...Effects of Water Resources Holly Regan SCI/275 August 29, 2014 Stacy Murphy Effects of Water Resources Groundwater Pollution in the United States is a map of the areas in the United States where significant groundwater pollution is occurring, saltwater intrusion or groundwater is naturally salty, and high level of minerals or other dissolved solids in groundwater. The pollutants range from municipal and industrial wastes such as from oil and gas fields, toxic industrial wastes, landfill leachate, irrigation return waters, and wastes from well drilling, harbor dredging, and excavation for drainage systems. The most significant pollutant throughout the regions of the United States is toxic industrial wastes and wastes from well drilling, harbor dredging, and excavation for drainage systems. Sources of Groundwater Contamination shows an illustration of the way pollutants are entering our groundwater directly or indirectly. Industrial and agricultural waste causes direct pollution which in return causes such actions as loss of wastelands, acid rain, landfill leaching, and faulty sewers. Global warming and drought can cause just as much harm because drought causes salt intrusion that leads to increased metals and acids that can ruin your drinking source. Protecting American’s from Danger in the Drinking Water is about a small town in California named Hinkley. The company Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and workers at PG&E's nearby compressor station had been...
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...about for my final project is water resources. Water resources are very important because without water this world as we know it wouldn’t be in existence. We all need water for daily survival and we need to do whatever we can to help keep our water resources clean and from drying out. I will discuss in details issues we are currently facing and how nonliving and living factors contribute to this issue, positive and negative human effects. My paper will also include a sustainability and mitigation plan and provide benefits and challenges regarding water resources. My paper will also help individuals to understand the importance of water resources and without putting too much effort into it they can do their part to help. Problems with water resources There are so many problems we are facing today regarding water resources such as the misuse of water, overpopulation, fresh water and lack of drinking water. If we do not slow down and play close attention to our water resources and stop taking it for granted that our resources will always be in existence then there is no hope for our future generations. According to an article written on wikibooks website it stated that two of the most serious problems facing humans today are shortages of fresh water and the lack of safe drinking water. Humans use six times as much water today as we did a hundred years ago. As the number of people on Earth continues to rise, our demand for water grows. Also, people living in...
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...4 Chapter-2: Water Crisis 6 Chapter-3: The environmental effects of Hydraulic Fracturing 8 Air: 8 Water: 8 Deforestation: 9 Health: 9 Climate: 9 Faulty Wells: 9 Chapter-4: Hydraulic Fracturing: A Controversial Topic 10 Chapter-5: Conclusion and Recommendation 12 5.1 Water Scarcity Issues and Factors: 12 5.2 Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Scarcity: 14 Bibliography 15 Appendices 17 Appendix-1: Shale Gas Extraction 17 Appendix-2: Components of Fracturing Fluid 18 Appendix-3: Percentage of Global share by gas types 19 Appendix-4: Reducing Surface Footprint with Horizontal Drilling 20 Appendix-5: Satellite view of a Hydraulic Fracturing fluid storage 21 Appendix-6: Possible risks of Hydraulic Fracturing 22 Appendix-7: Global physical and economic water scarcity 23 Appendix-8: Survey conducted in Yangon, Myanmar 24 Chapter-1: Introduction Hydraulic fracturing is the process of obtaining natural gas by drilling into shale rock layers deep within the Earth. This process was made possible by advances in drilling technology in the past 100 years (www.energyfromshale.org/). Hydraulic fracturing of shale gas is also known as “fracking”. Hydraulic fracturing involves usage of vast amounts of a water mixture directed under high pressure at layers of shale to release the gas. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation states that approximately 2.4 to 7.8 million gallons of water are needed per fracturing process. The water mixture contains...
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...options 4 3.1 Desalination 4 3.2 Natural Water Resources 4 4. Requirements 4 4.1 Cost 4 4.2 Social effects 4 4.3 Environment effects 5 5. Compare of two options 5 5.1 Water Desalination 5 5.2 Natural Water Resources 8 6. Conclusions 9 7. Recommendations 9 8. References 10 1. Introduction Clean drinking water and sanitation were recognized as indispensable human right in United Nations General Assembly (2010, retrieved March, 2013). According to Robert Zoellick (2011), President of The World Bank, water is at the center of almost any poverty in the world so clean water is always the heart of sustainable development plan in any country. As a result of increasing pollution and inadequate distribution of natural resources, many countries in the Middle East are now facing serious water crisis (Hamad Bu-rahamah, 2005) According to the United Nation (retrieved March 2013), if there are not any significant improvements, by the year 2025, Jordan and other countries in the Middle East will confront ‘water war’ due to absolute water scarcity In this rough situation, the Jordanian government pointed out that using natural water resource and water desalination are the only solutions for water crisis now (BBC News, 2009). Specifically, by going along with the Jordan River and the Dead Sea on the West, and also borders with the Red Sea in the South, desalination seems to be a possible solution for water scarcity in Jordan. Another option which has...
