EGE 311

People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

 Module 2

Human Impacts in the Environment

Lesson 2 People and waters

Abstraction

The Importance of Water

• All life forms, from unicellular bacteria to multicellular plants and animals,
contain water.
• Humans are composed of approximately 60 percent water by body
weight.
• Drinking water
• agriculture, manufacturing, mining, energy production, and waste
disposal.
• 97%-saltwater
• Fresh water is distributed unevenly

The Hydrologic Cycle and Our Supply of Fresh Water

• In the hydrologic cycle, water continuously circulates through the
environment, from the ocean to the atmosphere to the land and back to
the ocean
• hydrologic cycle provides a continual renewal of the supply of fresh
water on land
 • surface water- Precipitation that remains on the surface of the land
and does not seep down through the soil.
• Runoff- The movement of fresh water from precipitation and snowmelt
to rivers, lakes, wetlands, and the ocean.
• drainage basin, or watershed- the area of land drained by a single
river or stream
• Groundwater- The supply of fresh water under Earth’s surface that is
stored in underground aquifers.
• Aquifers- underground reservoirs in which groundwater is stored

Properties of Water
• Consisting of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.
• polar
• high melting/ freezing point (0°C, 32°F)
• High boiling point (100°C, 212°F)
• most water exists in the liquid form organisms need.

• high heat capacity

• A solvent
• In nature, water is never completely pure because it contains dissolved
gases from the atmosphere and dissolved mineral salts from the land.
Water Pollution
• A physical or chemical change in water that adversely affects the
health of humans and other organisms.
• eight categories: sewage, disease-causing agents, sediment pollution,
inorganic plant and algal nutrients, organic compounds, inorganic
chemicals, radioactive substances, and thermal pollution.
Types of Water Pollution
Eutrophication: An Enrichment Problem
• Oligotrophic- Lakes, estuaries, and slow-fl owing streams that have
minimal levels of nutrients; Supports small populations of aquatic
organisms
• Eutrophication- enrichment of a lake, an estuary, or a slow-flowing
stream
• by inorganic plant and algal nutrients such as phosphorus;
• Eutrophic- an enriched body of water increased photosynthetic
productivity; presence of vast numbers of algae and cyanobacteria
• Artificial Eutrophication- Overnourishment of an aquatic ecosystem
by nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates due to human activities
such as agriculture and discharge from sewage treatment plants.

Sources of Water Pollution

• come from both natural sources and human activities
• 2 SOURCES:
• Point source pollution- is discharged into the environment
through pipes, sewers, or ditches from specific sites such as
factories or sewage treatment plants; relatively easy to control
legislatively, but accidents still occur.
• nonpoint source pollution- Pollution that enter bodies of water
over large areas rather than being concentrated at a single point
of entry.
• polluted runoff- Pollutants that enter bodies of water over large areas
rather than at a single point cause nonpoint source pollution, also
called polluted runoff
Groundwater Pollution
• drinking water from groundwater, is also withdrawn for irrigation and
industry.
• The most common pollutants, such as pesticides, fertilizers, and
organic compounds, seep into groundwater from municipal sanitary
landfi lls, underground storage tanks, backyards, golf courses, and
intensively cultivated agricultural lands
The Global Ocean
• ocean is a vast wilderness
• It teems with life—from warmblooded mammals such as whales to
softbodied invertebrates such as jellyfish.
• It is essential to the hydrologic cycle that provides water
 • It affects cycles of matter on land, influences our climate and weather,
and provides foods that enable millions of people to survive..
Patterns of Circulation in the Ocean
• Gyres- Large, circular ocean current systems that often encompass an
entire ocean basin.
• Coriolis effect- influences the paths of surface, or shallow, ocean
currents just as it does the winds
• Earth’s rotation from west to east causes surface ocean currents to
swerve to the right in the Northern Hemisphere
• In the Southern Hemisphere, ocean currents swerve to the left, thereby
moving in a circular, counterclockwise pattern
Vertical Mixing of Ocean Water
• Variations in the density (mass per unit volume) of seawater affect
deep-ocean currents.
• Cold, salty water is denser than warmer, less salty water.
• Colder, salty ocean water sinks and flows under warmer, less salty
water, generating currents far below the surface.
• ocean conveyor belt
• moves cold, salty deep-sea water from higher to lower latitudes,
where it warms up.
• affects regional and possibly global climate
• shifts from one equilibrium state to another
El Niño–Southern Oscillation
• El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)- A periodic, large-scale
warming of surface waters of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean that
temporarily alters both ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns.
• Every 3 to 7 years, the trade winds weaken, and the warm mass of
water expands eastward to South America, increasing surface
temperatures in the usually cooler east Pacific
• During an ENSO event, however, the colder, nutrient-rich deep water is
about 150 m (490 ft) below the surface, and the warmer surface
temperatures and weak trade winds prevent upwelling

• alters global air currents, directing unusual, sometimes dangerous,

weather to areas far from the tropical Pacifi c where it originates
• 1997–1998 ENSO- the strongest on record, caused more than 20,000
deaths and $33 billion in property damage worldwide
• TAO/ TRITON array- instruments collect oceanic and weather data
during normal conditions and El Niño events
La Niña
• in Spanish, “the girl child”
• occurs when the surface water temperature in the eastern Pacific
Ocean becomes unusually cool and westbound trade winds become
unusually strong.
• often occurs after an El Niño event and is considered part of the natural
oscillation of ocean temperature.
• typically causes wetter-than-usual winters in the Pacific Northwest,
warmer weather in the Southeast, and drought conditions in the
Southwest.
• Atlantic hurricanes are stronger and more numerous than usual during
a La Niña event