APES EXPECTATIONS Ch.

8, 11, 12, 13, 17, and 20 Water, Water Pollution, Wetlands, Soil and Agriculture Key Concepts

1. Saltwater and freshwater life zones cover almost of the earths surface with oceans dominating the planet. 2. The key factors in determining aquatic biodiversity are temperature, dissolved oxygen, and availability of light and nutrients necessary for photosynthesis 3. To maintain the ecological and economic services of wetlands, we must maximize preservation of remaining wetlands and restoration of degraded and destroyed wetlands. 4. Freshwater ecosystems are strongly affected by human activities on adjacent lands, and protecting these ecosystems must include protection of their watersheds. 5. We are using available freshwater unsustainably by wasting it, polluting it, and charging too little for this irreplaceable natural resource. 6. One of every six people does not have sufficient access to clean water, and this situation will almost certainly get worse. 7. Groundwater that is used to supply cities and grow food is being pumped from aquifers in some areas faster than it is renewed by precipitation. 8. Building dam and reservoir systems have greatly increased water supplies in some areas, but it has disrupted ecosystems and displaced people. 9. Transferring water from one place to another has greatly increased water supplies in some areas, but it has also disrupted ecosystems. 10. We can convert salty ocean water to freshwater (in a process called desalinization), but the cost is high, and the resulting salty brine must be disposed of without harming aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems. 11. We can use water more sustainably by cutting water waste, raising water prices, slowing population growth, and protecting aquifers, forests, and other ecosystems that store and release water. 12. We can lessen the threat of flooding by protecting more wetlands and natural vegetation in watersheds and by not building in areas subject to frequent flooding. 13. The chief sources of water pollution are agricultural activities, industrial facilities, and mining, but growth in population and resource use make it increasingly worse. 14. While streams are extensively polluted worldwide by human activities, they can cleanse themselves of many pollutants if we do not overload them or reduce their flows. 15. Addition of excessive nutrients (known as cultural eutrophication), such as nitrates and phosphates from animal waste or agricultural run-off, can disrupt lake ecosystems, and prevention of such pollution is more effective and less costly than cleaning it up. 16. Chemicals used in agriculture, industry, transportation, and homes can spill and leak into groundwater making it undrinkable. 17. Reducing water pollution requires preventing it, working with nature to treat sewage, cutting resource use and waste, reducing poverty, and slowing population growth. Protecting water through pollution prevention is the least expensive and most effective strategy. 18. The great majority of ocean pollution originates on land and includes oil and other toxic chemicals and solid wastes. The key to protecting the oceans is to reduce the flow of pollutants from land and air and from streams emptying into these waters. 19. Soil is a complex mixture of eroded rock, nutrients, decaying organic matter (humus), water, air, and living organisms. Soil texture refers to the granular composition of soil (particle size either sand, silt, or clay). 20. Loam is a combination of clay, silt, and sand and is considered the best kind of soil because it has the positive characteristic of all three particle types: it holds nutrients and water, it makes the soil workable, and allows air and water to move through the soil.

