EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON

WATER QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY

for EARTH SCIENCE - Senior High School (STEM)
Quarter 1 / Week 5.a
 FOREWORD

This self-learning kit will serve as a guide to identify the

effects of human activities on water quality and availability.

In this learning kit the learners will be gained knowledge in

identifying the effects of human activities on water quality and
availability.

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 OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, the students are
expected to;
K: identify some of the human activities affecting the quantity and
quality of water.
S: understand the effects of human activities on the quality and
availability of water.
A: apply with willingness and interest the ways / practices learned
on how to utilize available water resources in the locality wisely.

LEARNING COMPTENCY:

Explain how different activities affect the quality and

availability of water for human use.

I. WHAT HAPPENED

Giving a “true or false” type of question as motivation.

Instruction: Write “true” if the statement is correct, “false”, if the

statement is wrong. Use separate sheet of paper.

_____1. Water is essential to life.

_____2. We do not have to mind the water quality, what is important
is water availability.
_____3. Acidity of rain is an example of water availability.
_____4. Water availability is not important in farming.
_____5. Water availability depends in nature and has nothing to do
with human activity.

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PRE-ACTIVITIES/PRE-TEST:

1. Give at least 3 human activities affecting the quality of water and

please indicate in what possible way do they affect the quality of
water. (2 points each and the first one is given for you)
Human activities Effects
a. inorganic fertilizer Causes of acidity of water in river, kill
some aquatic organisms
b.
c.
d.

2. Give at least 4 human activities affecting water availability.

a.
b.
c.
d.

II. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

What I need to know, the prevalence of this existing common

environmental issue as of today. That in almost all areas here in our
province and even in all parts of the country, has concerns on water
availability and the quality it has. Moreover, after knowing its
prevalence, it would follow the initiative of becoming front – liners in
the properly guided ways on treating such natural resource vital to
life.
Problem in water availability and water quality is nothing new
already. This has already been a concern throughout the ages in
almost all parts of the globe. It would be appropriate that for this

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time we need to re-enforce ourselves with the knowledge about this
and solution at the same time.

“Knowledge is Power”, as we go along with the lessons let us be

guided that what makes knowledge as a power is by putting into
practice the things we have learned.

DISCUSSION:

WATER AVAILABILITY

“Enough amount of water may turn-on the bulb of life, but if it

spills out or Ooze - out it may result to short circuit, bust the bulb of
life”

The illustration speaks up for the entire meat of the lesson

wherein water resources being vital to life, must be saved and used
properly, or else it will just cause scarcity of water and even disasters.

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“Those who are near the water source have sufficient water supply.
While those away from the source have inadequate or no water
anymore.”

What other problems with water availability do you have in your

respective barangay? What are the causes?

Some of the other causes of water unavailability are as follows:

1. Long time drought - This is a natural instance, where perhaps we

humans do not have control of. That is why in many areas in our
locality people makes dam as artificial storage for water in time of
drought. They usually direct water flow through irrigation canals
leading to their farms particularly rice fields. There are also natural
water sources like rivers and likes. But never-the-less, they might just
dry –up if dry season takes too long.

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2. Wasteful / excessive use – This is one of the major human activities
which needs to be addressed. Simply turning-off the faucets after
using is already a gesture of showing concern on saving water. And
also, we must learn to utilize water thriftily when taking a bath and
washing clothes.

3. Mismanagement of water source – A particular locality has to

have a good community water association that would manage the
utilization and maintenance of water for the continuous
consumption of all residents.

4. Pollution – Water pollution is considered a factor for water scarcity,

thus we must be well-guided in making sure not to contaminate our
bodies of water.

WATER QUALITY

When talking about water quality, we directly think of water

pollution, where these are technically not synonymous.
Pollution is a change in air, water, or even land that might cause
harm to the living things. Usually when we hear water pollution, we
picture out floating water bottles and plastics which is also indeed a
form of water pollution but still manageable compared to those
chemicals combining with the water already.

There are other forms of water pollution which is more

complicated like acid rains, chemicals from factories and disease-
causing microorganisms.

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Imagine yourself swimming in the pool full of vinegars, how would it
feel? It might cleanse your skin but it might reach to the point that it
would irritate and harm your skin because of too much acidity. What
if you pour 1 cup of vinegar in an aquarium with beautiful fishes,
what do you think would probably happen to the fishes?

In this lesson, we will be tackling about how human activity has

affected the quality of water. Water quality would basically refer to
the safeness of water we consume or use for talking a bath or
washing. It may also imply the safeness of aquatic organisms.

