Conserving Fresh Water and Water Bodies

• Water is a valuable natural resource that is essential for all living organisms.
• Living organisms need water to survive.
• Water makes up nearly two-thirds of the human body.
• Water helps to regulate the body temperature of living organisms.
• Fresh water must be conserved due to its limited availability.
• Most plants and animals cannot use salt water.

Conserving Fresh Water

• Methods include turning off the faucet while brushing teeth.
• Taking quick showers also helps conserve water.
• Turning off the water while washing hair is another conservation method.
• The percentage of fresh water available for drinking is small.

Water Bodies

River

• Rivers contain fresh water.
• Rivers are located in the mountains.
• A river often begins as a stream in the mountains.
• The flow of a river ends when it reaches a sea or a larger river.

Lake

• Most lakes contain fresh water.
• Lakes are located in low-lying areas.
• A lake is a large body of water surrounded by land.
• Lakes form when water collects in a low-lying area.

Wetland

• Wetlands contain fresh water
• Wetlands are partially covered with water.
• Swamps, marshes, and ponds (bogs) are kinds of wetlands.

Estuary

• Estuaries contain a mix of saltwater and fresh water.
• Estuaries are located where a river meets a sea or an ocean.
• Estuaries are home to thousands of plants and animals.

Groundwater

• Groundwater consists of fresh water.
• Groundwater is located in the cracks and spaces of underground rocks.
• There is more groundwater on Earth than water in rivers and lakes.

Oceans

• Oceans contain salt water.
• Oceans surround the continents.
• All the oceans are connected to each other.
• The ocean floor has mountains, plains, and plateaus.

Water on Earth

• Fresh water is needed for numerous activities, including drinking, irrigation, agriculture, industry, and generating electricity.
• More than 10% of the world's animal species live only in freshwater habitats.
• Fresh water scarcity and quality pose risks to the world.
• Poor fresh water quality can result in deaths of many living organisms each year.
• Poor fresh water quality can cause the extinction of some species.

Building Dams

• Dams are built across rivers to store water.
• Dams help to control and conserve fresh water
• Human activities, such as building dams, can cause an imbalance of water that leads to drought or flooding.
• More rainfall causes level of water in rivers or streams to increase, causing floods.
• Less rainfall causes the level of water in rivers or streams will decrease, causing drought.

Watershed (Large water body)

• Watershed - an area of land where water from different sources flows toward a common location, usually an ocean, a bay, a sea or other large water bodies.

Watershed Predictions

• Watersheds help scientists understand how water bodies interact.

Tributaries

• Tributaries are small water bodies, like creeks or streams, that flow into bigger rivers.
• These rivers flow into larger water bodies such as bays, seas and oceans.
• What happens upstream in a watershed impacts water bodies downstream.
• Upstream: where a river starts
• Downstream: where a river ends

Upstream Effects on a Watershed

• A factory built near a tributary at area A will affect the tributary at Area A.
• Factory waste will affect the tributary, and waste from the factory will pollute other water bodies.
• If a dam is built across a tributary at area B it will hold water behind it.
• This causes a change in the amount of water in other water bodies that are connected to that tributary.
• A farm using chemical fertilizers near a tributary at area C will result in farm waste affecting the tributary.
• The waste will then pollute other water bodies.
• A trash dump established near a tributary at area D will result in trash being blown into the water.
• The water in tributary there will cause the litter to pollute other water bodies.
• A dam is a building established across a river which can hold water behind it.
• Farms near tributaries cause water pollution when using chemical fertilizers.

Sustainability/ Conservation / Preservation

• Many things are made from natural resources, such as paper (from trees) and plastic (from oil products).
• Clothes are made from plants like cotton and animal products such as sheep wool.
• Control reaching humans to natural resources or using them

Preservation

• Preventing the use or development of natural resources in special areas.
• Natural reserves like Ras Mohammed and Wadi Al-Hitan are examples of preservation.

Sustainability

• Sustainability - conserving resources in a way that doesn't negatively affect the future supply of those resources.
• Allowing Cows graze in a field where grass grows slowly is an example of sustainability.

Sustainable Situation

• Cows are placed in one large area of grass so that the grass is not over grazed and has time to regrow.

Unsustainable situation

• Placing cows in many small areas of grass, they will begin eating all grass before new grass can grow.

Overusing Natural Resources

• Results when using them more quickly
• Fish become rare, and fishing will decrease.
• Groundwater will run out and wells will become dry.

Factors Affecting Resource Sustainability

• Overpopulation
• Pollution
• The unequal distribution of resources
• Overuse or damage of resources

Natural Resources

• Renewables: water, plants and animals.
• Non-renewable: oil and coal.
• Renewable resources can be used up if people do not correctly use them
• polluted fresh water becomes undrinkable
• Pollution caused by coal leads to soil pollution that will harm plants and animals
• Cutting down trees causes deforestation which will increase soil erosion

Uses of water:

• Important for humans to survive
• Used for showering
• Hand washing
• Brushing teeth
• Watering plants
• Cooking food.
• Flushing the toilet
• To calculate the average amount of water that a person uses in some daily life activities:
• Number of gallons depends on what you are using the water for

Recycling

• Humans create many methods to filter water to recycle wastewater or polluted water to use it again.
• Recycle wastewater means: Removing harmful materials from water
• A simple water filter can be made by adding layers of sand, charcoal, and cotton.
• Can remove most of the dirt from dirty water and is used to get filtered water

Water Recycle

• Water conservation can be aided by water recycling.
• Solar energy is very important in recycling water.
• The water cycle is considered an example of recycling water.
• Wastewater is water that has already been used in homes and various industries of Bahr Al-Baqar is a treatment plant used in Egypt.
• Water treatment plants are stations that recycle wastewater by removing harmful materials to reuse it.
• Wastewater engineers are special scientists who work in water treatment plants.

Wastewater Engineers

• Designing/providing tools with clean water.
• Checking the water quality and the number of pollutants.
• Deciding where to build a water treatment plant.
• Check steps in the water treatment process.
• Design ways to protect a community from floods.
• Calculate the amount of drinking water that is needed in the water.
• Test the water to make sure it is safe.