Brianna Jones

9-8-14
3
rd

70% of the Earth is water. 2.5% of that water is drinkable. Today I am
going to tell you about wastewater and storm water. First, we will talk about
wastewater. And second, we will talk about storm water. Wastewater is water
that is contaminated by pollution like garbage and oil. Storm water is surface
water in larger quantities from heavy rain or snow. Storm water, wastewater, and
water supply are important things you must know about.
First of all, the basics of storm water. Storm runoff is part of storm water.
Storm runoff is rainfall that does not soak into the ground; instead it flows into
different bodies of water such as lakes, rivers, creeks, and streams. A watershed
is also a part of storm water. A watershed is the land area that drains to any
given body of water. Everything that is taking place in a watershed affects the
bodies of water. You should be concerned about storm water because it picks up
extra materials like dirt and chemicals when it is going into the rivers and
streams. Next, well talk about wastewater.
Wastewater is dangerous, and it could destroy our water supply, but The
Metro Water District is helping. The Metro Water District has 303 wastewater
treatment facilities, but only 92 are publicly owned. Of the 211 privately owned,
30 are owned by public school systems, 98 are owned by industries, and
campgrounds own the remaining facilities. 91% of the public facilities have
advanced treatment levels, and they normally produce higher quality than
required. The treatment standards are varied throughout, depending on site
conditions, and the end-use of returned flow. Lastly, well talk about water supply.
In the 15-county Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District,
about 600 million gallons of water are used daily. The District is primarily located
in the headwaters of five major river basins: Chattahoochee, Etowah (a sub-
basin of the Coosa), Flint, Ocmulgee and Oconee. northgeorgiawater.org
The Chattahoochee river basin provides around 73% of the water supply that is
permitted for The District. The District does not import from outside areas. It
relies on surface water for over 99% of needs.
Since only 2.5% of all water is drinkable, we need to work together as a
community to keep water non-polluted. If we run out of drinking water then we
could no longer survive. Most people do not worry about it running out, but it is
possible so we have to keep the water clean. And desalination may help, but it is
expensive. So if you see trash on the street, pick it up, because that can affect
our water.