Water Resources and Management

Front

What are the main issues with freshwater resources?

Back

We are using available freshwater unsustainably by wasting it, polluting it, and underpricing it.

Front

What percentage of the world's freshwater is available for human use?

Back

0.024%.

Front

What is the zone of saturation?

Back

The zone of saturation is the area in soil where spaces are filled with water.

Front

What are aquifers?

Back

Aquifers are underground layers of water-bearing rock that can be replenished by natural recharge and lateral recharge.

Front

What are the advantages of withdrawing groundwater?

Back

Useful for drinking and irrigation, exists almost everywhere, and is renewable if not overpumped or contaminated.

Front

What are the disadvantages of withdrawing groundwater?

Back

Aquifer depletion from overpumping, land subsidence, pollution lasting decades or centuries, and some deeper wells being nonrenewable.

Front

What is the impact of large dam-and-reservoir systems?

Back

They have expanded water supplies but also disrupted ecosystems and displaced people.

Front

What is desalination?

Back

Desalination is the process of converting salty ocean water to freshwater.

Front

What are the main pollutants of freshwater?

Back

Polluted air, hazardous waste, pesticides, fertilizers, and runoff from urban areas.

Front

What is cultural eutrophication?

Back

Cultural eutrophication is the accelerated nutrient enrichment of water bodies due to human activities.