WATER

Sources of Water

The following are the Main sources of water

 Rivers
 Lakes
 Oceans
 Seas
 Springs
 Pecipitation

Water exist in three major forms

 Solid(Ice & Snow)
 Liquid
 Gas(Vapour)
 WATER CYCLE/Hydrological cycle
 Water Cycle is an endless circulation of water from the earth surface to
the atmosphere again and again :
This process is also known as hydrological cycle.

Sun
Cloud
Condensation

Sun rays

Precipitation
Transpiration
Evaporation

Surface overflow

The cycle is driven by the Sun's heat which causes the:

evaporation of liquid water from: oceans, rivers and the ground surface into water vapour;transpiration of
water vapour from plants' leaves.

When water vapour in the air cools, it condenses and turns back into liquid water. This water vapour
precipitates from the air as rain or snow.
 Processes involved in Water cycle
The water cycle is driven by the sun. It heats water in rivers, seas and oceans.
Water evaporates into the air.
 Water can be transpired from vegetation through evapotranspiration. Air
currents cause the water vapour to rise.
 As the air cools the water vapour condenses to form clouds.
 The condensed water falls as precipition in the form of rain, sleet, snow or
hailstone.
 Some of this precipitation is intercepted by buildings and vegetation.
 Precipition that is not intercepted can then flow over the surface of the
earth as surface run-off.
 This often makes its way to rivers which in turn feeds lakes, seas and
oceans. Most run-off infiltrates into the ground.
 Some is held in storage under the ground whilst other flows through the
soils as groundwater flow.
 Some ground water returns to the surface through springs.
 STAGES OF WATER CYCLE
Condensatio
n

Precipitation Convection

Transpiration Evaporation

 Evaporation: This the process where water changes from liquids to gas when heated
 Transpiration: This is the process in which plants loses water to the atmosphere
through their leaves.
 Condensation: This is the process where water vapour turns in to solid .
 Precipitation:This is the falling back of condenses water in form of rain,snow etc
 Convection: Convection in the water cycle is when the air near the surface is heated,
then rises taking heat with it.
INPUT & STORAGE
Inputs – water coming into the system
 Precipitation –is all forms of moisture that reach the Earth’s

surface e.g. rain, snow, sleet and hail stones.

Storage – water stored in the system
 Interception – this is when precipitation lands on buildings,

vegetation and concrete before it reaches the soil. Interception

storage is only temporary as it is often quickly evaporated.
 Vegetation storage – this is water taken up by vegetation. It is all

the moisture in vegetation at any one time.

 Surface storage – the total volume of water held on the Earth’s

surface in lakes, ponds and puddies.

 Groundwater storage – is the storage of water underground in

permeable rock strata.

 Channel storage -the water held in a river or stream channel.
Flows and Processes
Flows and Processes – water moving from one place to another
 Base flow – water that reaches the channel largely through slow through flow
and from permeable rock below the water table.
 Channel flow –  the movement of water within the river channel.This is also
called a river’s discharge.
 Groundwater flow –  the deeper movement of water through underlying
permeable rock strata below the water table. Limestone is highly permeable with
lots of joints and can lead to faster groundwater flow.
 Infiltration – the downward movement of water into the soil surface.
 Interflow – water flowing downhill through permeable rock above the water
table.
 Percolation – the gravity flow of water within the soil.
 Stem flow – water running down a plant stem or tree trunk.
 Surface Runoff – the movement of water over the surface of the land, usually
when the ground is saturated or frozen or when precipitation is too intense from
infiltration to occur.
Outputs
Outputs – water leaving the system
 Evaporation – the transformation of water

droplets into water vapour by heating.

 Evapotranspiration – the loss of water from a

drainage basin into the atmosphere from the

leaves of plants + loss from evaporation.
 Transpiration – evaporation from plant leaves.
WATER POLLUTION
 Pollution: is the contamination of the natural
environment with harmful substances .
 Water pollution is introduction of harmful
substances into the water bodies ,eg: lakes Rivers
,Oceans e.t.c
 Water pollution occurs when a lot of chemicals,
sewage and fertilizers are dropped and if it is not
treated before being discharged into waterways,
serious pollution is the result.
 There
Causes of water Pollution
are many causes of water pollution, the main causes are grouped into two:
Natural Causes
Human Causes

1.Natural Causes : All natural occurrences that can cause direct or indirect pollution to
water sources e.g:
-Volcanic eruptions.
-Earth Quake.
-Animals.
_Floods.

2.Human Causes :These are mainly human activities taking place on the earth surface .
-Mining.
-Agricultures
-Industrialization.
-Oil Spillages
-Marine Dumping
-Untreated Sewages
-Improper Waste Disposal
 Why We Need Water
 Water is one of the most important substances
on earth, every living thing requires water to
survive.

 About 70% of our body weight is water.

 People could live for up to a month without food

, but we could live for only three to four days
without water.
How Do We use Water
 We use water for the following purposes
Drinking
Cooking and Cleaning food
Bathing
Laundry
For entertainment and leisure ie :fishing ,swimming,
surfing.
Flushing our toilets

Plants need Water
Plants need water to live just like we
do.
 Plants uses their roots to take up water
from the soil.
 In some areas where there is little or
no rainfall farmers bring water from
lakes rivers, and wells to their field in
order to water their plants .
 This activity of watering plants where
there is no rainfall is called Irrigation.
 Some plants need more water than
others to grow ie: Cotton and rice
while oranges and olives needs little
water.
ANIMALS NEED WATER
 Animal need water to live, the animals
that provide us with,meat,milk,and eggs
needs large amount of water to drink.
 Water is also home to million of plants

and animals like,fish,Dolphins,whales

etc.

Industries
Industries need water.to
 To cool their moving parts of the

machines.
 Water is used to generate electricity.

 Water is used in the production of many

kind of items eg : food manufacturers.

NOTE: Earth is the only planet in the universe that has liquid water
 Water Everywhere
 Nearly three quarters of the total
earth landmass is covered by water,
but most waters in the sea and
oceans are salty, and most fresh
water is found in ice form.
Salty Water
 About 97% of all water on earth is
salty, the water in the sea and ocean
s are always salty.
 Some of the salt has come from
volcanoes under the sea, and others
from the rocks on land.
 When rain falls it dissolves some of
the salts in the rocks .
 River and lakes also dissolves more
salts and carry it down to the sea .
Fresh Water
 Some of the fresh water are found in
form of ice most of this ice is around
North pole and South pole in huge
sheets called polar ice caps.
 Ice is also found on top of tall
mountains .
 Some time the ice on mountains melt
and flow down like slow moving
rivers ,
 The moving ice are called Glaciers
 We use fresh water , for Drinking,
washing, cooking and watering
plants
 Most of the fresh water we use come
from , Rivers ,Lakes and wells
The Oceans The Seas
 There are five great  There are several seas in the world ,
the seas such as Arabian Sea and
oceans in the world, sargasso sea are part of the oceans
i. Atlantic Ocean  Other seas are surrounded by land
masses(continents)
ii. Pacific  South China sea is the world largest
iii. India Ocean sea, others are:
iv. Arctic Ocean i. Mediterranean sea
v. Antarctic Ocean ii. Red Sea
 The largest oceans is Pacific iii. Black sea
ocean, it covers about one iv. Sea of Japan
third of the Earth and its v. Caspian Sea
average depth is 4000 meters
OCEANS=these are large water bodies surrounding the continents.
SEA: Sea are smaller water bodies surrounded by the continents.
 WORLD SEAS AND OCEANS

Refer to your Atlas and locate the position and location of the world
major seas and oceans