Big Picture

Week 6: Unit Learning Outcomes (ULO): At the end of the unit, you are expected
to:

a. Recognize how water is distributed on Earth;

b. Explain how different activities affects the quality and availability of water.

Big picture in Focus: ULOa. Recognize how water is distributed on

Earth.

A. Metalanguage

How important is water? How dependent organisms to water? What are major
sources of freshwater? Saltwater?

B. Essential Knowledge

Water Cycle

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle,
describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of
the Earth.

Source: https://gpm.nasa.gov/education/water-cycle
Fig. 7.1 The Water Cycle

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There are four main stages in the water cycle. They are evaporation, condensation,
precipitation and collection. Let's look at each of these stages.

a. Evaporation: This is when warmth from the sun causes water from oceans,
lakes, streams, ice and soils to rise into the air and turn into water vapor (gas).
Plants also transpires and releases water vapor in the air. Water vapor droplets
join together to make clouds.

b. Condensation: This is when water vapor in the air cools down and turns
back into liquid water.

c. Precipitation: This is when water (in the form of rain, snow, hail or sleet)
falls from clouds in the sky.

d. Collection: This is when water that falls from the clouds as rain, snow, hail
or sleet, collects in the oceans, rivers, lakes, streams. Most will infiltrate (soak
into) the ground and will collect as underground water.

Distribution of Water on Earth

The distribution of water on the Earth's surface is extremely uneven. Only

around 3% of water on the surface is fresh; the remaining 97% resides in the ocean.
Of freshwater, around 69% resides in glaciers, 30% underground, and less than 1%
is located in lakes, rivers, and swamps.

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 Fig. 7.2 Distribution of Earth’s water

Importance of Water

Apart from drinking it to survive, people have many other uses for water. These
include:
a. cooking
b. washing their bodies
c. washing clothes
d. washing cooking and eating utensils; such as billies, saucepans,
crockery and cutlery
e. keeping houses and communities clean
f. recreation; such as swimming pools
g. keeping plants alive in gardens and parks

Water is also essential for the healthy growth of farm crops and farm stock and is used
in the manufacture of many products. It is most important that the water which people
drink and use for other purposes is clean water. This means that the water must be
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free of germs and chemicals and be clear (not cloudy).
Water that is safe for drinking is called potable water.
Disease-causing germs and chemicals can find their way into water supplies. When
this happens the water becomes polluted or contaminated and when people drink it or
come in contact with it in other ways they can become very sick.

Water that is not safe to drink is said to be non-potable. Throughout history there have
been many occasions when hundreds of thousands of people have died because
disease-causing germs have been spread through a community by a polluted water
supply. One of the reasons this happens less frequently now is that people in many
countries make sure drinking water supplies are potable. Water supplies are routinely
checked for germs and chemicals which can pollute water. If the water is not safe to
drink it is treated. All the action taken to make sure that drinking water is potable is
called water treatment.

Self-Help

Cosgrove, W.J., Loucks, D.P. (2015). Water Management: Current and future
challenged. Advancing Earth and Space Science. Water Resource Research,
Vol.51. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016869 Retrieved from
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19447973/2015/51/6

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Big picture in Focus: ULOb. Explain how different activities affects
the quality and availability of water.

A. Metalanguage

What causes water pollution? How do human change the water resources
around the world? What are the things that pollute our water resources? How about in
your community?

B. Essential Knowledge

What is Water Pollution?

Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or

microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of
water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.

What Are the Causes of Water Pollution?

Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water

is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. It’s the reason we
have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. It’s also why water is so easily polluted.
Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with
it, causing water pollution.

Categories of Water Pollution

a. Groundwater
When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling the cracks,
crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer (basically an underground
storehouse of water), it becomes groundwater—one of our least visible
but most important natural resources.

b. Surface water
Covering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what fills
our oceans, lakes, rivers, and all those other blue bits on the world
map. Nutrient pollution, which includes nitrates and phosphates, is the
leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources. While plants
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 and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have become a major
pollutant due to farm waste and fertilizer runoff. Municipal and industrial
waste discharges contribute their fair share of toxins as well. There’s
also all the random junk that industry and individuals dump directly into
waterways.

c. Ocean water

Eighty percent of ocean pollution (also called marine pollution)

originates on land—whether along the coast or far inland. Contaminants
such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms,
factories, and cities by streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries;
from there they travel out to sea. Meanwhile, marine debris—particularly
plastic—is blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and
sewers. Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and leaks—
big and small—and are consistently soaking up carbon pollution from
the air. The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made carbon
emissions.

d. Point source

When contamination originates from a single source, it’s

called point source pollution. Examples include wastewater (also called
effluent) discharged legally or illegally by a manufacturer, oil refinery, or
wastewater treatment facility, as well as contamination from leaking
septic systems, chemical and oil spills, and illegal dumping.

e. Nonpoint source

Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse

sources. These may include agricultural or storm water runoff or debris
blown into waterways from land.

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Sources of Water Pollution in the Philippines

According to WEPA, water pollution’s effects cost the Philippines approximately

$1.3 billion annually. The government continues to try to clean up the problem,
implementing fines to polluters as well as environmental taxes, but many problems
have not been addressed. According to government monitoring data, up to 58 percent
of the groundwater tested was contaminated with coliform, and approximately one
third of illnesses monitored during a five-year period were caused by water-borne
sources. In addition to this, during the dry season, many areas experience water
shortages.

On its website, Greenpeace reports the water pollution in the Philippines is

mostly wastewater from the following sources:

1. Industrial: The metal varies according to industry — lead, mercury,

chromium, cadmium and cyanide.
2. Agricultural: Organic — decayed plants, dead animals, livestock manure,
soil runoff; and non-organic — pesticides and fertilizers.
3. Domestic sewage: Contains pathogens that threaten human health and life.
4. Other sources: Oil, mine or chemical spills and illegal dumping in or near
water.

One of the most alarming things Greenpeace reports is that out of the
Philippines’ 421 rivers, as many as 50 are considered dead and unable to support
any but the most robust life.

Self-Help

Denchak, M. (2018). Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know. National

Resources Defense Council. Retrieved from
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-
know#whatis

Greenpeace.(2019). See Manila Bay for yourself aboard Greenpeace’s Rainbow

Warrior this March. Retrieved from
https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/press/1208/see-manila-bay-for-
yourself-aboard-greenpeaces-rainbow-warrior-this-march/

Water Environment Partnership in Asia. (2003). State of Water Environmental Issues

in the Philippines. Retrieved from http://www.wepa-
db.net/policies/state/philippines/overview.htm

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