Fresh Water

Name:
M. Umour Shakil
Roll #:
513 (035996)
Class:
BS-Zoology
Semester:
8th
Subject:
Zoogeography
Assignment Topic:
Fresh Water
Teacher:
Prof. Iftikhar Ahmed

GOVERNMENT POST GRADUATE ISLAMIA COLLEGE,

CIVIL LINES
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Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 3
Portability ............................................................................................................................. 3
Renewability ......................................................................................................................... 3
Numerical definition ............................................................................................................ 3
Systems .................................................................................................................................. 3
Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Water distribution ................................................................................................................... 4
Freshwater ecosystem ............................................................................................................. 5
Types ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Lentic ecosystems .............................................................................................................. 5
Lotic ecosystems ................................................................................................................ 5
Wetlands ............................................................................................................................. 6
Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 6
Limited resource ................................................................................................................... 7
Minimum streamflow ........................................................................................................... 7
Water pollution ..................................................................................................................... 7
References ................................................................................................................................ 8
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FRESHWATER

Introduction
Freshwater or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low
concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term
specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include non-salty mineral-rich
waters such as chalybeate springs. Fresh water may encompass frozen and meltwater in ice
sheets, ice caps, glaciers, snowfields, and icebergs, natural precipitations such as rainfall,
snowfall, hail/sleet, and graupel, and surface runoffs that form inland bodies of water such as
wetlands, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, as well as groundwater contained in aquifers,
subterranean rivers and lakes. Fresh water is the water resource that is of the most immediate
use to humans.
Portability
Fresh water is not always potable water, that is, water safe to drink by humans. Much of the
earth's freshwater (on the surface and groundwater) is to a substantial degree unsuitable for
human consumption without some treatment. Fresh water can easily become polluted by
human activities or due to naturally occurring processes, such as erosion. Fresh water makes
up less than 3% of the world's water resources, and just 1% of that is readily available. Just
3% of it is extracted for human consumption. Agriculture uses roughly two-thirds of all
freshwater extracted from the environment.
Renewability
Fresh water is a renewable and variable, but finite natural resource. Fresh water is replenished
through the process of the natural water cycle, in which water from seas, lakes, forests, land,
rivers, and reservoirs evaporates, forms clouds, and returns inland as precipitation. Locally,
however, if more fresh water is consumed through human activities than is naturally restored,
this may result in reduced freshwater availability (or water scarcity) from the surface and
underground sources and can cause serious damage to the surrounding and associated
environments. Water pollution also reduces the availability of freshwater.
Numerical definition
Fresh water can be defined as water with less than 500 parts per million (ppm) of dissolved
salts. Other sources give higher upper salinity limits for fresh water, e.g., 1,000 ppm or 3,000
ppm.
Systems
Freshwater habitats are classified as either lentic systems, which are still waters including
ponds, lakes, swamps, and mires; lotic, running-water systems; or groundwaters, which flow
in rocks and aquifers. There is, in addition, a zone that bridges between groundwater and lotic
systems, which is the hyporheic zone underlies many larger rivers and can contain
substantially more water than is seen in the open channel. It may also be in direct contact with
the underlying underground water
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Sources
The source of almost all fresh water is precipitation from the atmosphere, in the form of mist,
rain, and snow. Fresh water falling as mist, rain or snow contains materials dissolved from the
atmosphere and material from the sea and land over which the rain-bearing clouds have
traveled. The precipitation leads eventually to the formation of water bodies that humans can
use as sources of freshwater: ponds, lakes, rainfall, rivers, streams, and groundwater contained
in underground aquifers.
In coastal areas fresh water may contain significant concentrations of salts derived from the
sea if windy conditions have lifted drops of seawater into the rain-bearing clouds. This can
give rise to elevated concentrations of sodium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfate as well as
many other compounds in smaller concentrations.

Water distribution
Saline water in oceans, seas, and saline groundwater make up about 97% of all the water on
Earth. Only 2.5–2.75% is fresh water, including 1.75–2% frozen in glaciers, ice, and snow,
0.5–0.75% as fresh groundwater and soil moisture, and less than 0.01% of it as surface water
in lakes, swamps, and rivers. Freshwater lakes contain about 87% of this fresh surface water,
including 29% in the African Great Lakes, 22% in Lake Baikal in Russia, 21% in the North
American Great Lakes, and 14% in other lakes. Swamps have most of the balance with only a
small amount in rivers, most notably the Amazon River. The atmosphere contains 0.04% water.
In areas with no fresh water on the ground surface, fresh water derived from precipitation may,
because of its lower density, overlie saline ground water in lenses or layers. Most of the world's
freshwater is frozen in ice sheets. Many areas have very little fresh water, such as deserts.

