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“DAVID PRODAN” NATIONAL COLLEGE, CUGIR ALBA, ROMANIA
The International Comenius Project2008-2010
Coordinating teacher, Maker :Vlad Viorica Tecşa Simona MihaelaGeography Teacher Student 11
th
ACoordinating teacher,Vant LilicaEnglish Teacher 
 
Water - the source of life
 
“Water is the joy of life”
African saying
I.
 
Importance of water in environment
Water - at least the fresh one - is more precious than oil and more necessary than wheat or rice .Water is life and at the same time it is its quality, or, as specialists emphasize, in theenvironmental planetary system, water is the indispensable condition for life and for the variety of human beings, it is that fundamental natural resource, which any area of economic activity dependson.Hydrosphere represents a real blood system of geographical structures because water relates closely with other geospheres offering the environment a new and unique quality.Thus, as a component related to environmental existence, water flow in nature is essentialto its functionality and dynamism. Water circuit is a permanent- at a planetary scale- transformation process of a large amount of sea and ocean water which, through its conversion due to evaporation – turns into fresh water, a process carried out by a huge plant that is Nature itself.It is this process which creates and sustains life on Earth. The transformation from inorganicsubstance to the organic one is produced in and by water.
II. Fresh Water Resources
– 
“A rare treasure, desired by those who do not haveit, and unvalued by those who have it.”
Fresh water, unlike salt water, represents limited and reduced resources overall andextremely unleveled in comparison with the dry land. Geographically, fresh water resources aremassively concentrated in certain areas, while highly rare in others. Lakes and rivers are abundant insome regions (Northern Europe, Northern South America, and Equatorial Regions), however almostinexistent in other areas. Precipitations also vary sensibly from year to year, season to season, in thesame ballpark region. In addition, due to the existing temperatures in these environmental areas,evaporation is growing less or more intense and, as a result, the precipitations differ sensibly.From an economic point of view, the significance of the uneven natural distribution of freshwater resources is strongly emphatic. This distribution however, clashes with that of necessity. Notonly does a large part of fresh water resources remain blocked in glaciers, but also the most abundantresources of fresh water are located in relatively cold regions, improper or less proper foagricultural cultivations. On the other hand, in warm regions, where the necessity is far larger, theresources of fresh water are scarcer. There is a separation between the distribution of fresh water resources and the distribution of agricultural fields, territorial distribution between the populationand industrial regions.There is also added the limitation of water resources to which its quality is still affected. It isaffected due to: the phenomenon of the growth of population, the extracting of water supply,chemical fertilization, pesticides coming from intense agricultural activities, and industrial water.The technical-economic capitalization of the fresh water resources has both a quantitativedimension and a qualitative one, which are strongly bound. In well-developed countries the technical
 
means and financial resources allowed them to eliminate or to adjust a series of existing constraints,through complex hydrotechnical establishments, flood control, water purification systems, in order to supply the urban concentrations. Special issues are present in developing countries whereconsiderable collectivities haven’t got access to fresh water, with all the repercussions on their health. As a consequence, the assurance of the necessary consumable water is an actual problem –insome areas- not only due to its amount, but also to its quality.
The distribution of water resources on EarthLatin America is the region with the richest water reserve, detaining 1/3 of the total of freshwater on Earth.Asia is on the second position, with 25 % and the last position is scored by North Africaand Middle Asia. Figures are more relevant if we make a comparison between resources andrequest or consumption. For example, China, which detains 7% of the total amount of freshwater in the world, has a number of population which represents 22% of the whole population of our  planet. Canada, in its turn, has got 9% of the world wide fresh water resources and a populationwhich represents only 0.5% of the worldwide one.The effects of the uneven distribution of fresh water resources are worsened by theeconomical level of each country, and, not the least, by the living standard of each individual. Therecent international studies show that, in 22 African countries, water isn’t enough for the half of the population.Yet, there are solutions to ensure the existent water resources. In 2002, there were 10,000desalinization equipments which produced 5 million m³ of fresh water, but 70% of them belonged tothose countries, rich in oil, situated in Middle Asia and North Africa, countries which can afford to pay a price of $1 up to $4 / 1 m³ of water as a result of marine water desalinization.Europe confronts with the water crisis, especially in the Mediterranean area, too.The lack of water, existent in a world, where the population grows from 6.5 billion peopleto probably 11-12 billion people, represents a global issue of the up-date society. Irrigationrepresents 84% - 90% of the total amount of consumed water. Meanwhile, agriculture is consideredto be the most important water consumer – 64% - in Europe, shows the analyze of the foremostwater users. 
III. The characteristics of water
 
environment refers to the chemical and
 
 physicalattributes of water, as well as to the capacity of self-purification, which is very important in order to preserve its quality. The organic substances’ decomposing activity made by bacteria, turns all thesubstances which enter this circuit in nature into mineral, which is determinant in the self- purification process of water. But the phenomenon of water pollution manifests itself when theamount and quality of the polluting substances outrun the limits of tolerance.
IV. Hydro constituent and its functions in environment
1. The environment function2.Water has the function of supplying life environment for manyorganisms – from plankton, which represents the foundation of the food chain, up to the Cetacean order, with the biggestterrestrial inhabitants. In salted pelagic waters, fish areendowed with a desalinization system situated at the level of 
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