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...Water pollution through urban and rural land use and freshwater allocation in New Zealand New Zealand has 425,000 kilometres of rivers and streams, almost 4,000 lakes larger than 1 hectare in size, and about 200 groundwater aquifers (Ministry for the Environment, 2010). By international standards, freshwater in New Zealand is both clean and in good supply. However, some aspects of water quality are getting worse in areas dominated by intensive land use. Demand for water is increasing, particularly in areas that are already water-stressed. Water pollution is becoming an ongoing problem for New Zealand. Both Urban and Rural land uses are creating pollution in our water and degrading the quality of our water. Growing demand for water resources in many parts of New Zealand during the last two decades has increased competition and conflicts between different stakeholders for access to scarce surface water and groundwater resources. To try to enable more sustainability in the use of our freshwater, we need to learn to balance and control how much water we use and where it is most needed. Poor or declining water quality has already created direct costs, such as the nearly $450 million allocated over the next 10 to 20 years to the clean-up of Lake Taupo, Rotorua Lakes and the Waikato River, and can constrain economic opportunities (Ministry for the Environment 2010). In New Zealand, it is increasingly recognised, including by government, that water resource allocation and water quality...
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...Q3 Impacts of climate change on Australian water resources The earth has a very perfect hydrologic cycle. It maintains water balance one the earth, promotes the prosperity of earth. However, the human activities in recent decades has largely disturb the hydrological cycle. Between 1990 and 2000, Australia lost an average of 325,900 hectares of forest per year. Australia has about 0.19% deforestation rate (mongabay, 2012). Due to the colonization and urbanization, in 200 years, Australia has lost 25% rainforest, 45% of open forest, 32% woodland forest and 30% of malle forest in 200 years (Forestnetwork, 2003). The situation has improved a lot in recent years as the government release many new policies to protect the forest resources. Forest can transport large amount of water into the atmosphere by plant transpiration. It replenishes the clouds and makes the rainfall. The rainfall brings water to the earth surface to refill ground water and irrigate the soils. It maintains earth water balance. However cutting forests can break this balance causes less rainfall, dry land and turns the forest into desert (WWF, 2015). Another big concern is the CO2 emission. Plants can mitigate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions and release oxygen. The main purpose to cutting forest is burn the fuel. This process produces large amount of greenhouse gases. Deforestation makes the greenhouse effect worse. Australia are the highest greenhouse gas polluters, per-person, among the organization...
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...English 115 Determining Causes and Effects [insert professor name] December 17, 2013 Georgio Miller English 115 Determining Causes and Effects [insert professor name] December 17, 2013 08 Fall 08 Fall Georgio Miller December 17, 2013 ENG115 3.1 – Determining Causes and Effects Pollution in Great Lakes such as Lake Huron is not only harmful to the lake, but the ecosystem as well in many different ways. They can cause a harmful ripple effect transferred from prey to predators including humans. There is also the possibility of a major negative impact on the economy if affected. A majority of pollution found in Great Lakes such as Lake Huron has been proven by many sources to be extremely harmful to the habitants of the water, species who use the water, and the water itself. These findings eventually provided enough evidence for an implementation of a legal pollution limit that is considered to be a tolerance level. To demonstrate the harmful reality of pollution in Lake Huron, a group of graduate students from Michigan State University studied the effects of pollution by observing the lake trout. According to an excerpt of their school thesis, they intended to “…analyze the tissue concentrations in lake trout…over a period of several years.” (Michigan State University, Enivroment 110). The study of this lake trout provided substantial evidence that more contaminated areas of the lake had a higher effect on the trout. The water pollution, caused by anything as...
