UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA SABAH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BASIC ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 2013

TITLE : Water Resources In Environment NAME OF LECTURER : MDM ROHANA BT TAHIR DATE OF SUBMISSION : 01 November 2013

NO. 1.

NAME Chung Wei Lok

MATRIC NUMBER BS13110107

Introduction

Water is a very important component in our life. Water is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water also exists in three states that is solid state, liquid state and gaseous state. The boiling point of water is 100c and the freezing point of water is 0c. Water covers 71% of the Earths surface. On earth, 96.5% of the water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland and 0.001% in the air as vapours. There are more than 326 million trillion gallons of water on Earth. Less than 3 % of all this water is fresh water and of that amount, more than two-thirds is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. With so much water around it seems like there is enough to see us through for millions of years. Millions of people in the world without safe water. More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in the developing world. 780 million people lack access to an improved water source; approximately one in nine people. Over 2.5X more people lack water than live in the United States. An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. This facts can proved that the importance of water. We must use water wisely and save water in Malaysia.

Describe the water resources in environment and discuss the importance of water to the several aspects below: a) Industry b) Aquatic life c) Recreation

THE WATER RESOURCES IN ENVIRONMENT Water as a natural resources. Water resources are sources of water that are very useful and very important in our daily life. The uses of water include industrial, aquatic life, recreational, agricultural, household and environmental activities. Fresh water is the basic component for human in daily life. 97% of water on the earth is salt water and only 3% is fresh water. There are slightly over two third of fresh water in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining of fresh water is found mainly as groundwater or in the air. There are renewable and non-renewable water resources. In computing water resources on a country basis, a distinction is to be made between renewable and non-renewable water resources. Renewable water resources are computed on the basis of the water cycle. They represent the long term average annual flow of rivers (surface water) and groundwater. Non-renewable water resources are groundwater bodies (deep aquifers) that have a negligible rate of recharge on the human time-scale and thus can be considered non-renewable. Fresh water is a renewable resource. However, the groundwater supply in the world is steadily decreasing, with depletion occurring most prominently in Asia and North America. Fresh water is defined as having a low salt concentration, usually less than 1%. The low salt concentration are suitable for plants and animals to survive. There are different types of fresh water like ponds and lakes, streams and rivers and wetlands.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER IN INDUSTRY In the industrial sector, the biggest share of freshwater is stored in reservoirs and dams for electrical power generation and irrigation. However, the volume of water evaporated from reservoirs is estimated to exceed the combined freshwater needs of industry and domestic consumption. This greatly contributes to water losses around the world, especially in hot tropical regions (UNESCO, 1999). Industrial uses account for about 20% of global freshwater withdrawals. Of this, 57-69% is used for hydropower and nuclear power generation, 30-40% for industrial processes, and 0.53% for thermal power generation (Shiklomanov, 1999). Industry water is used in many different ways. Unfortunately they can only use fresh water because salt water can and probably will break the machine. Something that factory use water for is generating electricity is called hydroelectricity. What happen is that the water goes through tunnels and down turning the turbines. The generators then harvest the energy that is made through the turbines. For industries it might be a bit expensive to start but then in the long run they will save money. They also use it in paper industries for creating the pulp which eventually after a process is turned into paper. It is also valuable to industries for its ability to wash things away. Industries wash away waste materials. The industries that use machines use water for cooling and washing. Some food companies use water as an ingredient in their food making. They would use water for sanitation. Hydroelectric plants are the largest users of water. Hydroelectric plants capture the kinetic energy of falling water to make electricity. They do this with a dam. The dam forces the water level to go up so that the water will have more power when falling. The force of the falling water pressing against turbines blades cause them to spin. The spinning turbines transmit the kinetic energy of the falling water to generators. The generators spin when the turbines spin generating electricity that will be transmitted on the power lines to homes and businesses.

All of the electricity in the world, about 20% is generated by hydropower. About 10% of all the electricity in the United States is provided by hydropower. Hydropower generating prevents a lot of pollution. Hydropower generating is clean and does not leave any waste. Because of the electricity generated by hydropower, the amount of oil and coal needed to produce enough electricity is reduced. It prevents the need to burn about 22 billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year. The amount of electricity that a hydroelectric plant produces depends on two things: how far the water falls and the quantity of water falling. The higher the dam, the further the water falls and the more electric power produced. If the water falls twice as far, there will be twice as much electricity generated. The quantity of water that falls also affects the amount of power produced. The more water that flows through the turbines making them spin, the more electric power produced. Water is also essential in industry. It is heated and the steam is used to run machinery. Water is used to cool hot metal such as in the production of steel. Water is also used to cool the air. It is an important element in many products like chemicals, drugs, lotions, shampoos, cosmetics, cleaners, and also beverages. Water is used in processing food and in innumerable factories and industrial processes including the manufacturing of paper. Water used in processing foods and beverages must be absolutely clean, while other industries such as a manufacturing plant may use a lower quality of water. "In the early 1900s, American industry used about 10 to 15 billion gallons of water a day. With the huge growth in industry following World War II, the industrial use of water also grew. By 1980, industry was using about 150200 billion gallons each day."

THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER IN AQUATIC LIFE Water also very useful and play an important role in the aquatic life. Water can as the habitat of the aquatic organisms. Life originally evolved in an aqueous habitat, and although life now exists on land, it still provides a good habitat for a wide variety of life. Water is still an ideal medium for life. One of the reason is the large mass of water can surround the organisms, providing a protective shield, which can prevent the cells drying out, as they could on land. Water is not easily compressed and has an important role in support in plants and animals. Water provides buoyancy for aquatic organisms, e.g whales. Water has a high specific tension and water molecules have cohesive forces holding them together, due to hydrogen bonding between water molecules. These properties allow aquatic insects to walk on the surface of water. It also makes it easier for life by providing support and buoyancy to organisms, so rigid structures, such as woody tissues (plants) and bones (animals), are not required in such quantities. Water is also good solvency and mobility favour the supply of nutrients to organisms, and the removal of waste products, due their concentration gradients and diffusion. It also allows the oxygen for respiration to be dissolved in the water, from where many organisms can obtain it. For example, fish take in water via their mouths, and it passes over the gills, allowing oxygen to diffuse into the blood capillaries, and carbon dioxide to diffuse into the water, to be expelled. Furthermore, fertilization is made much easier by a surrounding mass of water, and when offspring are produced, water tends to disperse then, reducing the risk of competition. A large mass also has a fairly constant temperature, due to the high specific heat capacity of water. This is extremely important, as at the surface of oceans, the annual temperature variation is on average 10C, but at a depth of 20m, this is reduced to only 1 or 2C. Thus, aquatic organisms have very little need for the temperature control mechanisms which are required by land-based organisms. Lastly, water can filters out harmful ultra-violet (UV) rays from the sun. There are two systems for aquatic organisms that are marine system and freshwater system.

Survival of Marine Life during Winter Water has an unusual property - the solid form (ice) has a lower density that the liquid, whereas other compounds are more dense in the solid form. Water actually has its' highest density at a temperature of 4C. This means that in a mass of water, such as a pond, the water at the bottom will always have a temperature of 4C. In the winter, ponds often freeze over, but the temperature at the base is likely to stay near 4C. Normally, the cooler water would fall, forcing the warmer water to rise, but in the case of water, as the water at 4C is most dense, this stays at the bottom, and the colder water above does not fall, so the temperature at the bottom does not change much. This allows life, especially fish, to survive during the Winter. THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER IN RECREATION Recreation is another way that we use and enjoy the earths water. Many people enjoy fishing, boating, sailing, canoeing, rafting, and swimming, as well as many other recreational activities that depend on water. Most of us enjoy at least one of these activities and would be disappointed if we could never do any of them again. If our water is continually polluted though, then it could become dangerous to go swimming and all of the fish could die so that no one could go fishing either. No one would enjoy boating, sailing, canoeing, or rafting in polluted water either. We need to remember that it is important to guard our waters from becoming polluted. Transportation is yet another way that we use water. Many people use boats and ferries to commute to and from work every day. People also enjoy going on cruise ships or just going sailing. Water transportation has been a channel for growth in America, but that growth has not come without cost. The destruction caused by shipping includes fuel spills, which coat the water with oil and coal dust, and erosion of the shoreline which causes damage to the fish and other inhabitants of the water.

APPENDIX

Generator of hydroelectric

Water for recreaction activity

Cooling tower of industrial

Buoyancy of water to support aquatic organisms

REFERENCES 1. Thomas V.Cech (2003).Principles Of Water Resources. John Wiley & Sons. 2. Shimon C. Anisfeld (2010). Water Resources. Book of United States of America. 3. Reece.U.C.W.M.J (2011). Campbell Biology-9th edition. Pearson Sdn.Bhd 4. Thomas A. Mcmohan, Adebayo J.Adeloye(2005). Water Resources Yield. Water Resources Publications, LLC. 5. Frank Radstake , Albertuihof (2003). Water Resources and Environment.The World Bank Washington, D.C. 6. Neville D.Crossman,M.N,H.G (2013).Journal of Water Resources.AT 5.25pm. Accesed on 29 October 2013