Water Resources

STOP - You must read Chapter 4 before doing this lesson

Introduction

Water is essential for life. It is the medium in which all living process occurs. About 60 percent of our bodies is water.

Hydrologic Cycle (Water Cycle)

It describes the circulation of water as it evaporates from land, water, and organisms; enters the atmosphere; condenses and is precipatated to the earth's surfaces; and moves underground, to rivers, and oceans. (See diagram in the right).

Water evaporation is liquid water been converted to gas. This is a normal process on the water cycle.

Water sublimation is when solid water (ice) is converted to gas without passing through the liquid state.

Major Water Compartments

We can divide the water resources into two major categories salt water which represents approximately 97.6 percent of all the water in planet earth, and freshwater which is only 2.4 percent of all water in earth.

Salt water is encounter in Oceans and Seas and as mentioned above it represent 97.6 % of the water earth. The major part of the freshwater is found in Glaciers, Ice and Snow caps and they represent 2.07 % of the water. Other sources of fresswater such as underground water (aquifers), rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, wetlands, and the atmosphere represent less than 1 % of the total amount of water in earth.

Of all the water in earth only less than 1 percent is easy accesible for human use and consumption. We depend primarily on freshwater for our survivor. The water in glaciers, ice and snow caps is not easy accesible. The small percentage of freshwater available is diminish even more by water pollution. A lot of our rivers, streams and lakes are so polluted that the water is not suitable for human comsuption, even after water treatment.

Water Management - Bureau of reclamation web site.

American Rivers Organization web site.

Water Resources of the United States

Water and Population Dynamics