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...Water is essential to human and organisms to live “Drinking water, “2008). Water covers most of the world and makes up more of the world than land. Water comes from different sources. Water may surround us but there are still shortages. Water allows us to live but it could be harmful to our bodies when polluted. Humans and natural disasters can cause damage to the water supply It is important to conserve water whenever possible (“Drinking Water, “2008). Oceans make up two-thirds of the Earth (“Drinking Water,”2008). It is made up of saltwater. This water is not useable for humans to drink or use for food. Even though it is not a water source for organisms or humans to drink, it has it own importance in the world. It contains organism sources for food, like fish, lobsters, squid, and clams to name a few (“Why Oceans,” 1998). The ocean helps with the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which helps lower climate change. Climate change is a continuing problem humans are dealing with today. Humans dispose different substances like chemical weapons, and radioactive material into the ocean that is banned on land. River pollutants are washed into the ocean, to help provide cleaner rivers (“Why Oceans,” 1998). The world is only made up of 3% fresh water (“Why Ocean,” 1998.) Almost two-third of fresh water is not even liquid format. It is trapped in glaciers and ice caps. Ground and surface water consist of other fresh water. Ground water provides for almost half of the world’s drinking...
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...Effects of Water Pollution on Aquatic Ecosystems written by: Sean Fears•edited by: Niki Fears•updated: 1/12/2009 Whether the compounds being added to our watersheds are natural or foreign, they have an effect if the flora and fauna are not adapted to them. Find out some of the ways in which water pollution effects and causes changes in aquatic ecosystems! * Most affected Water pollution can come as a result of natural or unnatural compounds being added to a watersource. These can sway the balance of an ecosystem resulting in danger to natural wildlife of aquatic environments. Some animals and plants are highly susceptible to the effects of water pollution: * Amphibians tend to be very pollution sensitive due to the fact that they absorb chemicals in the water through their skins; this is one reason why many amphibian populations are in distress today. * With addition of detergents to the eco-system, insects that normally have the ability to walk on water will be unable to. * Younger animals also have a greater sensitivity to chemical compounds, especially those that mimic organic compounds, since they are still undergoing the physiological changes associated with maturation. These effects can range from physiological effects such as suffocation and thinning of eggshells to the alteration of neurochemistry. That is why one water-quality monitoring technique involves a survey of macroinvertebrates in the stream; if animals with narrow requirements are present...
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...Mitigation Strategies and Solutions SCI/275 Water Resource specifically Water Pollution is the water resource issue I selected for my Mitigation Strategies and Solutions. According to Encyclopedia.com (2010), water pollution “began in the nineteenth century as a result of urbanization, industrial development and modern agricultural practices.” Water Pollution is categorized as two sources Non-point source pollution which contributes to eutrophication in freshwater resource as a result of water pollution because usually this type of pollution results from “land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification,” according to Epa.gov (2010). However, Point Source Pollution happens because the dumping of the sewage, garbage, ship oils, and other waste from human activity. These pollutants and toxins kill the ecosystem. These would be the negative human impacts. Additional effects are contaminated drinking water which can cause a variety of health problems such as, ear , eyes and throat irritation, aggravate symptoms of asthma and chronic bronchitis just to name a few. These pollutants are a threat to public health These effects from pollutants have damaging consequences on the drinking water supplies, fisheries, wildlife, and recreational use such as swimming. The growing human population is also a problem because the demand for water already exceeds the current water supply. As the human population continue to increase...
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...Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim International Islamic University Chittagong Department of ELL An assignment on Climate change and its effect on Bangladesh Course code: URBS-4802 Course title: Bangladesh Studies Prepared for: Mohammad Tawhidul Islam Lecturer Department of CEN-URC International Islamic University Chittagong Prepared by: Mohammad Sahidul Islam Matric no: N081025 Department of ELL International Islamic University Chittagong Date of submission: 21st January, 2012 Introduction: The coastal areas of Bangladesh are different from rest of the country because of their unique geo-physical characteristics and different socio-political consequences that often limit people’s access to endowed resources and perpetuate risk and vulnerabilities. Bangladesh’s coast is the biggest victim to natural disasters and highly affected by climate change with problems including salinity and water logging, soil erosion, flooding and cyclones. A dramatic increase in the level of interest and concern relating to the impact of “Climate Change” on Bangladesh is readily apparent. The consequential high level of visibility of this issue within Government, Civil Society and the international...
