4.

1: Introduction to water systems

- 70% of Earth's surface is covered by water
- 2.6% of water on Earth is freshwater
- 68.7% in glaciers + ice caps, 30.1% groundwater, surface water (lakes, rivers) 0.3%
97% is saltwater
Turnover time
- Oceans = 37,000 years
- Icecaps = 16,000 years
- Groundwater = 300 days
- Rivers = 12-20 days
- Atmosphere = 9 days

Water is renewable in atmosphere & rivers, replenishable in groundwater aquifers, and

nonrenewable in oceans & icecaps
Hydrological Cycle
Transfers: ​stays in the same state
▪ Flooding, Surface run-off
▪ Stream flow/currents
Transformation: ​changes state
▪ Evapotranspiration: liquid to water vapor
▪ Condensation: Water vapor to liquid
Human impact on water cycle
Withdrawals (domestic use)
Discharge ( pollutants to water)
Changing speed of water flow and where it
flows (canals, dams)
Diverting river sections to avoid flood
damage

Examples of changes caused by humans:​ ​Ganges Basin​ (deforestation increases flooding

because precipitation is not absorbed by vegetation)
Ocean Currents: ​movements of water horizontally and vertically.
1. Surface currents
2. Deep water currents: ​cause the oceanic conveyor belt
- Due to differences in water density caused by salt and temperature
- Warm water holds less salt and is less dense so it rises
- Cold water holds more salt and sinks because it is denser
- When warm water rises, cold water uasto come up to replace it (upwellings)
- When cold water rises, it has to be replaced by warm water (downwellings)
- In this way, water circulates.
Cold Currents​ (pole to equator): Humboldt Current (Peru)
Warm Currents ​(equator to poles): Angola Current
4.2: Access to Freshwater
- 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water
- 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation
- 3900 children die every day from waterborne diseases
- Water can be made usable through desalination plants, but these are very expensive
and only found in economically strong countries like Saudi Arabia
- WHO says a human should have 20L of fresh water access everyday
- Egypt imports half of its food because they don’t have enough water to grow
Freshwater Issues:
- Climate change disrupting rainfall patterns: causing inequality of supplies
- Contaminated and unusable freshwater
- Fertilizers + pesticides pollute streams and rivers
- Underground aquifers are being exhausted (affects agriculture)
- Irrigation leads to soil degradation
Solutions:
- Increase freshwater supplies by reservoirs, desalination plants, and rainwater harvesting
- Grey water recycling from shower, baths
- Replace chemical fertilizers with organic ones + reduce fertilizer use
- Irrigation: select drought resistant crops
- Water treatment plants
***LOOK INTO EXAMPLES OF WATER CONFLICTS AND MEMORIZE 2

4.3: Aquatic Food Production Systems

Continental shelf: ​extension of continents under the seas and oceans (creates shallow water)
- Important because it has 50 percent of oceanic productivity but 15 percent of its area
- Light reaches shallow seas so producers can photosynthesize
- Countries can claim it as theirs to exploit and harvest
Phytoplankton: ​single celled organisms that can photosynthesize (produce 99 percent of
primary productivity)
Zooplankton: ​single-celled animals that eat phytoplankton and their waste
Fishery:​ exists when fish are harvested in some way (capture of wild fish, aquaculture, fish
farming)
- 90% happens in oceans and 10% in freshwater
- 70% of world 's fisheries are exploited
- Each person on average eats 20kg of fish and 8kg of meat annually
Aquaculture: ​farming of aquatic organisms in both coastal and inland areas involving
interventions in the rearing process to enhance production.
Example: ​China produces 62% of farmed fish worldwide (carp/catfish): grown in rice paddies
and their waste provides fertilizer for the rice
Impacts of fish farms
- Loss of habitats
- Pollution (antibiotics, feed)
- Spread of diseases
- Escaped species (genetically modified organisms) may survive to interbreed with wild
fish
- Escaped species may outcompete native species (pop crash)
Tragedy of the commons
- Idea of overexploiting a resource that seems to belong to everyone
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
- SY: ​Increase in natural capital (natural income that can be exploited each year without
depleting the original stock)
- MSY:​ highest amount that can be taken without permanently depleting the stock
The force that pushes the curve back is known as environmental resistance
Levels off at carrying capacity
Much better = Optimal Sustainable Yield (fishing quotas)

Carrying Capacity for each species depends on its :

- Longevity
- reproductive strategy
- Ecosystem

4.4: Water Pollution

Pollutants can be:

- Anthropogenic or natural
- Point/Non- Point source
- Organic or inorganic
- Direct or indirect
Organic Inorganic Both

Pollutant: Pollutant: Pollutant:

- Sewage - Nitrates and phosphates - Solid Domestic waste
- Animal waste - Radioactive material - Debris
- Pesticides - Heavy toxic materials - Suspended solids

Example: Example: Example:

- Human waste - Fertilizers - Silt from construction
- Manure - Industry - Household garbage
- insecticides - Nuclear power stations
Effects:
- Damage corals
 Effects: Effects: - Plastics (great pacific
- Eutrophication - Eutrophication garbage patch)
- Loss of - Bioaccumulation and
biodiversity biomagnification

Freshwater pollution​: Agricultural runoff, sewage, solid domestic waste

Marine pollution: ​Rivers, pipelines, human activities
Measuring water pollution:
- BOD​: amount of dissolved oxygen required to break down organic material in a given
volume of water.
- Indicator species: ​plants and animals that show something about the environment by
their presence, absence, abundance, or scarcity.
- Biotic Index: indirectly​ measures pollution by assaying the impact on species within
the community according to their tolerance, diversity, and relative abundance.

Eutrophication: ​when lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters receive inputs of nutrients (nitrates
and phosphates) that result in an excess growth of plants and phytoplankton.
- When severe = dead zones; too less oxygen to support life
- Anaerobic water
- Loss of biodiversity and shorter food chains
- Increased turbidity of water
- Death of higher plants
Excess nutrients come from:
- Detergents and fertilizers
- Drainage (intensive livestock rearing units)
- Sewage
- Increased erosion of topsoil into water

Process of eutrophication:
1. Fertilizer enter river/lake
2. High level of phosphate lets algae grow faster
3. Algae blooms form; blocks out light to plants that thus die
4. More algae = more food for zooplankton/small animals that feed on them. They are food
to fish, hence there becomes a lack of zooplankton/small animals, thus less are there to
eat algae.
5. Algae die and are decomposed by aerobic bacteria.
6. Not enough oxygen nonetheless, hence everything dies as the food chain collapses.
7. Oxygen levels fall lower. Dead organic material forms sediments on the lake or river bed
and turbidity increases.
8. All life is gone and sediment settles to leave a clear blue lake.
Eutrophication Management Strategies:
Before:
- Ban or limit detergents with phosphates or use eco detergents
- Stop leaching of animal waste
- Educate farmers about effective timing for fertilizer application

During:
- Treat wastewater before release to remove phosphates and nitrates.
- Divert or treat sewage waste effectively.

After:
- Pumping air through lakes
- Remove excess weeds physically or by herbicides