Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pollution
Water’s Life-Supporting
Properties
Water Molecule
(slightly −)
H H
(slightly +) (slightly +)
Polar covalent
bonds
(−)
(+)
(−) (+)
(−)
(+)
Hydrogen bonds make liquid
water cohesive
• The tendency of molecules of the same
kind to stick together is cohesion.
– Cohesion is much stronger for water than for
other liquids.
– Most plants depend upon cohesion to help
transport water and nutrients from their roots
to their leaves.
• The tendency of two kinds of molecules to
stick together is adhesion.
Hydrogen bonds make liquid
water cohesive
• Cohesion is related to surface tension—a
measure of how difficult it is to break the
surface of a liquid.
– Hydrogen bonds give water high surface
tension, making it behave as if it were coated
with an invisible film.
– Water striders stand on water without
breaking the water surface.
©
2
0 Animation: Water Transport
1
6
P
e
a
r
s
o
n
E
d
u
c
a
t
©Figure 2.10
2
0
1
6
P
e
a
r
s
o
n
E
d
u
c
a
t
Water’s hydrogen bonds
moderate temperature
• Thermal energy is the energy associated
with the random movement of atoms and
molecules.
– Thermal energy in transfer from a warmer to
a cooler body of matter is defined as heat.
– Temperature measures the intensity of
heat—that is, the average speed of molecules
in a body of matter.
©
2 Water’s hydrogen bonds
0
1 moderate temperature
6
P • Heat must be absorbed to break hydrogen
e bonds.
a
r • Heat is released when hydrogen bonds
s form.
o
n • To raise the temperature of water,
E hydrogen bonds between water molecules
d must be broken before the molecules can
u
c move faster. Thus,
a – when warming up, water absorbs a large
t amount of heat and
©
2 Water’s hydrogen bonds moderate
0
1 temperature
6
P
e • Earth’s giant water supply moderates
a temperatures, helping to keep
r
s temperatures within limits that permit life.
o • Water’s resistance to temperature change
n
E also stabilizes ocean temperatures,
d creating a favorable environment for
u marine life.
c
a
t
©
2 Water’s hydrogen bonds moderate
0
1 temperature
6
P • When a substance evaporates, the
e surface of the liquid that remains behind
a
cools down; this is the process of
r
s evaporative cooling.
o • This cooling occurs because the
n
E molecules with the greatest energy leave
d the surface.
u
c
a
t
©Figure 2.11
2
0
1
6
P
e
a
r
s
o
n
E
d
u
c
a
t
Ice floats because it is less dense
than liquid water
r
s − +
o −
+
Cl−
n − + Na+
− +
+ +
E − −
− +
d −
− +
u
Salt crystal
c
a
t
The chemistry of life is sensitive to
acidic and basic conditions
• In liquid water, a small percentage of water
molecules break apart into ions.
– Some are hydrogen ions (H+).
– Some are hydroxide ions (OH–).
– Both types are very reactive.
The chemistry of life is sensitive to
acidic and basic conditions
• A substance that donates hydrogen ions to
solutions is called an acid.
• A base is a substance that reduces the
hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.
• The pH scale describes how acidic or
basic a solution is.
– The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 0 the
most acidic and 14 the most basic.
– Each pH unit represents a 10-fold change in
the concentration of H+ in a solution.
©
2
2.14 The chemistry of life is
0 sensitive to acidic and basic
1
6 conditions
P • A buffer is a substance that minimizes
e changes in pH. Buffers
a
r
– accept H+ when it is in excess and
s – donate H+ when it is depleted.
o
n
E
d
u
c
a
t
pH scale
0
Battery acid H+ H+
1 H+ OH− H+
(Higher H+ concentration)
OH− H+
Increasingly ACIDIC
+
2 Lemon juice, H+ H+H
gastric juice
3 Vinegar, cola Acidic
solution
4 Tomato juice
5
Rainwater
H+
6 Human urine OH− OH−
−
NEUTRAL Saliva H+ OH OH−
OH−
[H+] = [OH−] 7 Pure water H+ H+ H+
Human blood, tears
8 Seawater Neutral
(Higher OH− concentration)
solution
Increasingly BASIC
10
Milk of magnesia
OH− OH−
11 OH− H+ OH−
Household ammonia
OH−
12 OH− OH−
H+
Household bleach
13 Basic
Oven cleaner solution
. 14
WILL WE HAVE ENOUGH
USABLE WATER?
