Lesson 8: Earth’s Water Sources Objectives: In this lesson, you will learn to: 1. Recognize how water is distributed to Earth Identify the various water sources on Earth Explain how the different activities affect the quality and availability of water for use ‘Suggest ways of conserving and protecting water resources The Planet Earth and its Water Sources In the last module, we learned about the different energy sources on Earth, In this module, you will learn about Earth's water sources. Earth’s surface cansists of about 71% water. Water is everywhere around us: the oceans, the rivers and lakes, the water we drink, the vapor in the air, even the sweat and moisture found on living organisms, are all part of the Earths water. ‘Water is among Earth's materials which are essential to sustain all fe on the planet. The oceans hold about 96.5% of the planet’s water. And out of the 3.5% freshwater on Earth, humans can only make use of about 1% fresh water. It is surprising how humans and other living organisms manage to sustain with such @ small amount of usable water on the planet. The Hydrologic Cycle ‘The hydrologic cycle describes the storage and movement of water between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and the hydrosphere, Weter on earth can be stored in any one of the following reservoirs: atmosphere, oceans, lakes, rivers, soils, glaciers, snowfields, and groundwater.Right: The hydrologic or water eycle helps in naturally distributing water to different parts of the world, which supports numerous ecosystems and sustains all living organisms. Seekers Water moves from one reservoir to another, undergoing processes like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, deposition, runoff, infiltration, sublimation, transpiration, and groundwater flow. Evaporation: the hydrologic cycle begins with the evaporation of water from the surface of the acean, changing it from liquid to gas or vapor. ‘Condensation: the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water. the reason for the form: ‘This process \n of clouds. Precipitation: the stage in the hydrologic cycle when water is released from the clouds, either in the form of |. This provides the delivery of , freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hi atmospheric water to the Earth. Deposition: it is the exact opposite of sublimation. It is the process where water vapor changes directly into ice. Infiltration: the process where rain water penetrates into the ground, through the soil ‘and underlying rock layers. It is through this process that groundwater is formed.Runoff: This refers to the mavement of landwater to the oceans. This can be in the form of rivers, lakes, and streams. It consists of precipitation that neither evaporates, transpires, penetrates the earth to become groundwater. Transpiration: it is essentially the evaporation of water from plant leaves. Moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of the leaves, and then it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere, During the cycle, water continuously changing states between liquid, vapor, and ice. This, is the reason why we see water in a variety of forms, from rivers and oceans to glaciers. Hydrologic cycle is essential for global water distribution. Keep in mind that water is an essential part of any ecosystem. Living organisms need water in order to survive. Without the hydrologic cycle, water ‘will not be equally distributed to different areas all over the world. Water Sources on Earth Water supply is essential to sustain life, In the modern society that we have today, water is crucial in many different sectors. Domestic, agricultural, commercial and industrial are only 4 few of these sectors. From farming to manufacturing, humans require water resources in order to fulfill the society's needs. Earth’s freshwater sources are unfortunately small, and they are unevenly di uted. Most of these sources are located far from human populations, leaving us with less than one percent of usable water. Glaciers and icecaps: they cover about 10% of the world’s landmass, Glaciers and icecaps make up 70% of the world’s freshwater. Unfortunately, these sources are far from human habitation, thus they are not readily accessible for human consumption. Groundwater: the most abundant and readily available freshwater source today. Groundwater represents over 90% of the world’s usable water. About 1.5 billion people depend upon groundwater for ‘their drinking water supply. Freshwater lakes: most of these lakes are located at high eltitudes. About 50% of the world’s freshwater lakes can be found in Canada.Reservoirs: these are artificial lakes made out of physical barriers constructed across flowing rivers, allowing the water to pool and be used for various purposes. Wetlands: these include swamps, bogs, marshes, mires, lagoons, and floodp! How Human Activities Affect the Planets Water Sources Human activities commonly affect the world’s natural resources. The water sources are no exception. The activities that humans perform for the sake of economical growth will likely leave 2 negative impact on the quantity and quality of the water sources. Earth’s water sources are currently facing a crisis: they are being threatened by harmful effects caused by human actions. These include sedimentation, pollution, climate change, deforestation, landscape changes, and urbanization, Sedimentation: aquatic ecosystems are now facing the threat of sedimentation, Sediments naturally occur in water bodies, but when human activities such as farming, mining, building of roads and clearing of forests are done, too much soil and particles tend to be dumped into rivers. This sedimentation can harm plants and animals, especially when toxic chemicals are dropped into the water. This also decreases the capacity of reservoirs and other bodies of water. Pollution: Another effect of uncontrolled human activity is freshwater pollution, Wastes ‘that people carelessly dispose can pollute the air, land, and water resources. Pollution affects the quality of freshwater resources, even the quality of rainwater. Climate change: global warming causes extreme weather events which reduces runoff in areas already suffering from water shortages. Moreover, climate change has also affected glaciers, gradually melting them due to increasing heat.Conserving and Protecting Our Water Sources ‘The continuous and uncontrolled human activities have a huge impact on the water resources of today. They have a dreadful effect on the quantity and quality of the water resources, which in turn negatively affects human lives. It is important to conserve and protect our remaining water resources. Fortunately, even the simplest activities at home can be helpful in conservation of our water resources. For stance, repairing faucets and toilets can actually save you 10 gallons of water per day, ‘which are lost due to leaks. Other activities such as showering, flushing of toilet, and dishwashing should also be kept under contral: try not to use excess water if you can and do not forget to properly turn the faucet off after use. Kee} the 1g Our water resources clean is one of the world’s biggest problems today. degradation of the quality of our remaining water resources, itis only a matter of time until we run out of usable water resources. Contaminated groundwater may take years or decades until it cleans itself s have suffered from water availa naturally. Many communi problems due to human activities causing the contamination of their water supply. Chemical leaks can cause diseases among living organisms, and the only way to keep it from happening is by protecting our remaining clean water resources and make efforts to clean the already degraded water bodies. Locals should keep an eye aut for these problems which may occur at their communities, especially when they are nearby a mining site or a chemical plant. Protecting the water sources is a task ‘that must be done by every one in the community, in order for everyone to have clean, usable water in ‘the future.References: NGWA, Information on Earth's Water. Retrieved from: http://www ngwa.org/Fundamentals/teachers/Pages/information-on-earth-water.aspx The Hydrologic Cycle. Retrieved from: https://notendur.hi.is/thorstur/teaching/vatna/HYDROCYCLE.PDE UNEP. (2002). Vito! Water Graphics: An Overview of the State of the Worlds Fresh and Marine Waters. Retrieved from: http://www.unep.org/training/programmes/Instructor%20Version/Part_2/Activities/Economics of Eco systems/Water/Supplemental/Global Water Resources.odf Greenfact. Water Resources. Retrieved from: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/water-resources/t-2/4. effect-human-actions.htm National Geographic. Water Conservation Tips. Retrieved from: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/enviranment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips)