Chapter 7

Tulare Lake Map:

OUTLINE AT BOTTOM OF PAGE

Our drinking water and water pollution

January 31, 2005

Trophic States
Oligotrophic	Clear waters with little organic matter or sediment and minimum biological activity.
Mesotrophic	Waters with more nutrients, and therefore, more biological productivity.
Eutrophic	Waters extremely rich in nutrients, with high biological productivity. Some species may be choked out.
Hypereutrophic	Murky, highly productive waters, closest to the wetland status. Many clearwater species cannot survive.
Dystrophic	Low in nutrients, highly colored with dissolved humic organic material. (Not necessarily a part of the natural trophic progression.)

Love Canal

1. case study: Woburn Massachusetts

2. Read the Woburn story here: groundwater flow towards contaminated sites

3. The Woburn Story. Click the links to read the plaintiffs and defendants stories, evidence and other information.

Dams

1. Fish Dams removed in Calofornia

2. Connecticut River and dams

Long Islands GW

1. SCWA The Water Cycle

2. CERI

3. Golf: Toxic Fairways

Many Bay Shore residents unaware of underground gas spills at Hess station

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(01/17/05) BAY SHORE - Many residents in Bay Shore say they are unaware of the underground gas spills that occurred at a local Hess station.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the station had multiple spills between 1988 and 2002. DEC officials say an incident in 2002 contaminated the area with MTBE, an illegal gasoline additive that’s a suspected carcinogen.

The DEC says air and soil samples in the area show no danger to public health or drinking water. However, some environmentalists worry what might happen if the next cleanup isn’t quick enough. Some community activists say they will monitor any spills and cleanups. Community activists hope residents don’t panic unnecessarily.

A Hess corporate spokesman says the company has been doing on site remediation for approximately a year. The spokesman adds that the company is in the process of installing a groundwater recovery and treatment system off site.

Chapter 7

Water: Hydrologic Cycle and Human Use

Key Terms and Vocabulary:

Freshwater, hydrologic cycle, evaporation, water vapor, humidity, relative humidity, condensation, aerosols, Hadley cell, rain shadow, infiltration, runoff, infiltration-runoff ratio, watershed, surface waters, capillary water, evapotranspiration, percolation, gravitational water, groundwater, water table, aquifer, recharge area, seep, spring, nonconsumptive, consumptive, estuaries, land subsidence, sinkhole, saltwater intrusion, desalination, xeriscaping, gray water

Chapter Outline:

I. Water—A Vital Resource

II. Hydrological Cycle: Natural Cycle, Human Impacts

A. Evaporation, Condensation, and Purification

B. Precipitation

C. Groundwater

D. Pools and Fluxes in the Cycle

III. Human Impacts on the Hydrologic Cycle

A. Changes to the Surface of Earth

B. Climate Change

C. Atmospheric Pollution

D. Withdrawing Water Supplies

IV. Water: A Resource to Manage, a Threat to Control

A. Uses and Sources

B. Surface Waters

C. Groundwater

1. Falling Water Tables

2. Diminishing Surface Water

3. Land Subsidence

4. Saltwater Intrusion

V. Water Stewardship: Public Policy Challenges

A. Obtaining More Water

1. More Dams to Capture Runoff

2. Tapping More Groundwater

3. Desalting Seawater

B. Using Less Water

1. Agriculture

2. Municipal Systems

C. Public Policy Challenges

1. National Water Policy

2. International Action

1. Water is the basis of life. The water cycle moves water around and removes impurities.

2. Humans can adversely impact water purity and cycling by changing the surface of the Earth, introducing pollutants and removing water rapidly from different sources.

3. Increasing the availability of water and decreasing the risk of water pollution will involve changing our view of water and developing mechanisms to encourage stewardship.