Chapter 17: Water Use and Management

_____ people often have less access to clean water than do _____.

1. Poor; rich people

2. Rural; city-dwellers

The loss of vast amounts of wetlands has resulted in more ___.

Severe flooding and erosion

What is the name for a period of consistently below-average precipitation that has adverse effects on both humans and natural environments?

Drought

Building dam projects were once encouraged because they:

1. Created jobs for workers

2. Stored water to reduce flooding

3. Stimulated regional economic development

4. Provided inexpensive, renewable power

List the parts of an aquifer in the correct order, starting from the top and descending downward.

1. Zone of aeration

2.Water table

3. Zone of saturation

Groundwater accounts for about _____ percent of the drinking water and domestic use of water by the U.S. rural population.

95

What factors control where on the planet there will be water deficits and where there will be surpluses?

1. Global atmospheric circulation creates regions of persistent high air pressure and low rainfall

2. Proximity to water sources influences precipitation

3. Topography influences precipitation distribution

The water _____ represents the top of the saturated zone and often reflects the contours of the land surface above it.

Table

Rank the following water components from the most water at the top to the compartment with the least at the bottom.

1. Oceans

2. Glaciers and polar ice

3. Groundwater

4. Atmosphere

Water withdrawal

The total amount of water taken from a lake, river, or aquifer for any purpose

Water consumption

The fraction of removed water that is lost in transmission, evaporation, absorption, chemical transformation, and so on

If a region does not have adequate renewable water supplies to meet essential human and ecosystem needs, the region is experiencing water _____.

Stress

Global human water use is _____.

Increasing twice as fast as population growth

How can domestic water use be curbed?

1. Use water-efficient appliances

2. Use low-flow shower heads

3. Offer education on water conservation techniques

In 2016, about 2 _____ people live in countries with insufficient freshwater sources.

Billion

About 2.4 percent of the water on Earth is _____ water, and most of it is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, and snowfields.

Fresh

Why are lakes considered "temporary features on the landscape?"

1. They may eventually fill with silt

2. They may be emptied by the cutting of an outlet stream through the barrier that originally created them

What worldwide sector accounts for the majority of water withdrawal?

Agriculture

Earth's oceans _____.

1. Contain about 97% of all liquid water

2. Contain about 90% of its biomass

Water infiltrates the ground surface from the _____ zone, replenishing the aquifer beneath.

Recharge

Eastern United States:

1. Relative water supply surplus

2. Water policy based on riparian use rights

Western United States:

1. Relative water supply deficient

2. Water policy based on prior appropriation rights

When water evaporates from moist surfaces, falls again as rain or snow, passes through living organisms, and returns to the ocean, the process is known as the _____ cycle.

Hydrologic

True or false: water is a renewable resource.

True

What are some ways to "increase" local water supplies?

1. Desalinization

2. Cloud seeding

Depletion of groundwater _____ the water table and causes shallow wells to go dry.

Lowers

When the demand for water in an area is greater than the available water supply, or if poor water quality limits its use, the area is experiencing _____.

Water scarcity

Dams are built because they _____.

1. Help control flooding

2. Are used for energy generation

3. Are used to store runoff for non-rainy seasons

A major role in the atmosphere, as it pertains to being a water supply storage compartment, is to _____.

Redistribute water over landmasses

Desalinization and cloud _____ are two ways to increase local water supplies.

Seeding

Zone of aeration

Upper soil layers where pore spaces contain both moisture and air

Zone of saturation

Lower soil layers where pore spaces are completely filled with water

Glaciers are a major freshwater compartment because they hold vast amounts of water, the majority of which is located in _____.

Antarctica

Water stress occurs when _____.

Renewable water supplies are not enough to satisfy essential human or ecosystem needs

Several different methods of desalinization are currently used to produce drinking water from salt water, including _____.

1. Reverse osmosis

2. Thermal distillation

What is the name of the process in the hydrologic cycle in which water moves from the ground surface downward into groundwater?

Infiltration

Locations where deep, cold, ocean water comes to the surface to replace warmer water carried to the poles are called _____ zones.

Upwelling

The diversion of water from the _____ in the former Soviet Union is a classic example of just how bad a diversion can be for both people and ecosystems.

