enough water reaches the ocean |
How much of the world's water supply is available to drink | 0.024% |
Causes of water shortage | Over pumping aquifers, drought, wasteful use of water, overpopulation |
Solutions to water shortage | Extracting groundwater, building dams, transferring water from one place to another, desalination |
Floodplains | Water in a stream overflows its normal channel and spills into this adjacent area, usually a highly productive wetland. They help provide natural flood and erosion control, maintain high water quality, and recharge groundwater. |
Water table | Top of the groundwater zone |
Zone of saturation | Spaces in soil and rock below a certain depth that are completely filled with water, falls in dry weather, rises in wet weather |
Aquifer | Underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel, or rock through which groundwater flows |
Watershed | The land from which surface water drains into a body of water |
Dam | Structure built across a river to control the river's flow |
Reservoir | Dammed water creates an artificial lake |
Distillation | Heating saltwater until it evaporates and condensing it back as freshwater |
Reverse osmosis | High pressure to force saltwater through a membrane filter with pores small enough to remove salt |
Center-pivot irrigation | Uses low pressure sprinkler pumps to spray water on a crop and allows 80% of water to reach crops |
Saudi Arabia Case Study | 70% of drinking water from desalination, the rest is from pumping deep aquifers. Most of water is used to irrigate crops. In 2008 it announced that their biggest aquifer had been depleted and that they would stop wheat production |
Ogallala Aquifer | Pumped 40 times more than its recharge rate, supplies 1/3 of groundwater in the US. Government subsidies for agriculture have led farmers to grow water thirsty crops in dry areas and depleted the aquifer. |
NYC Watershed | Catskill watershed 125 miles provides more than 90% of the city's supply, rest comes from Croton shed. Water is treated at the source naturally and the feds exempt us from other filtration. Aqueduct relies on gravity alone |
Three Gorges Dam | Under construction is the world's largest irrigation dam on the Yangtze river. The dam will flood farmland and force relocation of many people living in cities and villages along the river banks. |
Bangladesh Floodplains | Densely populated, rely on moderate annual flooding but recently there have been severe floods which destroyed crops and houses, destruction of Mangrove forests led to more severe floods. They are trying to adapt to flooding conditions with diff crops |
Multiple dams have been erected along the Colorado River. Identify TWO benefits other than agriculture and recreation that people derive from that system of dams. | Hydroelectric power and flood control |
Discuss TWO potential environmental consequences of damming a major river | Habitat alteration, displacement of native species, risk of flood from failure of dam, disruption of fish migrations, sedimentation behind dam |
Explain how electricity is generated at a hydroelectric dam. | Water moves and is directed to a turbine, water rotates the turbine and electricity is produced when the rotation drives a generator |
Identify TWO economic benefits, other than hydroelectric power generation and control of downstream flooding, associated with dams. | Recreation, tourism, job creation, water for agricultural industry, commercial fisheries |
Describe one ecological benefit of seasonal flooding of the floodplain of a free-flowing river. | Flooding can increase soil fertility, sediment can create banks, recharge aquifers |
Identify TWO human activities that alter the natural flow of sediments into Gulf Coast ecosystems. Explain how each of the activities alters the flow of sediments. | Dams block flow of sediments from upstream, prevents flooding and erosion. Deforestation increases erosion because it removes a natural blockade and increases the sediment load into the river |
How is water quality tested and measured? | Tests for Escherichia coli (E. coli), Dissolved oxygen content (DO content), Chemical analysis, Monitor indicator species |
Oxygen Sag Curve | In streams when bacteria breaks down waste it depletes oxygen and removed populations of organisms with high oxygen requirements |
Water pollution in developed vs developing countries | Cleanup efforts in developed countries are more effective, in less developed countries stream pollution from untreated sewage and waste is a serious problem |
US Safe Drinking Water Act | Sets standards for drinking water quality and implemented programs to ensure safety |
Bioaccumulation | The accumulation of substances in an organism after passing through trophic levels |
Clean Water Act | Sets standards for allowed levels of pollutants and requires polluters to get permits to limit how much they can discharge into aquatic ecosystems |
Cholera | Bacterial disease of small intestine contracted from infected water supply that causes severe vomiting and diarrhea |
Typhoid Fever | Spreads through contaminated food or water- high fever, headache, constipation, diarrhea |
Parasites | Parasitic worms, protazoa |
Combined Sewer Overflows | Discharge from a combined sewer caused by excess runoff |
Dead zones | Oxygen depleted zones from algal blooms , aka Hypoxic zones |
Sludge | Sewage sludge is produced as a muddy byproduct during waste water treatment |
Gray Water | Tap water soiled by use in washing machines, tubs, sinks |
Septic Tank Processes | Underground chamber for basic sewage treatment, settling sediments |
Cuyahoga River | Ohio river caught on fire because it was so polluted and since then has been cleaned and used by boaters |
Deepwater Horizon | Gulf of Mexico, explosion caused by drilling, dispersants for clean up |
Exxon Valdez | Oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound |
Oxygen Depletion Gulf of Mexico | Caused by algal blooms from nitrates from farms. Scientists fear that the situation could reach a tipping point and the ecosystem could collapse |
Flint Michigan | High amount of iron in water from Flint River, water was tainted with lead from the filtration pipes, which cause brain damage and memory loss, to clean up they have received millions of dollars in federal assistance, people were given free bottled water |
Gowanus Canal | Pollution from industrial waste, exposure to cancer causing chemicals, EPA dredged and capped areas containing contaminated sediment |
Great Lakes Pollution | Eutrophication problem in the 1960s from industrial waste that has since been fixed with Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Now, problems still remain because cities dup raw sewage into lake and non point fertilizers and nutrients |
Great Pacific Garbage Patch | Large collection of marine debris in the North Central Pacific |
Causes of water pollution | Agricultural activities, eroded sediment, industrial facilities, mining, |
Solutions to water pollution | Prevent groundwater contamination, reduce runoff, reuse treated wastewater, treat sewage, reduce poverty |
Clean zone | High levels of dissolved oxygen |
Decomposition zone | Only pollutant tolerant fishes found |
Septic zone | Most fish absent, low levels of oxygen |
Lakes with unexpected large agal blooms due to a lack of secondary waste treatment is the result of | Large nutrient influxes from sewage treatment plants |
Primary treatment | Water flows slowly through grit chambers allowing sand and small particles to settle out |
Secondary treatment | Not used except when warranted by local regulations, nitrates and phosphates are removed |