21. Most mature soils, soils that have developed over a long period of time contain at least three horizontal layers (or horizons). 22. Soils, along with temperature and precipitation, determine the wide variety of terrestrial biomes found on Earth. When native soils are lost or damaged, it adversely affects the ecosystems, which are adapted to them. In addition, human civilization is dependent upon rich agricultural soils for the production of food. When valuable topsoil is lost or damaged, it reduces are ability to feed the growing human population of the Earth. Other Key Concepts and Vocabulary Be familiar with the different types/forms of water on earth and their relative percentages. How much of the earths water is readily available as freshwater? Saltwater covers 71% of the Earths surface Freshwater covers about 2.2% Define watershed or drainage basin (figure 8-17, pg 176). Define run-off (pg 316-317). Drainage basin: the land area that delivers runoff, sediment, and dissolved substances to a stream Run-off: Precipitation that does not sink into the ground or evaporate becomes surface water. It becomes runoff when it flows into streams What services do wetlands provide? (pg 178) Distinguish between a freshwater wetland and an estuary. - Filtering and degrading toxic wastes and pollutants - Reducing flooding and erosion by absorbing storm water and realeasing it slowly and by absorbing overflows from streams and lakes - Helping to replenish stream flows during dry periods - Helping to recharge groundwater aquifers - Helping to maintain biodiversity by providing habitats for a variety of species - Supplying valuable products such as fishes and shellfish, blueberries, cranberries, wild rice, and timber - Providing recreation for birdwatchers, nature photographers, boaters, anglers, and waterfowl hunters What is wetland mitigation? (pg 266) Mitigation banking: allows destruction of existing wetlands as long as an equal area of the same type of wetland is created or restored What is turbidity? What is salinity? Turbidity: cloudiness in a volume of water; a measure of clarity of water in lakes, streams, and other bodies of water Salinity: Amount of various salts dissolved in a given volume of water What is cultural eutrophication? pg 175 and pg 539. Generally what is the source of these excess nutrients? Cultural eutrophication: Human inputs of nutrients from the atmosphere and from nearby urban and agricultural areas can accelerate the eutrophication of lakes

Cultural eutrophication: Near urban or agricultural areas, human activities can greatly accelerate the input of plant nutrients to a lake involving mostly nitrate and phosphate containing effluents from various sources. These sources include runoff from farmland, animal feedlots, urban areas, chemically fertilized suburban yards, and mining sites, and discharges of treated and untreated municipal sewage. Some nitrogen also reaches lakes by deposition from the atmosphere Distinguish between oligotrophic and eutrophic lakes. (Figure 8-16, pg 175) Oligotrophic: lakes that have a small supply of plant nutrients often deep and has steep banks Eutrophic: A lake with a large supply of nutrients needed by producers typically shallow and have murky brown or green water with high turbidity. Because of their high levels of nutrients, these lakes have a high net primary productivity Define groundwater, zone of saturation, water table, and aquifers (figure 13-3, pg 316) Groundwater: Some precipitation infiltrates the ground and percolates downward through spaces in soil, gravel, and rock until an impenetrable layer of rock stops it. The water in these spaces is called groundwater one of our most important sources of freshwater and a key component of the earths natural capital Zone of saturation: zone where all available pores in soil and rock in the earths crust are filled by water Water table: Upper surface of the zone of saturation, in which all available pores in the soil and rock in the earths crust are filled with water Aquifers: underground caverns and porous layers of sand, gravel, or bedrock thorugh which groundwater flows Water conflicts (figure 13-5, pg 318 and figure 13-6, pg 319) The main factors causing water scarcity are a dry climate, drought, too many people using a normally reliable supply of water, and wasteful use of water More than 30 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa, now face water scarcity By 2050 some 60 countries, many of them in Asia, are likely to by suffering from water stress Withdrawing water from aquifers (figure 13-7, pg 321). Be familiar with the Ogallala aquifer. Withdrawing Groundwater: Advantages: 1. Useful for drinking and irrigation 2. Available year-round 3. Exists almost everywhere 4. Renewable if not over pumped or contaminated 5. No evaporation losses 6. Cheaper to extract than most surface waters Disadvantages: 1. Aquifer depletion from over pumping

2. 3. 4. 5.

Sinking of land (subsidence) from over pumping Aquifers polluted for decades or centuries Saltwater intrusion into drinking water supplies near coastal areas Reduced water flows into surface waters Increased cost and contamination from deeper wells

Ogallala: Worlds largest known aquifer, which lies under eight Midwestern states from south Dakota to Texas -In the US, groundwater is being withdrawn on average, four times faster than it is replenished Pros and cons of dams and reservoirs (figure 13-12, pg 325). Colorado river as a case study. Be familiar with Chinas Three Gorges Dam. Pros: 1. Provides irrigation water above and below dam 2. Provides water for drinking 3. Reservoir useful for recreation and fishing 4. Can produce cheap electricity (hydropower) 5. Reduces downstream flooding Cons 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Flooded land destroys forests or cropland and displaces people Large losses of water through evaporation Deprives downstream cropland and estuaries of nutrient-rich silt Risk of failure and devastating downstream flooding Disrupts migration and spawning of some fish

Colorado River: (80% of the water withdrawn has been used to irrigate crops and raise cattle) Four problems 1. The Colorado river basin includes some of th driest lands in the US and mexico 2. For its size, the river has only a modest flow of water 3. Legal pacts signed in 1922 and 1944 allocated more water for human use in the US and Mexico than the river can supply 4. Since 1905, the amount of water flowing to the mouth of the Colorado river has dropped dramatically Three Gorges Dam: (located in China built across the Tangtze River, is the worls largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir) 1. When its giant reservoir fills, the dam is able to produce an amount of electricity equal to that of 22 large coal burning or nuclear power plants 2. Help to hold back the Yangtze Rivers floodwaters, which have killed more than 500,000 people 3. It is built over a seismic fault, and some geologists worry that it might collapse and cause a major flood that would kill millions of people 4. Plant and animal matter rotting underwater in the gigantic reservoir will release methane gas

What are the California Water Project and Los Angeles Aqueduct? Where does southern California get its water? Why are there conflicts surrounding this? California Water Project: uses a maze of giant dams, pumps, and aqueducts to transport water from water-rich northern California to water-poor southern Californias heavily populated agricultural regions and cities. This project supplies massive amounts of water to areas that, without such water transfers, would be mostly desert Los Angeles Aqueduct: 1. Southern Californians want more water from the north to grow more crops. Agriculture consumes 3/4s of the water withdrawn in California, much of it is used inefficiently for water thirsty crops such as rice and alfalfa growing in desert like conditions 2. Northern Californians counter that sending more water south degrades the Sacramento River, threatens fisheries, and reduces the rivers power to flush pollutants out of SF Bay. They also argue that much of the water sent south is wasted.

Define desalination. Is this a viable solution to water shortages? Why or why not? Desalination: involes removing dissolved salts from ocean water or from brackish (slightly salty) water in aquifers to lakes for domestic use. It is another way to increase supplies of freshwater Two methods are distillation (heating saltwater until it evaporates) and reverse osmosis (which uses high pressure to force saltwater thorugh a membrane filter with pores small enough to remove the salt) Three major problems: 1. High cost and energy footprint 2. Pumping large volumes of seawater through pipes and using chemicals to sterilize the water and keep down algal growth kills many marine organisms 3. Produces large quantities of briny wastewater that contain lots of salt and other minerals Currently, significant desalination is practical only for water-short, wealthy countries and cities that can afford its high cost

What are some water conservation strategies? (figure 13-22, pg 336) Discuss the pros and cons of increasing the price of water. What is xeriscaping and what is gray water? Reducing water waste: 1. Redesign manufacturing processes to use less water 2. Recycle water in industry 3. Landscape yards with plants that require little water 4. Use drip irrigation 5. Fix water leaks 6. Use water meters 7. Raise water prices 8. Use waterless composting toilets

9. Require water conservation in water-short cities 10. Use water-saving toilets, showerheads, and front-loading clothes washers 11. Collect and reuse household water to irrigate lawns and nonedible plants 12. Purify and reuse water for houses, apartments, and office buildings Xeriscaping: replacing lawns with plants that need little water, reduces water use by 30-85%, reduces need for labor, fertilizer, and fuel Gray Water: water from bathtubs, showers, sinks, dishwaters, and clothes washers that could be kept in a tank and used to irrigate lawns and nonedible plants, flush toils, or wash cars How do we reduce water waste through irrigation? (figure 13-21, pg 335). Be familiar with drip irrigation. 1. Line canals bringing water to irrigation ditches 2. Irrigate at night to reduce evaporation 3. Monitor soil moisture to add water only when necessary 4. Grow several crops on each polot of land 5. Encourage organic farming 6. Avoid growing water-thirsty crops in dry areas 7. Irrigate with treated urban wastewater 8. Import water intensive crops and meat What is the difference between point sources and non-point sources of water pollution? pg 532 Point source: discharge pollutants at specific locations through drain pipes, ditches, or sewer lines into bodies of surface water Nonpoint source: broad and diffuse areas rather than points which pollutants enter bodies of surface water or air What are the major sources/types of water pollution? (Table 20-1, pg 534) 1. Infectious agents (human and animal waste 2. Oxygen demanding wastes (sewage, animal feedlots, food processing facilities, pulp mills) 3. Plant nutrients (sewage, animal wastes, inorganic fertilizers 4. Organic compounds (industry, farms, households) 5. Inorganic chemicals (industry, households, surface runoff 6. Sediments (land erosion) 7. Heavy metals (unlined landfills, household chemicals, mining refuse, industrial discharges) 8. Thermal (electric power and industrial plants) What is the measurement of dissolved oxygen and what does it tell you about the health of a water system? Be familiar with an oxygen sag curve. (figure 20-5, pg 536) Case study Gulf of Mexico (pg 550) Dissolved Oxygen: amount of oxygen gas dissolved in a given volume of water at a particular temperature and pressure, often expressed as a concentration in parts of oxygen per million parts of water The more DO in water, the cleaner and healthier the environment

