Chapter 5 ESS
The safest drinking water source?
Groundwater
Force of Gravity
Groundwater tends to flow downward into oceans and rivers because it typically flows from land that is above sea level to land that is at sea level.
How does the formation of a natural levee impact flooding?
Natural levees raise the height of the stream channel, reducing the amount of flooding that will occur on the floodplain.
Discharge is a measurement of what?
The amount of water flowing in a river
Gravitational Potential energy
The energy that results from the pull of gravity on the groundwater. Increases with the elevation of the groundwater.
Groundwater flow is influenced by several factors
The porosity and permeability of the earth the water flows in Pressure gradients that result from the varying height of the local water table
The majority of groundwater is stored within what?
The zone of saturation
Pressure
groundwater flows through pores in the saturated zone,
Natural leve
ridge of flood deposits next to a river channel
Floodplain
A flat surface next to a river channel
How did the MI river delta form?
As the MI River enters the Gulf of Mexico, its velocity decreases and it begins to drop its sediment load
During a summer with little rainfall, your house on a hill slope experiences an interval during which your well runs dry. You have to borrow water from your neighbor who lives downslope from you. Why does your neighbor have water when you don't?
As the water table drops due to the lack of precipitation, it goes below the base of your well.
Groundwater is second only to what?
Glaciers
What does the Murphree Water Treatment Plant use to disinfect the water?
Chlorine
Two types of aquifers
Confined Unconfined
Water erodes the outside of a river bend to form what?
Cut bank
Next frontier in the drinking water industry?
Desalination
What has caused the hypoxic dead zone to form off the coast of the Gulf states?
Fertilizers promote the growth of algae. When they die and decompose, oxygen is depleted in the Gulf of Mexico.
What federal agency regulates the bottled water industry?
Food and Drug Administration