GEOG 1070 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Saltwater Intrusion, Mono Lake, Spring-8
3 Apr 2016
School
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Geog 1070: contemporary environmental issues reading notes chapter 13. Surface water water found on earth"s surface in streams and rivers and wetlands. Drainage basin watershed area of land drained by a single river or stream. Irrigation accounts for 70% of world"s total water consumption, industry for. Humans remove water-absorbing plant cover from soil and construct buildings on flood plains. When surface water is overdrawn, wetlands dry up. Aquifer depletion causes subsidence, sinking, of the land above it sinkholes. Saltwater intrusion the movement of sea water into a freshwater aquifer located neat the coast, caused by aquifer depletion. Water in the west is now being used for municipal, commercial, and industrial uses. Ogallala aquifer the largest groundwater deposit in the world: farmers use it for agriculture and its being depleted 40x faster than being filled. The amount of fresh water on the planet is adequate to meet human needs but it"s just not distributed correctly.