Why are groundwater and lakes more vulnerable to pollution than rivers and streams? When groundwater becomes contaminated, it cannot cleanse itself of degradable wastes as quickly as flowing surface water does Groundwater pollution (figure 20-11, pg 542 and figure 20-12, pg 543). Solutions (figure 20-12, pg 545) Sources: fertilizers, pesticides, gasoline, and organic solvents; Peoploe who dump or spill gasoline, oil, and paint thinners and other organic solvents onto the ground also contaminate groundwater Preventions 1. Find substitutes for toxic chemicals 2. Keep toxic chemicals out of the environment 3. Install monitoring wells near landfills and underground tanks 4. Require leak detectors on underground tanks 5. Ban hazardous waste disposal in landfills and injection wells 6. Store harmful liquids in aboveground tanks with leak detection and collection systems Cleanup 1. Pump to surface, clean and return to aquifer (expensive) 2. Inject microorganisms to clean up contamination (less expensive, still costly) 3. Pump nanoparticles of inorganic compounds to remove pollutants (still being developed)

Why is bottled water not the answer to clean water? pg 547 Studies indicate that about 1/4th of bottled water is tap water and that bacertia or fungi contaminate about 40% of it. Government testing standards for bottled water in the US is not as high as those for tap water. Be familiar with the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Clean Water Act: sets standards for allowed levels of key water pollutants and requires polluters to get permits limiting how much of various pollutants they can discharge into aquatic systems Safe Drinking Water Act: Requires EPA to establish national drinking water standards, called maximum contaminant levels, for any pollutants that may have adverse effects on human health

Know the difference between Water Treatment (purification) Plants and Wastewater (sewage) Treatment Plants. Be familiar with the different stages of sewage treatment (figure 20-19, pg 554). Water Treatment plants: Wastewater Treatment plants: Primary sewage treatment: a physical process that uses screens and a grit tank to remove large floating objects and to allow solids such as sand and rock to settle down

Secondary sewage treatment: biological process in which aerobic bacteria remove as much as 90% of dissolved and biodegradable, oxygen demanding organic wastes Advanced or tertiary sewage treatment: uses a series of specialized chemical and physical processes to remove specific pollutants left in the water after primary and secondary treatment How might wetlands be used to treat sewage? Water pollution solutions (figure 20-20, pg 557 and figure 20-21, pg 557) 1. Prevent groundwater contamination 2. Reduce nonpoint runoff 3. Reuse treated wastewater for irrigation 4. Find substitutes for toxic pollutants 5. Work with nature to treat sewage 6. Practice the three Rs of resource use (reduce, reuse, recycle) 7. Reduce air pollution 8. Reduce poverty 9. Slow population growth Understand that vegetation slows run-off. Furthermore, vegetation encourages infiltration of water to aquifers, whereas concrete is generally less permeable and creates more run-off. Be able to calculate ppm, ppb, and ppt as concentrations of toxins Mercury is a toxic metal that is a potent neurotoxin know where the majority of this mercury originates (pg 450-451) as well as goals to reducing and controlling mercury Released into the air from rocks, soil, and volcanoes and by evaporation from the ocean (1/3) The other 2/3 come crom human sources mostly coal burning power plants, waste incinerators, and chemical manufacturing plants Prevention: 1. Phase out waste incineration 2. Remove mercury from coal before it is burned 3. Switch from coal to natural gas and renewable energy resources such as wind, solar cells, and hydrogen 4. Convert coal to liquid or gaseous fuel 5. Phase out use of mercury in batteries, TVs, compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and all other products unless they are recycles Control: 1. Sharply reduce mercury emissions from coal-burning plants and incenerators 2. Tax each unit of mercury emitted by coal-burning plants and incinerators 3. Require labels on all produces containing mercury 4. Collect and recycle mercury containing electric switches, relays, and dry cell batteries Toxins can affect the immune system, the nervous system (neurotoxins), or endocrine system