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...exacerbating or causing stress on local water resources in some less developed countries. Review and discuss the evidence. 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and estimates suggest by 2025 two thirds of the world’s population will be living in ‘water stressed situations’ (Momsen, 2004). Drinking unsafe water is a reality for many people living in less developed countries and can lead to life threatening problems including cholera. 96% of all infant mortality occurs in less developed countries and most are connected to inadequate water supplies (McDonald and Kay, 1988). As water is a necessary part of life, issues to do with water resources are hotly debated. One issue debated is connected to Coca-Cola, which has received a lot of criticism lately with questions raised over its attitude towards water resources in less developed countries. This essay will review the statement “Coca Cola’s operations have been blamed for exacerbating or causing stress on local water resources in some less developed countries” and discuss whether Coca-Cola deserves the bad press it had received. Images: (Business Week [www], Art [www], Weblo [www]) Coca-Cola, the world’s largest non-alcoholic beverage company, sells products in over 200 countries. While the company is economically successful, arguments suggest it has no concern for the environment. It has been referred to as; “A champion of unsustainable use of water globally” (Srivastava, 2006, [www]). ...
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...Forest |Groundwater Levels |Saltwater Intrusion |Farming |Industrial development |Population | |1800s |Large forests |Lots of groundwater |No salt water intrusion |Small farms |No cities |Limited Housing | |1900s |Decreased by 50% |Decreased by 50% |Ocean moved into groundwater |Farms are larger, but there are fewer |Exceptional growth of cities and industrial |Substantial increase in housing | |2000s |Decreased by 90% |Decreased by 90% |Great movement of ocean into ground water |Same number of farms, but size decreased by 20% |Industrial development decreased by 10 – 15% |Housing development decreased by 10 – 15% | | Part II: • Purpose o To observe the different effects on earths resources by different climate and man made revolutions to the eco-system. • Introduction o A number of forces continue to seriously affect our natural water resources. Many of these are primarily the result of human actions and include ecosystem and landscape changes, pollution, over-abstraction and climate change. o The removal, destruction or impairment of natural ecosystems are among the greatest causes of critical impacts on the sustainability of our natural water resources. It should be noted that the ecosystems with which we interact are directly linked to the well-being of our natural water resources. This approach is being strongly advocated in some sectors and scientific domains (e.g. Falkenmark and Rockström, 2004; Figueras et al., 2003; Bergkamp...
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...Gabriela Gonzalez-Rosas I/ST 355i 9/17/2013 Proposal Choice: A Country of choice: Mexico Three issues: Natural fresh water resources scarce and polluted, deforestation and serious air pollution. There are many different issues in Mexico but these three are the ones that stood up the most to me because they are something that we deal with everyday life. First I’m going to talk about Natural fresh water scarce and polluted. Water is a very important resource to everyone and everything, but in many cases it is misused and even wasted. I grew up in Mexico and since I was a kid I knew not to drink the water from the faucet or even the fridge because I could get sick. Everyone I know that goes to Mexico knows not to drink the water or the ones that didn’t know got terribly sick. In Mexico they don’t treat their water like they do here in the United States they don’t use the technology that’s available for us here in the States. Also the way they dump their dirty water is not the proper way to do so, so it pollutes the rest of the clean water. Deforestation is a big problem because there are eleven countries including Mexico that consist of the 60% and 70% of the world’s species and 10% of them are in Mexico. Every year Mexico loses 500 thousand hectares of its woods and forests that ranks them in 5th place of deforestation in the world. This is a really big problem because many plants and animals have gone extinct due to deforestation. Population growth and urbanization...
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...Global Water Crisis: What is the Prognosis Global Water Crisis: What is the Prognosis While the world has struggled with oil, globalization, and strife, the new crisis that is being increasingly important is the health and capacity of the water supply. Taken for granted, the rising population primarily in developing countries along with the declining freshwater reserves will lead to conflict. In addition there is the issue of climate change, the anthropological effect and how the hydrological cycle suffers because of it. And the supply of trade and food will also be increasingly fragile when the health of ocean ecosystems and its marine life is consistently threatened. In the past people have fought for water in the beginning of their colonization. After the conflicts regarding territories, alliances, and now currently oil, the global economy along with its citizens will again fight for the control of the dwindling water supplies in the face of an increasing population. “Many environmental scientists warn that declining water supplies could lead to wars between nations” (Cunningham, p. 384). If the specifics are studied closely in current international conflicts, the fight for the new oil, water, has already begun. The familiar Middle East conflicts that the United States is engaged in has often been regarded as a way to help secure our oil supply. However some neighboring countries are already moving on to a more striking issue that humans as a species simply aren’t paying...
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