Freshwater is an irreplaceable resource
that we are managing poorly
• Freshwater is relatively pure and contains
few dissolved salts.
• Earth has a precious layer of water—most
of it saltwater—covering about 71% of the
earth’s surface.
• Water is an irreplaceable chemical with
unique properties that keep us and other
forms of life alive. A person could survive
for several weeks without food, but for only
a few days without water.
Freshwater is an irreplaceable resource
that we are managing poorly
• Huge amounts of water are needed to
supply us with food, shelter, and meet our
other daily needs and wants.
• Water helps to sculpt the earth’s surface,
moderate climate, and remove and dilute
wastes and pollutants.
• Water is one of our most poorly managed
resources.
– People waste and pollute it.
– We charge too little for making it available.
Freshwater is an irreplaceable resource
that we are managing poorly
• Concerns regarding water include:
– Access to freshwater is a global health issue.
Every day an average of 3,900 children younger
than age 5 die from waterborne infectious
diseases.
– An economic issue – vital for reducing poverty
and producing food and energy.
– A women’s and children’s issue in developing
countries because poor women and girls often
are responsible for finding and carrying daily
supplies of water.
Freshwater is an irreplaceable resource
that we are managing poorly
– A national and global security issue because of
increasing tensions within and between nations
over access to limited water resources that they
share.
– An environmental issue because excessive
withdrawal of water from rivers and aquifers
results in dropping water tables, lower river
flows, shrinking lakes, and losses of wetlands.
Most of the earth’s freshwater is
not available to us
• About 0.024% is readily available to us as
liquid freshwater in accessible groundwater
deposits and in lakes, rivers, and streams.
• The rest is in the salty oceans, in frozen
polar ice caps and glaciers, or in deep
underground and inaccessible locations.
Most of the earth’s freshwater is
not available to us
• The world’s freshwater supply is continually
collected, purified, recycled, and distributed
in the earth’s hydrologic cycle, except
when:
– Overloaded with pollutants.
– We withdraw water from underground and
surface water supplies faster than it is
replenished.
– We alter long-term precipitation rates and
distribution patterns of freshwater through our
influence on projected climate change.
Most of the earth’s freshwater is
not available to us
• Freshwater is not distributed evenly.
– Differences in average annual precipitation
and economic resources divide the world’s
continents, countries, and people into water
haves and have-nots.
– Canada, with only 0.5% of the world’s
population, has 20% of the world’s liquid
freshwater, while China, with 19% of the
world’s people, has only 7% of the supply.
Groundwater and surface water
are critical resources
• Some precipitation infiltrates the ground
and percolates downward through spaces
in soil, gravel, and rock until an
impenetrable layer of rock stops this
groundwater—one of our most important
sources of freshwater.
– The zone of saturation is where the spaces
are completely filled with water.
– The top of this groundwater zone is the water
table.
Groundwater and surface water
are critical resources
– Aquifers: underground caverns and porous
layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock through
which groundwater flows—typically moving
only a meter or so (about 3 feet) per year and
rarely more than 0.3 meter (1 foot) per day.
– Watertight layers of rock or clay below such
aquifers keep the water from escaping deeper
into the earth.
Groundwater and surface water
are critical resources
• Surface water is the freshwater from
precipitation and snowmelt that flows across
the earth’s land surface and into lakes,
wetlands, streams, rivers, estuaries, and
ultimately to the oceans.
– Precipitation that does not infiltrate the ground
or return to the atmosphere by evaporation is
called surface runoff.