Toxins that affect the endocrine system are called Hormonally Active Agents (HAA) or Endocrine disruptors they either mimic or block hormones (figure 17-12, pg 452) Be familiar with what the role of a hormone is and what the endocrine system is Endocrine system: complex network of glands that release tiny amounts of hormones into the bloodstreams of humans and other vertebrate animals What is difference between weathering and erosion? - Weathering involves two processes that often work in concert to decompose rocks. Both processes occur in place. No movement is involved in weathering. Chemical weathering involves a chemical change in at least some of the minerals within a rock. Mechanical weathering involves physically breaking rocks into fragments without changing the chemical make-up of the minerals within it. Its important to keep in mind that weathering is a surface or near-surface process. As you know, metamorphism also produces chemical changes in rocks, but metamorphic chemical changes occur at depth where either the temperature and/or pressure are significantly h higher than conditions found on the Earths surface. As soon as a rock particle (loosened by one of the two weathering processes) moves, we call it erosion or mass wasting. Mass wasting is simply movement down slope due to gravity. Rock falls, slumps, and debris flows are all examples of mass wasting. We call it erosion if some f flowing agent such as air, water or ice moves the rock particle. So, here it is: if a particle is loosened, chemically or mechanically, but stays put, call it weathering. Once the particle starts moving, call it erosion. How do soils form? Be familiar with soil horizons. Figure 3-23, pg 68. What is humus? - Soil forms by the weathering of rocks to make fine particles and the decomposition of organic matter. A new layer of soil builds up on top of older and somewhat compressed layers of soil. That results in horizons. Humus is the organic component of soil, formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms. Figure 3-25, pg 70. What is meant by soil texture? Sand, silt, and clay are categories of individual soil particles, much like tires, steering wheels, doors, windshields are individual entities of a vehicle. When one combines sand, silt, and clay in various proportions, the net result is a soil. Loam is not a soil particle but a combination of sand, silt and clay in proportions giving the soil a unique quality. Just like the right combination of tires, steering wheels, doors, windshields results in a vehicle. - Soil texture is a qualitative classification tool used in both the field and laboratory to determine classes for agricultural soils based on their physical texture. The classes are distinguished in the field by the 'textural feel' which can be further clarified by separating the relative proportions of sand, silt and clay using grading sieves: The Particle Size Distribution (PSD). The class is then used to determine crop suitability and to approximate the soils responses to environmental and management conditions such as drought or calcium (lime) requirements. What are the main types of soil erosion and why should we be concerned with soil erosion? - The main types of erosion are Wind, Water and Glacial or Ice erosion. People are often situated or are living in areas where erosion can impact their safety and they livelihood. Houses can slide down mountains or driveways can wear away. Define Desertification, Waterlogging, and Salinization. Figure 13-12, pg 280 and Figure 13-13, pg 281.

Desertification is the degradation of land in any dryland. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities; desertification is one of the most significant global environmental problems. Waterlogging refers to the saturation of soil with water. Soil may be regarded as waterlogged when the water table of the groundwater is too high to conveniently permit an anticipated activity, like agriculture. Soil salinity is the salt content in any given soil.