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Discover the journey of your drinking water - from public supply sources like rivers and reservoirs to private wells in rural areas. Learn how water is treated for safety and taste, covering aspects like pH levels, water hardness, and treatment processes. Explore the distribution of water from treatment plants to homes, the treatment of wastewater, and the significance of septic systems. Delve into issues like water shortage, aquifer overuse, and water pollution, with a focus on causes and solutions. Uncover the potential of fresh water as an energy resource and the challenges faced in obtaining it through methods like desalination. Join the effort in keeping our water sources clean and sustainable for future generations.
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Freshwater Resources Water To Drink
Sources of Drinking Water • Your drinking water comes from either a public or private water supply. • Sources could be: rivers, lakes reservoirs and aquifiers. • Most large communities maintain public water supplies. The community collects, treats, and distributes the water to its residents. • In smaller communities and rural areas, people reply on private wells that supply water for individual families.
Treating Drinking Water • Water from both public and private supplies often needs some treatment to ensure that the water is safe and appealing to drink. • This can range from a simple filter on a well to a complex processes at public treatment plants.
Appearance and Taste • Water Quality: is a measurement of the substances in water besides the water molecules.
Acidity • The pH of water is a measurement of how acidic or basic it is. The scale ranges from 0 to 14. Pure water is neutral and has a pH of 7. The lower the pH the more acidic the water.
Hardness of Water • The levels of calcium and magnesium in the water determines the hardness. • Hard water: Does not form suds well when mixed with soap. The minerals can clog pipes and machinery. • Soft water contains lower levels of these minerals. Therefore can suds up better.
Treatment Plant • 1st Step is Filtration: The process of passing water through a series of screens that allows water through, but not larger objects.
Second Step • Chemicals such as alum is added to cause sticky globs, called flocs, to form. • Other particles in the water stick to the flocs, a process called coagulation. • Heavy clumps sink to the bottom settling in basins.
Last StepChorinate the water. • This is added to kill any disease causing microorganisms. • At this point the water is usually ready to be distributed to homes.
Distribution of Water • From the treatment plant waste goes to a central pumping station. • There it is pumped into an underground network of steel or concrete pipes called water mains. • The water mains branch off into smaller pipes. • These feed into smaller copper or plastic pipes that carry water into houses and other buildings.
Sewage • Water that goes down your drains. • This water can someday return as your drinking water. • Most communities treat wastewater to make it safe to return to the environment.
Septic System • An underground tank containing bacteria that treat wastewater as it passes through. • Leach Fields: Area around the septic tank that the water filters through.
Balancing Water Needs • A water shortage occurs when there is too little water or too great a demand in an area – or both. • Drought: Affects the supply of groundwater as well as surface water.
Aquifer Overuse • When to much water is pumped out of an aquifer, the ground can sink or collapse. • When water is used up faster than the aquifer can be recharged, the aquifer is depleted, or emptied.
Fresh Water for the Future • As the number of people in the world increases, so does the need for water. • Desalination: Obtaining fresh water from salt water. This is very expensive because of the energy and equipment it requires. • Icebergs: Tugboats could bring them where water is needed, but how would this affect the local weather?
Freshwater Pollution • Water Pollution: The addition of any substance that has a negative effect on water or the living things that depend on the water. • This can affect surface water, groundwater, and even rain. • It can result from both natural causes and human activities.
Major Causes of Water Pollution • Human Wastes • Industrial wastes • Agricultural Chemicals • Runoff from roads
Cleaning Up Polluted Water • Living things in lakes, streams, and wetlands filter out and break waste materials. • Plant roots filter larger particles from the water. • Wetlands are being built near coal mines to treat acidic mining runoff before it can reach the environment.
Water As an Energy Resource • Hydroelectric power plants capture the kinetic energy of moving water and change it into electrical energy. • Hydroelectric power is clean, safe and efficient. Although building a dam is expensive, the water is free and is naturally renewed by the water cycle.