1. Acid Rain - Rain water for instance is becoming more acidic

nowadays. Acid rain is the condition in which rain becomes acidic
because of too much acids in the atmosphere accumulating in it.

Many human activities are responsible for the change in

rainwater. Chemical fertilizers release nitrogen oxides to the air.
Industrial plants and automobile exhausts give off sulfur and nitrogen
oxides. Both types of oxides combine with water in the air. They
eventually mixed with rain thus causing acidity.

2. Chemicals – Most chemicals come from big factories but it may

also come from us in our daily activities such using of detergents from
washed clothes, bleaches and fertilizers. This will to the formation of
too much algae. When algae die they are decomposed by
bacteria, which requires much oxygen. With lesser oxygen, aquatic
creatures may die.

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In San Francisco Sta. Catalina river for instance the water drainage from the
houses go directly to the river creating evident existence of algae. (photo taken by
Mr. Dexter Paira)

3. Sediments- Erosion and runoff from the agriculture and

construction deposit trillion of kilograms of sediments in United
States water each year. These sediments fill in water-ways,
harbors, and reservoirs. They keep sunlight frim reaching
underwater plants and decrease plant growth. Fishes that
depend on this plants die.

Disease-causing organisms – Sewage contains viruses and germs

that cause disease in human and animals. If the sewage is not
properly treated, disease can spread. The wastes from farm animals,
meat packing plants and leather-making industries also release
harmful organisms in the streams.

Some naturally occurring water contamination and the ways of

human to cope with them:

Salt water intrusion when the saline water moves into fresh water
aquifers, which the main source of drinking water in coastal areas, it
often leads contamination. Intrusion of salt water happens naturally

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because of the varying densities of salt water and fresh water.
However, when the demand for fresh water is greater than the
natural recharge rate of the aquifer (primarily though, the rest of salt
water intrusion increases, leading to the depletion of usable ground
water.

To mitigate the effects of saltwater intrusion, injection wells are

built where fresh water is injected. The addition of freshwater in
injection wells creates a hydraulic pressure or barrier to saltwater
intrusion.

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III. WHAT HAVE I LEARNED

In this part we will assess how much you have learned from the
discussion the whole week. You will be given series of questions to
answer.

EVALUATION/POST TEST:

I. Write “WC” if the given scenario talks about human activity

affecting water quality and “WA” if it talks about water availability.
Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
___1. wasteful and excessive use of water
___2. disposing off used detergents in the river
___3. Not turning off the faucet after use
___4. Chemical waste products from factories

5-7. Give at least 3 human activities affecting water quality and

please indicate how it affect water quality.

8-10. Name at least 3 sources of problems in water availability your

locality and please indicate its possible effects.

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References

Foresman, Scott. Earth Science. ___: Scott Foresman and

Company, ____

Foresman, Scott. Earth Science: Protecting the Water.

_________:___________, ____________.

Tolentino, Jose O. II and Ramos, Anna Cherrylle M.. Exploring Life

through Science Series : Earth and Life Science. Quezon
City: Phoenix Publishing House Inc., 2016

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 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

FAY C. LUAREZ, TM, Ed.D., Ph.D.

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
Acting CID Chief

ADOLF P. AGUILAR
OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

NILITA L. RAGAY, Ed.D.

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)

ARNOLD R. JUNGCO
Education Program Supervisor – (SCIENCE & MATH)

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

DEXTER D. PAIRA
Writer/Illustrator/Lay –out Artists
___________________________

ALPHA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR
EUFRATES G. ANSOK, Jr.
JOAN Y. BUBULI
MA. OFELIA I. BUSCATO
DEXTER D. PAIRA
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
BETA TEAM
ZENAIDA A. ACADEMIA
DORIN FAYE D. CADAYDAY
MERCY G. DAGOY
RANJEL D. ESTIMAR
MARIA SALOME B. GOMEZ
JUSTIN PAUL ARSENIO C. KINAMOT

DISCLAIMER

The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide accessible learning
modality to the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The contents of this module are carefully
researched, chosen, and evaluated to comply with the set learning competencies. The writers and evaluator were
clearly instructed to give credits to information and illustrations used to substantiate this material. All content is subject to
copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent from the division.

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SYNOPSIS AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With the help of this SLK, it is hoped that the

learners are now well equipped with the
knowledge on how human activity affects the
availability and the quality of water. It is also
hoped that the students will be able to cope with
the existing problems of water availability and
water quality in each of our respective locality.
With this, students become pioneer advocates
towards good water availability and good water
quality.

ILLUSTRATOR, LAY-OUT ARTIST

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