jackson hayes notes envs march 20th

8/2/2019 Jackson Hayes Notes ENVS march 20th

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ENVSHomework #3 due thursday the 29thQuiz

hydro electric power plants

how they work

major advantages they produce enough energy that we dont need to build as many coal burning

power plants

major disadvantages

ecological disruption (loss of bio diversity ect.)

human displacement

add significant amount of methane (greenhouse) gas \

safety concerns (damn failures)

maximum usage of 200 years

Aral sea case study

cause of its death

major consequences Colorado River

similarities between of the colorado river and Aral sea

they both have a dry climate

salt content is increasing

similarities in usage of the water (irrigation)

how the water is divided between the states (i dont think this is needed for the quizjust the concept that mexico gets shafted)

wyoming gets 14%

colorado gets 51%

new mexico gets 11%.

mexico whatever is left. usage

85% irrigation

10% evaporation

5% municipal

assignment

interview 5 people with the questions on blackboard.

their answers can be wrong just write whatever they say

1 sentence or so.

The blue planet70% of the earths surfaceless than 1% of it is fresh


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salt content in water to be defined as fresh water 0.1%

The US as a whole does not have a water shortage problem

but in certain areas there are

Water is a renewable resource

it is constantly renewed

Hydrological cycle

this chart shows the movement and renewal of water (renewal of freshwater)

The amount of water in the ocean remains constant because the evaporation = runoff/groundwater + precipitation


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All of these things are interrelated and in balance as a whole

living things are included in land and oceans (apparently people and other lifeforms holdwater)

How much water do we us

Reference 1: According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS):

Average precipitation in the US: 4,200 billion gallons per day (bgd) Returned tothe atmosphere: 2750 bgd (two-thirds of the 4200 bgd)

Stored: 1450 bgd (one-third)Only 675 bgd is considered to be available surface freshwater.

(That is 246,375 billion gallons per year.)

(Over 90% of this amount is in the Great Lakes region.)

Reference 2: http://www.worldwater.org/data.htmlTotal Renewable Freshwater Supply by Country: (including both surface water and

groundwater)

3,069 km3/year (approx. 810,200 billion gallons per year; or 2,220 bgd) in the US

55,359 km3/year (approx. 14,614,776 billion gallons per year; or 40,040 bgd ) in the world
http://www.worldwater.org/data.htmlhttp://www.worldwater.org/data.html


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We actually use less than we have available (surprising to me)

current usage is 345 billion gallons per day. We have available 675 per day.

per capita water usage has gone down

this is a largely a result of an increase in technology in the agriculture industry (we use lesswater to produce the same amount of food)

75% of water is used in agriculture North America we 50% is used for industry aprox 37 % in agriculture

Africa uses almost 90% of their water for irrigation

we need to help them be more efficient

Segue to a discussion on acid rain

water evaporates leaving behind salts and other things dissolved in them

when they condensate in the atmosphere they condensate around dust particles (ozone,sulfuric acid, ect)

then falls in rain as acid rain

soil filters water when it falls on the ground (if it is not polluted, has vegetation, isnt usedfor agriculture)

Stressors to the Lower Colorado river basin Climate Change

agriculture

agriculture is prevalent because the have a long growing season

population growth

see slides for some numbers for importance of Colorado river basin

California uses more that 10% of the water in the united states

80% for Agriculture

Ganges River Study

Bangladesh half of the population of the US in the size of Wisconsin They produce a lot of rice

so moderate flooding is ok during the monsoon seasons

however it has become more severe

FYI: to keep up with its increase in population its rice production shoud increase by40% by 2050. in reality it is over all rice production has decreased by 10% due to

severe floods

The cause is the deforestation in the foothills.

The water is not being captures

increased surface run off

increased sediment buildup in the watershed of the ganges

as a result the river (the part that holds the water) has less capacity to hold water, so itruns off and floods.

jackson hayes notes envs march 20th

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