Transcript Bottled Water. What`s the right choice?

Hydrosphere (Water)
Freshwater systems
 Water may seem abundant, but drinkable water is rare
 Freshwater = relatively pure, with few dissolved salts
 Most is tied up in glaciers, ice caps, and aquifers
Water is unequally distributed
across Earth
 Water is unevenly distributed in space and time
 Different areas possess different amounts of water
Many densely populated areas are water-poor and face serious
water shortages
Water Directly Impacts Biomes
 What is a biome?
 Terrestrial
 Aquatic
 Discovery BIOMES
Rivers and Streams – (Some) Freshwater
Biomes
 Rivers, Marshes and streams
 Are bodies of water flowing in one
direction.
 Support many different
communities of organisms
 Wetlands = the soil is
saturated with shallow
standing water
 Freshwater marshes =
shallow water
 Plants grow above the
surface
 Swamps = shallow water in
forested areas
 Can be made by beavers
Wetlands are valuable
 Wetlands are extremely valuable for wildlife
 They slow runoff, reduce flooding, recharge
aquifers, and filter pollutants
 People have drained wetlands, mostly for agriculture
 Southern Canada and the U.S. have lost over half
of their wetlands
 In 2006 the Supreme Court told the Army Corps of
Engineers it must create guidelines to determine
when wetlands are valuable enough to protect by law
Climate change may bring
shortages
 Climate change will cause





Altered precipitation patterns
Melting glaciers
Early season runoff
Intensified droughts
Flooding
Lake Mead is already
hurting from drought
Water-poor regions take water
from others
 Politically strong, water-poor areas forcibly take water from
weaker communities
 Los Angeles commandeered water from rural areas
 Turning the environment into desert, creating dustbowls, and
destroying the economy
 California Water Project
 http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/state-of-thirstcalifornias-water-future
Fresh and salt water meet in
estuaries
 Estuaries = water bodies where rivers flow into the ocean, mixing
fresh and salt water
 They are biologically productive
 Have fluctuations in salinity
 Critical habitat for shorebirds and shellfish
 Transitional zone for fish that spawn in streams and mature in salt
water
 They have been affected by development, pollution, habitat
alteration, and overfishing
People change and destroy salt marshes
 People want to live or do business along coasts
 We lose key ecosystem services
 Flooding (e.g., from Hurricane Katrina) worsens
Oceans cover most of the
Earth’s surface
 Oceans influence climate, team with biodiversity, provide
resources, and help transportation and commerce
 Oceans cover 71% of Earth’s surface and contain 97.5% of its
water
 Oceans influence the
atmosphere, lithosphere,
and biosphere
Why I Do Science:
http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/prof
ile-sylvia-earle/
 Marine life is distributed according to life
zone
 Depth of the water.
 Degree of light penetration.
 Distance from shore.
 Open water versus bottom.
Climate change is altering the
oceans
 Global climate change will affect ocean chemistry and biology
 Burning fossil fuels and removing vegetation increase CO2, which
warms the planet
 Oceans absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air
 But oceans may not be able to absorb much more CO2
 Increased CO2 in the ocean makes it more acidic
 Ocean acidification makes chemicals less available for sea creatures
(e.g., corals) to form shells
 Fewer coral reefs decrease biodiversity and ecosystem services
Toxins in our freshwater
supply
There is no away for toxins, especially in
water:
http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/disappe
aring-frogs/