2.

- Hydrosphere
Contenido
Definition ................................................................................................................................................. 1
Compostion .............................................................................................................................................. 1
Dynamics of the hydrosphere. Water cycle ................................................................................ 2
Structure ................................................................................................................................................ 3
1.- Water as a resource ................................................................................................................. 3
Types of water ............................................................................................................................. 4
2.- Water pollution .......................................................................................................................... 5
Water treatment (Tratamientos de agua) ........................................................................... 5

Definition
The hydroysphere is the combined mass of water found on, under and above the
surface of the Earth. The water can be in any of the three physical states: gas, liquid
or solid. Sphere= esfera. Hydrosphere: “sphere of water”. Hidrosfera.

Compostion
Of course, the composition of the hydrosphere is water. However, we can consider
different components or elements or “types of places” in what we can find water. It
is very useful to organize them according to their physical state (estado físico de la
materia):
ELEMENTS:
 Gas or water vapor (gas o vapor de agua): water in a gas state is found in the
atmosphere. As it is a gas, it can also be considered as part of the atmosphere
itself. It is a gas that is completely transparent, so if you can see it, it is NOT
a gas (such as clouds, it is because the water as condensed into small floating
drops).
 Liquid: under the climatic conditions in most areas of the planet the water is
liquid forming: rivers, lakes, underground water, ponds… and oceans, of course.
 Solid: solid water is ice, mostly found in glaciers (glaciares). They can be
oceanic glaciers (floating in the cold seas and oceans) or continental glaciers
(on the Antarctic continent or very high mountains). Also water can precipitate
solid as snow or hail (ganizo).

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Dynamics of the hydrosphere. Water cycle
As you know, the water in the planet Earth can be retained in the mentioned elements
for shorter or longer periods, but is continuously changing from one to the other. The
water changes in state, and changes its position. These changes, at a global scale, are
called the water cycle (ciclo del agua o ciclo hídrico).

Graph 1: "Water cycle"

The most important changes or movements of water in the cycle are:

 Precipitation (precipitación): water vapor in the atmosphere condenses (usually
due to a temperature drop) and the small drops forming the clouds are too
heavy and water falls to the ground. It can be rain, snow, hail…
Once the water get the surface of the ground there are two options (or a
combination of both):
 Surface runoff (escorrentía, de escurrir): water moves towards the lower
areas on the surface of the ground.
 Infiltration (infiltración): it can be infiltrated into the ground and then the
water get to the “underground waters” (aguas subterráneas)
 Evapotranspiration (evapotranspiración= evaporación + transpiración): This
term gets together evaporation + transpiration, the production of water vapor.
The liquid water can be evaporated due to high temperatures. Then, it starts
forming part of the atmospheric water (gas). It can also be used by plants (of
course, in areas with lots of plants), and the plants use part of the water for
their nutrition and some other is expulsed as vapor too, so it also ends up in

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 the atmosphere. This process is called transpiration. Together they are called
evapotranspiration.
How are all these changes possible? Where is the energy coming from? There are two
forces involved: gravity (that attracts water to the ground, for example
precipitation, or the water of a river flowing to the sea) and energy from the sun
(that provides with energy to change the temperature or the water so it can change,
for example evaporation in the surface of the ocean).

Structure
We also call the Earth “the blue planet”. Almost ¾ of the surface of the Earth is
covered by water. Almost all of it is salt water, the proportion of fresh water is
really small. What is
more, of that fresh
water, we humans can
only use a very small
proportion. The planet if
full of water, but the
proportion of it which is
suitable for consumption
is not much. What is
more, you probably know
that not all the areas of
the world have access to
drinking water or water
suitable for human use
(e.g. drylands, desserts
etc).
Graph 2: "Distribution of
salt and types of fresh
water in the world"

1.- Water as a resource

A resource (recurso) is any kind of matter or energy we humans can use. Water is one
of the most important resources in all human societies. It is obviously used for human
nutrition, but also for the production of many factories and of food (watering the
crops or feeding the animals we eat). In the world, almost 80% of the fresh water we
humans use is for agriculture.
To these uses, water must be fresh. Salt water damages the machines, the crops and
of course is not drinkable. The water must also be free of any kind of pollutant.
Water uses: you already know that you have to save water. Water is a scarce
resource, and according to climate change predictions is going to be even scarcer.

