Four Types of Drainage Basin Stores
In this essay I intend to give brief descriptions on 4 types of
Drainage Basin Stores, and then explain how different human actions
can influence these. As explained in previous pieces of work, the
water system is made up of several stores and flows, one input
(precipitation), and 3 outputs (run-off, evaporation, transpiration).
The four main stores I am working on today are Interception, Soil,
Surface and Ground water.
Water will almost never land directly on a bare surface. Most
commonly, when rain is falling it will first hit vegetation – e.g. the
leaves on tree branches. The water can then be stored here. The term
for this process is interception – the water has been intercepted from
continuing through the hydrological cycle. However, the amount of
water that is intercepted relies on a number of factors:
* The Type of Vegetation – trees and grass would give very different
interception amounts due to being very different in structure.
* Precipitation Type – Snow, hail and rain have different
characteristics and behave very differently when concerning
interception and run-off.
* Precipitation Duration – different effects are produced by
prolonged rainfall and short showers.
* Precipitation Intensity – varied levels of rain produce
corresponding amounts of interception and run-off.
* Time of Year – each season has a different influence on the water
cycle.
* Land Use – When concerning crops, different impacts on
interception can be found.
These are all natural factors which affect the Interception store, but
human factors can ...
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... of deficit rainfall. However, as previously mentioned, mismanagement
can have serious consequences. If extraction (or ground water mining)
rates are higher than recharge rates then the aquifer will diminish.
But why the big deal? Well, if the ground water store dries out then
this will affect the water table. The water table is the boundary
between saturated and unsaturated rock beneath the surface. The water
table will drop having large consequences on the rest of the
hydrological system. By extracting water for industrial, farming and
domestic use the hydrological system will be short circuited,
affecting later stages in the system.
As you can see, the way in which we use water can have damaging
affects upon the water system. We need to pay close attention to this
fact in order to restore it for further years.
How is development creating longer term problems for groundwater storage ? Cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas are built in the desert. This whole process relies on water from two sources: 1. River water pumped from the Colorado system 2. Groundwater held in aquifers below ground.
Endangered Plants and Animals of Oregon, by the Agriculture Experiment Station at Oregon State University.
High carbon monoxide, ocean heating, glacial melt, acid rain, ocean acidification, and coral bleaching are just a small number of the adverse effects that we as humans are having on the planet. The earth’s waters are an excellent source to find out the adverse effects of climate change. The surface of the earth is covered in more water than land and knowing how our waters are affected is a key element to understanding the true dangers of climate change.
Howell, W.E. (1977). Environmental Impacts of Precipitation Management: Results and Inferences from Project Skywater. Bureau of Reclamation Department of the Interior, 58(6), 491-492.
Groundwater remained the main supply until 1971 which was when Las Vegas became more dependent on Colorado River water due to the “Southern Nevada Water System” (Brown, n.d.; Larsen et al., 2015). Since then up to 90,000 acre-feet of groundwater has been pumped on a yearly basis, this value surpasses the natural groundwater recharge (Laczniak et al., n.d.). Rain as well as snow serves as the primary sources of groundwater recharge for the aquifers while precipitation plays a minor role (Laczniak et al., n.d.). Due to there not being balanced discharge and recharge this has led to subsidence and as a result of this subsidence the storage capacity of aquifers has decreased due to compaction (Laczniak et al., n.d.). It is estimated that 187,000 acre feet of storage capacity in the aquifers has been lost due to compaction (Laczniak et
Water has three stages—liquid, gas and solid. Water on Earth can be liquid as rain, streams, or oceans. It can be a solid like hail, ice or snow. It can be a gas like vapor, steam or clouds. As described by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences (2010), the hydrologic cycle is the process of water changing from liquid to gas to solid. The energy of the sun drives the changes to water. When water is heated up, it evaporates, turning into a gas to form steam or vapor. The water vapor rises with warm air that when meets cooler air, condenses to form clouds. These clouds and water vapor can be transported around the world. Precipitation is when water falls to Earth, in warmer temperatures as liquid and in temperatures, as a solid. On Earth, precipitation can evaporate again or infiltrate the Earth to become groundwater. As ground water it can collect in oceans, rivers or on snowy mountaintops and glaciers. It can also be released back into the atmosphere via transpiration, when water evaporates off soil, trees. When water evaporates, the cycle starts again.
