Water Resources

Water Resources

Chapter 15APES

Ms. Miller

Hydrological Poverty: lack of freshwater available for use which leads to harsh human, environmental and economical consequences

Green Surrounded by Desert….Why Bother??

Importance of Water (Science and Economics)Keeps us alive…….60% of our bodies is waterCan only survive without water for a few days

Water is one of our most poorly managed resourcesGlobal Health Issues: unsafe drinking

water and lack of sanitation are biggest cause of illness worldwide.

>2 million people die from waterborne diseases: diarrhea, typhoid fever, and hepatitis …even malaria is linked directly to water.

Children’s Issue: it is essential for healthy development

a child dies every 8 seconds due to waterborne diseases (diarrhea is the number

one cause of death in children in many African countries)

Women’s Issue: poor women and girls are often reponsible for finding and carrying daily water supplies.

National and Global Security Issue: tensions are increasing over shared/limited use of water resources in the Middle East and other areas of the world.

All of our continents have concerns about water use…even Brookfield wants water from Lake Michigan.

Environmental Issue: excessive withdrawal and pollution leads to…..

Disappearing Species

Lower water tables:

Declining fish populations:

Altered river flowsShrinking lakesLoss of wetlands

Declining water quality

The earth’s most abundant resource, and still we have trouble finding adequate clean drinking water for nearly 1 billion people worldwide.

Only 0.024% of the earth’s water is available to use as liquid fresh water.

The Hydrologic Cycle helps keep fresh water recycling

Reliable runoff: surface runoff we can count on as a source of freshwater from year to year. Currently use greater than 50% of it but greater needs will push that to 70-90% use by 2025.

Withdrawal: amount of freshwater we remove from a lake, river or aquifer for any purpose.

Consumptive use: use that does not return water to its original source. Approximately 70% of the water used falls into this category.

Nonconsumptive use: water is not removed, or is returned to an aquifer or surface body of water.

70% of water withdrawn from lakes, rivers and aquifers is used for irrigation….

Supports 1/5th of the world’s croplandsProduces 40% of the worlds food

Top Three “Users” of water

#1 Irrigation (70%)#2 Industry (20%)#3 Residences (10%)

17 water hotspots have been identified in the Western U.S. Which leads to more

intense conflict for fresh water resources

Governments vs. Private Corporations???most are currently owned and managed by

governmentsSome governments are selling their water to

private companies like: Vivendi, Suez, and RWE

Build our developments with stakeholders Innovate to meet environmental needs

Conserve resources and promote make employees sustainable the circular economy development actors