RESOURCES

MEXE-2103
BACARRO, IVAN
BUCAL, WILSON
CODIZAL, BEA
 WATER AS RESOURCES

It is evident that water availability for domestic use,

agriculture, and industry is important to everyone. But
most of us take for granted the availability of it.
Lack of water may control the extent of development of
other resources such as fossil fuels.
The table shows the distribution of water in the hydrosphere. From the data, there is
little fresh liquid water on the earth. Most of the fresh water is locked up as ice, mainly
in the large polar ice caps. Even the ground water beneath continental surfaces is not all
fresh. With these, the need for restraint in our use of fresh water is a must. Geologically,
water is a renewable resource, but local supplies may be inadequate in the short term.
 Porosity and Permeability of Rocks and
Mineral Materials
• Porosity and permeability involve the ability of rocks or other
mineral materials (sediments, soils) to contain fluids and to allow
fluids to pass through them.

• Porosity is the proportion of void space in the material (holes or

cracks), unfilled by solid material, within or between individual
mineral grains and is a measure of how much fluid the material can
store.

• Permeability is a measure of how readily fluids pass through the

material.
 Subsurface Waters
• Saturated zone or phreatic zone is a volume of rock or soil above
the impermeable material that is water-saturated, in which
water fills all the accessible pore space.

• Unsaturated zone or vadose zone is rock or soil above the

saturated zone in which the pore spaces are filled partly with
water, partly with air.

• Subsurface water is all of the water occupying pore space below

the ground surface this includes ground water, soil moisture, and
water in unsaturated rocks.
 B. Water from the stream
A. The stream represents a channel percolates
site of groundwater discharge. downward to add to the
groundwater supply.
• Water table is the top surface of the saturated zone, where
the saturated zone is not confined by overlying
impermeable rocks. The water table is not always below
the ground surface.

• Recharge is the processes of infiltration and migration or

percolation by which ground water is replaced.

• Groundwater discharge occurs where ground water flows

into a stream, escapes at the surface in a spring, or
otherwise exits the aquifer.
• Aquifer is a rock that holds enough water and transmits it
rapidly enough to be useful as a source of water.

• Aquitard is a rock that may store a considerable quantity of

water, but in which water flow is slowed, or retarded; that
is, its permeability is low, regardless of its porosity. Shales
are common aquitards.

• Aquiclude was used to describe an extreme aquitard, a rock

that is essentially impermeable on a human timescale; but
virtually no rock would be impermeable indefinitely, and
the term aquiclude has fallen into disuse.
 Confined and Unconfined Aquifers
• Unconfined aquifer is when the aquifer is directly overlain only
by permeable rocks and soil. An unconfined aquifer may be
recharged by infiltration over the whole area underlain by that
aquifer, if no impermeable layers above to stop the downward
flow of water from surface to aquifer.

• Confined aquifer is bounded above and below by low

permeability rocks (aquitards). Water in a confined aquifer may
be under considerable pressure from the adjacent rocks, or as a
consequence of lateral differences in elevation within the
aquifer.
UNCONFINED AQUIFERS
CONFINED AQUIFERS
 Consequences of Groundwater Withdrawal

Lowering the Water Table

When ground water is pumped out from an aquifer,
the rate at which water flows in from surrounding
rock to replace the extracted water is generally
slower than the rate at which water is taken out.
Cone of depression
a circular lowering of the water table immediately
around the well in an unconfined aquifer.
Lowering of the Water Table in a Cone of Depression
around a Pumped Well in an Unconfined Aquifer
 Overlapping Cones of Depression Lead to Net
Lowering of the Water Table; Shallower Wells may
Run Dry
 Compaction and Surface Subsidence
• If the aquifer rocks are no longer saturated with water, they may become compacted from
the weight of overlying rocks. This decreases their porosity, permanently reducing their
water-holding capacity, and may also decrease their permeability.

• As the rocks below compact and settle, the ground surface itself may subside (collapse).
Where water depletion is extreme, the surface subsidence may be several meters

• Lowering of the water table/potentiometric surface also may contribute to sinkhole

formation.

• At high elevations or in inland areas, the subsidence causes only structural problems as
building foundations are disrupted.

• In low-elevation coastal regions, the subsidence may lead to extensive flooding, as well as
to increased rates of coastal erosion.
 METRO MANILA

VENICE GRAND CANAL

Sinking and Flooding Metro Manila

In areas were surface had subsided , simple solutions such

as pumping water back underground are unlikely to work.
The rocks may have been permanently compacted. This is
the case in Venice, where subsidence may have been
halted but rebound is not expected because clayey rocks
in the aquifer system are irreversibly compacted.
 Saltwater Intrusion
- is another problem arising from groundwater use in coastal regions.

Once a section of an
aquifer becomes tainted
with salt, it cannot readily
be “made fresh” again.
 Impacts of Urbanization on Groundwater Recharge
• Urbanization may involve extensive modification of surface-water runoff
patterns and stream channels. As it modifies surface runoff and the ratio of
runoff to infiltration, urbanization also influences groundwater hydrology.

• Impermeable cover such as buildings, asphalt and concrete roads, sidewalks,

parking lots, and airport runways over one part of a broad area underlain by an
unconfined aquifer has relatively little impact on that aquifer’s recharge.