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Types of water
According to the proportion of minerals in the water, we consider:
 Salt water
 Fresh water
But not all the types of fresh water are the same. The proportion of minerals (always
lower than in salt water) varies. Some types of water have a high proportion of
minerals, and are called hard waters (aguas duras), meanwhile the waters with lower
proportion of minerals are soft waters (aguas blandas).
Why does fresh water can have higher or lower proportion of minerals? It depends on
the type of rocks the water flows through.
 Soft waters: If the rocks are not soluble (insolubles) the water doesn´t
dissolve them when goes though them (rivers, runoff, underground water..). In
these types of places, water only has a few minerals dissolved. Not soluble
rocks are, for example, granite. In the Madrid Mountain Ranges there are
granite rocks. For that reason the water in that places is soft, and is very
appreciated for drinking and other uses.
 Hard waters: If the rocks are soluble (soluble, que se disuelve en agua, como
la sal de mesa) the water dissolves lots of minerals when going through them.
In these types of places water contains a higher proportion of minerals
dissolved. In Aranjuez, as the most typical rocks in the soil are soluble
(limestone, marlstone, gypsum), the water contains lots of minerals dissolved.
So the water is tasty and gives some problems in the use of machines that use
water (e.g. washing machine, dishwasher, machines in factories)

Graph 3: "Dureza del agua en España por regiones"

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2.- Water pollution
Human activity can alter the composition of water with pollutants (contaminantes).
Some pollutants of the water are:
 Wastes of industry, or industrial pollution. Includes the addition of chemical
substances that can very dangerous for animals, plants, microorganisms…and
people. These pollutants can be directly poured in the water or can be in the
soil and when rains, they infiltrate to the groundwater or they runoff to the
streams. Factories also add very hot water to the natural steams, damaging
the living organisms.
 Wastes of agriculture and farming: products such as herbicides (herbicidas,
para evitar que salgan malas hierbas), pesticides (pesticidas, para evitar plagas
como algunos insectos, caracoles… que se comen las cosechas) or fertilizers
(fertilizantes, minerales para que las plantas haga la fotosíntesis, pero si se
añaden en exceso contaminan el agua). All these substances can harm the living
organisms living in the water. Of course, they can also damage human health.
 Domestic pollution, or pollutants coming from our daily lives: wastewater from
the kitchens, bathrooms etc. Also, solid wastes can end up in the water. Have
you heard about the “isle of plastic” in the Pacific Ocean? (google it!)

Water treatment (Tratamientos de agua)

When water is polluted, we need to recover it. First, because it is our moral duty (we
have created the problem, we have to solve it). Second, because the water is an
extremely important and scarce resource.
There are two important terms:
 Treated water (agua depurada): the physical and chemical conditions after all
the treatments permit them to be poured to a natural stream with no risk for
the environment (no risk for aquatic o terrestrial animals, plants, people
swimming etc).
 Purified water (agua potable): they physical and chemical conditions of water
after purification transform it into drinking water.
Of course, if we want to obtain drinking water we need to treat it first and then
purify it.

Wastewater treatment plant / Sewage (Depuradora de aguas residuales)

It is an industrial process to clean waste water. It consists of three main steps, in
the correct order:
1. Primary treatment: mainly retains solids
2. Secondary treatment: uses microorganisms to transform the excess of organic
matter (heterotrophic bacteria, able to “eat” organic matter).

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 3. There can also be a tertiary treatment, depending on the future use of water.

Graph 4: "Water treatment plant scheme"

Drinking water treatment plant

Already treated water suffers a process of extra cleaning, to keep bacteria out. At
the end of the process we can obtain drinking water.

Graph 5: "Purification of water".

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Hydrosphere: activities
1. Glaciers are made up of solid water. But it is not “regular ice”. It is a type of ice
that is forming huge blocks. The upper layers, due to its enormous size, are very
heavy. The ones in the bottom are under terrible pressures. Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7LKm9jtm8I What color is that ice? Why?
Give reasons (watch to 2.08 is ok, the rest of explanation is a bit too much).
2. This is a very simple drawing of the water cycle. Complete it with the mentioned
elements (clouds, oceans, rivers, underground water…) and the considered
processes that permits the water change from one to other state and element.
Add all the pictures, arrows and tags you need. If you rather like, you can draw a
complete scheme on your own.

3. Explain the expression “Blue planet”. Give reasons, or even data (googled, from
this summary or your textbook).
4. As water is a scarce resource, write 5 simple rules you can easily follow at home
to reduce your water consumption.
5. If someone says “I save water: I never buy any kind of cloth that I don´t really
need”. Is it true? Do you agree with him/her? Give reasons.
6. In Aranjuez we have hard water. What is hard water? Read the instructions of
the detergent for the washing machine you have at home. Is there any explanation
about the amount of detergent in relation to how dirty are the clothes? And in
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 relation to the hardness of water? Compare the expense of detergent for washing
machines in two different types of water.
7. ¿Has visto alguna vez un anuncio de pastillas para proteger los electrodomésticos
del exceso de cal? Busca información en español sobre cómo funcionan estos
productos (químicamente), qué problemas evitan y en qué tipo de
electrodomésticos se pueden usar. Relaciónalo con lo que has aprendido.
8. Imagina que no tienes acceso a internet, pero necesitas poner un ejemplo de una
provincia de España en la que las rocas que forman la mayor parte del suelo son
solubles, y otra en la que la mayor parte de las rocas sean insolubles. ¿Cómo
podrías utilizar la información que tienes en este cuadernillo para llegar a una
conclusión? Busca la información, da las respuestas y explica cómo has dado con
ella de forma indirecta.