– The land from which surface water drains into a
particular river, lake, wetland, or other body of
water is called its watershed, or drainage basin.
We use a large and growing portion
of the world’s reliable runoff
• Two-thirds of the annual surface runoff in
rivers and streams is lost by seasonal floods
and is not available for human use.
– The remaining one third is reliable surface
runoff, which we can generally count on as a
source of freshwater from year to year.
• During the last century, the human population
tripled, global water withdrawals increased
sevenfold, and per capita withdrawals
quadrupled. We now withdraw about 34% of
the world’s reliable runoff of freshwater.
We use a large and growing portion
of the world’s reliable runoff
• Worldwide, about 70% of the water we
withdraw each year comes from rivers,
lakes, and aquifers to irrigate cropland,
industry uses another 20%, and residences
10%.
• Affluent lifestyles require large amounts of
water.
Freshwater shortages will grow
• The main factors that cause water scarcity in
any particular area are a dry climate, drought,
too many people using a water supply more
quickly than it can be replenished, and
wasteful use of water.
• More than 30 countries—mainly in the Middle
East and Africa—now face water scarcity.
• By 2050, 60 countries, many of them in Asia,
with three-fourths of the world’s population,
are likely to be suffering from water stress.
The world’s major river basins differ in
their degree of freshwater-scarcity stress
Freshwater shortages will grow
• In 2009, about 1 billion people in the world
currently lack regular access to enough clean
water for drinking, cooking, and washing.
• By 2025, at least 3 billion people are likely to lack
access to clean water.
• We can increase freshwater supplies by:
– withdrawing groundwater; building dams and reservoirs
to store runoff in rivers for release as needed
– transporting surface water from one area to another;
and converting saltwater to freshwater (desalination)
– reducing unnecessary waste of freshwater
HOW CAN WE INCREASE
WATER SUPPLIES?
Groundwater is being withdrawn faster
than it is replenished in some areas
• Aquifers provide drinking water for nearly half
of the world’s people.
• Most aquifers are renewable resources unless
their water becomes contaminated or is
removed faster than it is replenished by rainfall.
• Water tables are falling in many areas of the
world because the rate of pumping water from
aquifers (mostly to irrigate crops) exceeds the
rate of natural recharge from rainfall and
snowmelt.
Groundwater is being withdrawn faster
than it is replenished in some areas
• The world’s three largest grain producers—China,
India, and the United States—as well as Mexico,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Israel, and Pakistan
are overpumping many of their aquifers.
Withdrawing groundwater has
advantages and disadvantages
Irrigation in Saudi Arabia between
1986 (left) and 2004 (right)
Groundwater overdrafts in the
United States
Overpumping of aquifers has
several harmful effects
• As water tables drop, farmers must drill deeper
wells, buy larger pumps, and use more electricity
to run those pumps. Poor farmers cannot afford
to do this and end up losing their land.
• Withdrawing large amounts of groundwater
causes the sand and rock in aquifers to collapse.
– This causes the land above the aquifer to subside or
sink (land subsidence), referred to as a sinkhole.
– Once an aquifer becomes compressed by
subsidence, recharge is impossible.
– In addition, land subsidence can damage roadways,
water and sewer lines, and building foundations.
Overpumping of aquifers has
several harmful effects
• Groundwater overdrafts near coastal areas
can pull saltwater into freshwater aquifers.
The resulting contaminated groundwater is
undrinkable and unusable for irrigation.
• Deep water aquifers hold enough freshwater
to support billions of people for centuries.
• Concerns about tapping these ancient
deposits of freshwater:
– They are nonrenewable and cannot be
replenished on a human timescale.
Overpumping of aquifers has
several harmful effects
– Little is known about the geological and
ecological impacts of pumping large amounts
of freshwater from deep aquifers.
– Some deep aquifers flow beneath more than
one country and there are no international
treaties that govern rights to them. Without
such treaties, water wars could break out.
– The costs of tapping deep aquifers are
unknown and could be high.