-Visualization of the distribution (by volume) of water on Earth-

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Freshwater ecosystem
Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds,
rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems,
which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors,
including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and vegetation. There are three basic types
of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic (slow-moving water, including pools, ponds, and lakes), lotic
(faster-moving water, for example, streams and rivers), and wetlands (areas where the soil is
saturated or inundated for at least part of the time). Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the
world's known fish species.
Freshwater ecosystems have undergone substantial transformations over time, which has
impacted various characteristics of the ecosystems. Original attempts to understand and
monitor freshwater ecosystems were spurred on by threats to human health (for example
cholera outbreaks due to sewage contamination). Early monitoring focused on chemical
indicators, then bacteria, and finally algae, fungi, and protozoa. A new type of monitoring
involves quantifying differing groups of organisms (macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, and
fish) and measuring the stream conditions associated with them.
Threats to freshwater biodiversity include overexploitation, water pollution, flow
modification, destruction or degradation of habitat, and invasion by exotic species. Climate
change is putting further pressure on these ecosystems because water temperatures have
already increased by about 1 °C, and there have been significant declines in ice coverage which
have caused subsequent ecosystem stresses.
Types
There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic (slow-moving water, including
pools, ponds, and lakes), lotic (faster-moving water, for example, streams and rivers), and
wetlands (areas where the soil is saturated or inundated for at least part of the time). Limnology
(and its branch freshwater biology) is a study of freshwater ecosystems.
Lentic ecosystems
A lake ecosystem or lacustrine ecosystem includes biotic (living) plants, animals, and micro-
organisms, as well as abiotic (non-living) physical and chemical interactions. Lake ecosystems
are a prime example of lentic ecosystems, which include ponds, lakes, and wetlands, and much
of this article applies to lentic ecosystems in general. Lentic ecosystems can be compared with
lotic ecosystems, which involve flowing terrestrial waters such as rivers and streams.
Lentic systems are diverse, ranging from a small, temporary rainwater pool a few inches deep
to Lake Baikal, which has a maximum depth of 1642 m.
Lotic ecosystems
River ecosystems are flowing waters that drain the landscape, and include the biotic
interactions amongst plants, animals, and micro-organisms, as well as abiotic physical and
chemical interactions of its many parts. River ecosystems are part of larger watershed networks
or catchments, where smaller headwater streams drain into mid-size streams, which
progressively drain into larger river networks. The major zones in river ecosystems are
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determined by the river bed's gradient or by the velocity of the current. Faster-moving turbulent
water typically contains greater concentrations of dissolved oxygen, which supports greater
biodiversity than the slow-moving water of pools. These distinctions form the basis for the
division of rivers into upland and lowland rivers.
River ecosystems are prime examples of lotic ecosystems. Lotic refers to flowing water, from
the Latin lotus, meaning washed. Lotic waters range from springs only a few centimeters wide
to major rivers kilometers in width.
Wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for
years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free
(anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The primary factor that distinguishes
wetlands from terrestrial land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic
plants, adapted to the unique anoxic hydric soils. Wetlands are considered among the most
biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal
species.
Wetlands occur naturally on every continent. The water in wetlands is either freshwater,
brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types are classified based on the dominant plants
and/or the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent
vegetation such as reeds, cattails, and sedges; swamps are ones dominated by woody
vegetation such as trees and shrubs (although reed swamps in Europe are dominated by reeds,
not trees).
Examples of wetlands classified by their sources of water include tidal wetlands (oceanic
tides), estuaries (mixed tidal and river waters), floodplains (excess water from overflowed
rivers or lakes), springs, seeps, and fens (groundwater discharge out onto the surface), and
bogs and vernal ponds (rainfall or meltwater).

Challenges
The increase in the world population and the increase in per capita water use puts increasing
strains on the finite resources and availability of clean fresh water. The response by freshwater
ecosystems to a changing climate can be described in terms of three interrelated components:
water quality, water quantity or volume, and water timing. A change in one often leads to shifts
in the others as well.
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Limited resource
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of freshwater resources
to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity namely physical and
economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet
all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function. Arid areas for example Central
and West Asia, and North Africa often experience physical water scarcity. Economic water
scarcity, on the other hand, is the result of a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology
to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources. It also results from weak human
capacity to meet water demand.
The main drivers of the increase in global water demand are the increasing world population,
rise in living conditions, changing diets (to more animal products), and expansion of irrigated
agriculture. Climate change (including droughts or floods), deforestation, water pollution, and
wasteful use of water can also cause insufficient water supply.
Minimum streamflow
An important concern for hydrological ecosystems is securing minimum streamflow,
especially preserving and restoring upstream water allocations. Fresh water is an important
natural resource necessary for the survival of all ecosystems.
Water pollution
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result
of human activities, that negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans,
aquifers, reservoirs, and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants mix with
these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources: sewage discharges,
industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater. Water
pollution is either surface water pollution or groundwater pollution. This form of pollution can
lead to many problems, such as the degradation of aquatic ecosystems or the spreading of
water-borne diseases when people use polluted water for drinking or irrigation. Another
problem is that water pollution reduces the ecosystem services (such as providing drinking
water) that the water resource would otherwise provide.
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References
• "Freshwater Resources | National Geographic Society".
education.nationalgeographic.org.
• "The Fundamentals of the Water Cycle". www.usgs.gov.
• "Groundwater Glossary".
• "Freshwater". Glossary of Meteorology. American Meteorological Society.
• "Freshwater". Fishkeeping glossary. Practical Fishkeeping.
• “Fresh Water”. Wikipedia.