EESC Exam 3 Study Guide

Explain how the properties of water are environmentally significant

Identify where water is found and the ways in which it moves between stocks

Describe how water supply varies in time and space (implications for humans’ ability to use water and/or be impacted by its abundance or deficit)

Define a watershed and understand its environmental and human significance

Explain how the density of water varies with temperature, and two reasons that this behavior is environmentally significant.

Explain the difference between specific heat capacity and latent heat of vaporization, and why water’s high value of each is significant.

What is the largest stock of freshwater on Earth? What is the largest easily accessible stock of freshwater on Earth?

In which stock does water have the longest average residence time? In which stock does it have the shortest?

What information would need to be included on a map to draw the watershed of a river? Explain. Why do watersheds matter?

How do deforestation and urbanization each affect flows in the hydrologic cycle?

Density

Specific heat capacity

Latent heat of vaporization

Solvent

Freshwater vs Surface water vs Groundwater

Aquifer

Streamflow

Unsaturated zone vs Saturated zone

Evaporation vs Transpiration vs Precipitation

Infiltration

Recharge

Sublimation

Spatial variability vs Time variability

Watershed

Impacts of land use change

How do human activities indirectly affect the water cycle

Understand the impacts of excessive water use on water systems

Explain the difference between consumptive and non-consumptive water use. Give an example of each and explain why they fall into that category.

Why is water storage an important component of managing water supply? (Relate this to natural characteristics of the hydrologic cycle.)

Describe three different impacts of excessive groundwater extraction.

What are some of the actions that Singapore has done to address water scarcity that might be difficult for other countries to replicate? Explain.

Describe different water conservation strategies and list advantages and disadvantages of each.

Sectors of water use

Drought

Water storage

Saltwater intrusion

Land subsidence

Rainwater capture

Potable vs. non-potable water

Desalination

Types of irrigation

Water footprint

Xeriscape

Explain the difference between point and nonpoint sources of water pollution and give an
example of each. Why is it harder to regulate and reduce nonpoint sources?

Explain how “improved water source” and “sanitation” are different, and how they are related to each other.

Explain how nitrogen in the water indirectly harms human health, even though not directly harmful.

Describe how a heavy rainfall can lead to untreated sewage ending up in a lake or river.

Describe two distinct ways that vegetation can reduce water pollution.

Describe the different clean-up strategies for a pollutant that is less dense than water (floats) and one that is denser (sinks to the bottom).

Describe an example of how trying to clean up water pollution can lead to an increase in air pollution or vice versa.

Stormwater

Improved water source

Point source vs non-point source

Resuspension

Nutrients

Dead zone

Sediment

Infectious agents

Organic pollutants vs Inorganic pollutants

Wastewater treatment

Constructed wetlands

Containment boom

In-situ burning

Safe Drinking Water Act vs Clean Water Act

Storm sewer

Combined sewer overflow

Riparian buffer

What is the probability of a 20-year flood occurring in any given year?

What are three distinctly different causes of flooding along a river? What are causes of flooding in cities, away from a river?

Describe a situation in which a levee reduces flood damage and one in which it increases flood damage.

Explain what can cause flooding to occur on a day it is not raining. How would the situation in Jakarta make this problem worse?

Describe steps that an inland community could take to reduce damage from floods. Do the same for a coastal community. Include both “hard” and “soft” strategies.

Explain what it means to create a “safe-to-flood” space and give an example of one.

Flood

Floodplain

Recurrence interval

100-year flood

Fluvial/river flooding vs Pluvial/urban flooding

Coastal flooding

Ice jam

Flash flood

Storm surge

Nuisance flooding (high-tide)

Flood risk

Hard vs. soft strategies

Levee

Dam

Safe-to-flood zone

Green infrastructure

Relocation (managed retreat)

Are fossil fuels a larger part of the energy mix for total (primary) energy use or for electricity generation? Explain why.

What is the difference between energy and power? Name a common unit for each.

Consider the ideal characteristics of energy sources. Which are satisfied by coal, and which are not? Which ones depend on your location in the world?

Interpret the Sankey diagram

Since coal is made from biological material (biomass), why is it not considered a renewable resource?

What are the units of energy density? Which energy resource has the highest value?

Fossil fuels: coal, oil/petroleum, natural gas (NG)

Hydrocarbon

Formation of fossil fuels

Subsurface vs. surface extraction