Subsidence from overpumping
Solutions for groundwater
depletion
Large dams and reservoirs have
advantages and disadvantages
• Dams are structures built across rivers to
block some of the flow of water.
• Dammed water usually creates a
reservoir, a store of water collected behind
the dam.
• A dam and reservoir:
– capture and store runoff and release it as
needed to control floods.
– generate electricity (hydroelectricity).
Large dams and reservoirs have
advantages and disadvantages
– supply water for irrigation and for towns and
cities.
– provide recreational activities such as
swimming, fishing, and boating.
• The world’s 45,000 large dams have
increased the annual reliable runoff
available for human use by nearly 33%.
• Negative effects of dams include:
– displaced 40–80 million people from their
homes.
Large dams and reservoirs have
advantages and disadvantages
– flooded an area of mostly productive land
totaling roughly the area of California.
– impaired some of the important ecological
services that rivers provide.
• Reservoirs eventually fill up with sediment,
typically within 50 years, eventually making
them useless for storing water or producing
electricity.
• Around 500 small dams have been removed
in the U.S. but removal of large dams is
controversial and expensive.
Large dams and reservoirs have
advantages and disadvantages
A closer look at the overtapped
Colorado River basin
• The amount of water flowing to the mouth of the
heavily dammed Colorado River has dropped
dramatically.
• In most years since 1960, the river has dwindled
to a small, sluggish stream by the time it reaches
the Gulf of California.
• Negative effects include that:
– As the flow of the rivers slows in reservoirs, it drops
much of its load of suspended silt, depriving the
river’s coastal delta of much-needed sediment and
causing flooding and loss of ecologically important
coastal wetlands.
A closer look at the overtapped
Colorado River basin
– These reservoirs will probably become too full of silt to
control floods and store enough water for generating
hydroelectric power, or to provide freshwater for irrigation
and drinking water for urban areas.
– Agricultural production would drop sharply and many
people in the region’s cities likely would have to migrate
to other areas.
– Withdrawing more groundwater from aquifers is not a
solution, because water tables are already low and
withdrawals threaten the survival of aquatic species that
spawn in the river, and destroy estuaries that serve as
breeding grounds for numerous other aquatic species.
Since 1905, the amount of water flowing to
the mouth of the Colorado River has
dropped dramatically
Water transfers can be wasteful
and environmentally harmful
• In many cases, water has been transferred
into various dry regions of the world for
growing crops and for other uses.
• Such water transfers have benefited many
people, but they have also wasted a lot of
water and they have degraded ecosystems
from which the water was taken.
• Such water waste is part of the reason why
many products include large amounts of
virtual water.
Removing salt from seawater is costly, kills marine
organisms, and produces briny wastewater
Chlorine
Bar screen Grit chamber Settling tank Aeration tank Settling tank disinfection tank
To river,
lake,
Sludge or ocean
Raw sewage Activated sludge (kills bacteria)
from sewers
Air pump
Sludge
digester
Disposed of in
landfill or ocean
or applied to
Sludge drying bed cropland,
pasture, or
rangeland
Stepped Art
Fig. 11-32, p. 269
There are sustainable ways to
reduce and prevent water pollution
• Most developed countries have enacted laws and
regulations that have significantly reduced point-
source water pollution as a result of bottom-up political
pressure on elected officials by individuals and groups.
• To environmental and health scientists, the next step
is to increase efforts to reduce and prevent water
pollution in both more- and less-developed countries,
beginning with the question: How can we avoid
producing water pollutants in the first place?
• This shift will require that citizens put political pressure
on elected officials and also take actions to reduce
their own daily contributions to water pollution.
Ways to help reduce or prevent
water pollution
Three big ideas
• One of the major global environmental problems
is the growing shortage of freshwater in many
parts of the world.
• We can use water more sustainably by cutting
water waste, raising water prices, and protecting
aquifers, forests and other ecosystems that store
and release water.
• Reducing water pollution requires preventing it,
working with nature to treat sewage, cutting
resource use and waste, reducing poverty, and
slowing population growth.