• In a confined aquifer, the available recharge area may be very limited, since the
overlying confining layer prevents direct downward infiltration in most places. If
impermeable cover is built over the recharge area of a confined aquifer, then,
recharge can be considerably reduced, thus aggravating the water-supply
situation.
The recharge area of this Recharge to the confined aquifer
confined aquifer is limited to the may be reduced by placement of
area where permeable rocks impermeable cover over the
intersect the surface. limited recharge area.
 Filling in wetlands
• a common way to provide more land for construction. This
practice can interfere with recharge, especially if surface runoff
is rapid elsewhere in the area.
- A marsh or swamp in a recharge area that is holding water for long
periods can be a major source of infiltration and recharge. Filling it in
so water no longer accumulates there and topping the fill with
impermeable cover may greatly reduce local groundwater recharge.

- In steeply sloping areas or those with low-permeability soils, well-

planned construction that includes artificial recharge basins can aid in
increasing groundwater recharge.
 Artificial Recharge Basins Can
Aid Recharge by Slowing
Surface Runoff

USGS Artificial-Recharge
Demonstration Project near
Wichita, Kansas, is designed to
Stockpile Water to Meet Future
Needs
Karst and Sinkholes
 Rock types such as carbonate rocks or beds of rock salt or
gypsum, chemical sediments deposited in shallow seas, are
extremely soluble in water. Dissolution of these rocks by
subsurface water, and occasional collapse or subsidence of the
ground surface into the resultant cavities, creates a distinctive
terrain known as karst.

 The solution process forms extensive channels, voids, and even

large caverns underground. This creates large volumes of space
for water storage and, where the voids are well interconnected,
makes rapid groundwater movement possible.
Karst aquifers can be sources of plentiful water. But, the irregular
distribution of large voids and channels makes it more difficult to
estimate available water volume or to determine groundwater flow
rates and paths. Since the water flow is typically much more rapid
than in non-karst aquifers, recharge and discharge occur on shorter
timescales and water supply may be less predictable. Contaminants
can spread rapidly to pollute the water in karst aquifer systems,
and the natural filtering that occurs in many non-karst aquifers
with finer pores and passages may not occur in karst systems
Dissolution of soluble rocks underground creates
large voids below the surface and, often, leads to
surface subsidence above
Sinkhole at Winter Park, Florida -
Collapse on May 8–9, 1981 was
caused in part by drought.
Photograph courtesy USGS Water
Resources Division
 Water Quality
The water on and in the continents is not all fresh. Rainwater is not
considered as pure water because it contains dissolved chemicals of various
kinds, especially in industrialized areas with substantial air pollution.

 It is important to evaluate when looking for a potential water supply source.

 It may be described in a variety of ways, like to express the amount of a

dissolved chemical substance present as a concentration in parts per million
(ppm) or, for very dilute substances, parts per billion (ppb).

Total dissolved solids (TDS) is one of the parameters used in describing water
quality, the sum of the concentrations of all dissolved solid chemicals in the
water. The level of TDS required or acceptable varies with the application.
Hard water
o simply contains substantial amounts of dissolved calcium and
magnesium. When calcium and magnesium concentrations reach or
exceed the range of 80 to 100 ppm, the hardness may become
objectionable. You know the water is hard when it prevents the soap
from lathering properly, causes bathtubs to develop rings and laundered
clothes to retain a gray soap scum
DENR A.O. 2016-08 also known as the Water Quality Guidelines and General
Effluent Standards

• monitor per industry and the allowable value of these

parameters. Also, stated there is the classification of water
in the Philippines.
 Extending the Water Supply
Conservation
Water is wasted in home use every day by long showers, inefficient plumbing,
insistence on lush, green lawns even in the heat of summer, and in dozens of other
ways.

Irrigation
o must be moderated if the depletion rate of water supplies is to be reduced
appreciably.

Domestic
o can be reduced in a variety of ways. For example, lawns can be
watered morning or evening when evaporation is less rapid than
at midday or one can forgo traditional lawns altogether in favor of
ground covers that don’t need watering.
Interbasin Water Transfer
o People persist in settling and farming in areas that may not be
especially well supplied with fresh water, while other areas with
abundant water go undeveloped.

Desalination
o Desalination of seawater would allow parched coastal regions to tap
the vast ocean reservoirs.

o Some ground waters are not presently used for water supplies
because they contain excessive concentrations of dissolved materials.
There are two basic methods used to purify water of dissolved
minerals:
Filtration
• A system where the water passed through fine filters or membranes to screen out
dissolved impurities.
o Advantage of this method is that it can rapidly filter great quantities of water.
o Disadvantage is that the method works best on water not containing very high
levels of dissolved minerals.
Distillation
• Involves heating or boiling water full of dissolved minerals. The water vapor driven off
is pure water, while the minerals stay behind in what remains of the liquid. This is
true regardless of how concentrated the dissolved minerals are, the method works
fine on seawater as well as on less saline waters.
o disadvantage is the nature of the necessary heat source. Furnaces fired by coal,
gas, or other fuels can be used, but any fuel may be costly in large quantity, and
many conventional fuels are becoming scarce
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