Aral Sea

The United States and Australia have been able to encourage water conservation by _____.

Charging higher amounts to users of public water sources

Which of the following types of irrigation is considered to be the most efficient?

Drip irrigation

Wastewater that has been treated can be used for _____.

1. Agricultural irrigation

2. Water for flushing toilets

3. Human drinking water

_____ irrigation carefully releases water to the plant roots, minimizing water loss.

Drip

A(n) _____ is a geological layer that readily holds and transmits groundwater, and is usually underlain by a relatively impermeable layer that prevents water from seeping out at the bottom.

Aquifer

Industrial water use includes which of the following?

1. Hydroelectric power production

2. Mining

3. Thermoelectric power generation

The Sanmenxia Dam, built in 1957 for power generation, was rendered useless by the 1990s because _____.

Sediment rapidly accumulated behind the dam, significantly reducing energy production

The United Nations estimates approximately _____ percent of people live in a country where water supplies don't meet essential needs.

33

The three regions that currently are the most vulnerable to water scarcity are _____.

1. The Middle East

2. Asia

3. Africa

The length of time water typically stays in a compartment is its _____ time.

Residence

When Lake Meade reaches "dead pool" levels, then _____.

1. The dam will no longer be able to provide power

2. Water withdrawals will no longer be possible

Excessive pumping of groundwater in _____ has resulted in 10m of subsidence over the past 50 years.

the San Joaquin Valley, California,

Up to 70 percent of agricultural water use in developing countries is lost to _____.

1. Leaks in irrigation canals

2. Watering parts of the land where plants do not grow

3. Evaporation

When salts are removed from ocean water or brackish lakes are made available as fresh water for drinking, this process is called _____.

Desalination

What characteristics of wetlands are important to humans?

1. They hold back surface runoff, allowing time for infiltration into aquifers

2. They help slow waters down, decreasing the severity of flooding and erosion

3. Their plant grown stabilizes the soil

The declining water supplies that have occurred and will be made worse through climate change will most assuredly lead to even more and longer _____, at least in the long term.

Conflicts and wars

Construction of large dam projects often results in the _____ of local people.

Displacement

The leeward side of mountains experience _____ rainfall compared to the windward side of mountains, resulting in a rain shadow.

Less

A "walking" wetland describes the process where _____.

Farmers agree to flood fields on a rotating basis to provide habitats to waterfowl

States within the Colorado River watershed are withdrawing more water than is sustainable, leading to declining water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell because _____.

The river's annual flow was overestimated when states' water rights were allocated

The largest single industrial producer of degraded water is _____ because as much as 80 percent of the water used during production is not treated.

Mining and energy production

Charging a higher proportion of real costs to users of public water projects tends to ____.

Encourage water conservation

In light of modern water usage issued and related environmental problems, many of the 75,000 dams in the United States will be _____ in the upcoming years.

Removed to restore aquatic habitats

Compared to the year 1980, the U.S. population is currently using _____ water per day.

10 percent less

Discharge is a measure of the _____.

Amount of water that passes through a fixed point on a river per unit time

Human development, such as urbanization or road building, tends to _____ water infiltration in recharge zones.

Decrease

How are the GRACE satellites keeping track of groundwater levels in aquifers?

They measure changes in the gravitational pull in the aquifers over time

What does Fortune magazine mean when they state, " Water will be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th"?

Water will be a resource that will be fought over

Where is water stress most likely to occur?

In poor countries where per capita water supply is low

A(n) _____ occurs when water rises to the surface from underground pressure without the need for a pump.

Artesian spring

How do oceans help control Earth's temperature?

Large river-like currents of ocean water carry warm water to high latitudes and cold water to lower latitudes, distributing heat energy around Earth

How are dams lethal to salmon?

1. Adult fish are blocked from migrating to upstream spawning areas

2. Slow-moving river waters from the dam slow migration to the ocean, throwing off their time-sensitive biological changes

3. They die going through the hydroelectric turbines

China's water shortage issues _____.

1. Have led to a massive water distribution effort to move water from the Yangtze River northward

2. Threaten hundreds of major cities, including Beijing