This would handicap low income residents and independent farmers when trying to pay their water bills. Larger farming monopolies such as Monsanto would be able to afford the higher price, and buy out other farming competition. In addition, larger monopolies do not have the incentive to switch over to water conserving irrigation techniques, leading them to rely on independent less regulated wells in addition to the water the state designates for them. Excessive groundwater pumping could further decrease the water table level, cause more ground level subsidence, saltwater intrusion, increase drought in neighboring areas, increases risk for sinkholes, and cause a deficiency of groundwater available to surrounding farms and communities. If it reached an extreme enough level, they could be investigated for an environmental justice infringement for damages to the environment as well as abusing the shared natural
...management than scarcity of that resource. In some cases up to 50% water in urban areas, and 60% of the water used for agriculture is wasted through evaporation and loss. Logging and land conversion to yield to the demands of human beings have been reduced to half the world's forests, which has increased soil erosion and water scarcity.
Acid Mine Drainage For hundreds, even thousands of years, human beings have mined for metals and stones, and with the advent of greater technology as well as greater needs, the demands for these resources continue to grow. While these resources benefit our lives in many ways, the effects of mining can be detrimental, and one such effect is the topic of this essay, acid mine drainage (A.M.D.). The Causes of A.M.D. will be discussed, along with some of the physical and biological problems associated with it. Some prevention and remediation treatments will also be considered.
Humans often take the water cycle for granted and assume that fresh water will always be available for drinking, cooking, farming, etc. Unfortunately, the ways in which society uses water is contributing to the reduction in fresh water available for human use. First of all, the use of hydroelectric power, though a clean source of energy, is negatively affecting the ecosystems in which the plant is stationed. The waterway must be dammed in order to maximize the potential energy of the water, but this often affects the function of the waterway upstream and downstream. For example, the build-up of water above the dam may create a lake where silt can build up while a lack of water below the dam eliminates habitats. Moreover, plants and aquatic animals that previously inhabited the waterway “may find themselves with too much or too little water, and migrating fish cannot get through the dams” (Humans and the water cycle). Not only does hydroelectricity disrupt the water cycle, but irrigation does as well. “Irrigation is the artificial watering of land that does not get enough water through rainfall” (Humans and the water cycle). Most countries that use irrigation have dry land or they require more water to grow more plants for their increasing population. The issue with irrigation is that it removes relatively clean water from its natural source and essentially pollutes it. The fertilizer in
Water shortage affects the agricultural sector, so as a consequence the price of production increases. The water crisis affects the economy and health of the population, so people need to understand that water is a priority to life.
One main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide. Water mismanagement has become a crisis of governance that will impact heavily ...
Groundwater can take a human lifetime to traverse a mile. A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water, dehydration is the result. Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty. If all the world's water were fit into a gallon jug, the fresh water available for us to use would equal only about one tablespoon.
“Water is the lifeblood of this planet. Every time a good is bought or sold there is a virtual exchange of water. Every time we interact with water, we change it, redirect it, or otherwise alter its state. We have never learned how to efficiently manage water.”(Cluckie, 2009) Ian Cluckie, Professor of Hydrology and Water Management, emphasizes the fact that humans can’t survive without water. Although water is a renewable resource that can replenish under hydrological cycles, our intervention has interrupted its natural cycle causing its supply to decrease.(Cluckie, 2009)
Water is an irreplaceable natural resource on this earth which comprises marine, estuarine, fresh water (river and lakes), ground water across coastal and inland areas. Even though there is huge water resource in this world, about 97% of water is salt water (marine) only 3% is fresh water. And in this small fraction of fresh water a major part is in the form of ice in polar region. So just 0.003% is in the form of ground water and surface water which we can use.