Freshwater

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Freshwater
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Distribution of Water
Water source Percent of fresh water Percent of total water
Oceans, Seas, Bays -- 96.5
Ice caps, Glaciers, Permafrost 69.6 1.79
Groundwater 30.1 1.7
Lakes 0.26 0.013
Soil Moisture 0.05 0.001
Atmosphere 0.04 0.001
Wetlands, Swamps 0.03 0.0008
Rivers 0.006 0.0002
Biological Water 0.003 0.0001
Source USGS
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70 of fresh water on earth exists as ice
South pole 2 miles deep North pole 15 feet
deep Melting 200 ft sea level increase
45 ft
- 375 ft
If all the atmospheric moisture fell to the earth
at once the sea level would rise only one inch
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Available Freshwater
Groundwater Lakes Soils Wetlands Rivers
0.775
0.8
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98 of readily available freshwater is in
groundwater
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Water Distribution
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Location, Location
6 countries possess half of the worlds total
renewable freshwater supplies.
Brazil Colombia Russia Canada Indonesia China
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Water Availability and Location
South America 3 of the 10 largest rivers
25 of fresh river water 5 of world population
Greenland 8 million gallons/person/day Alaska 1
million gallons/person/day Congo 130,000
gallons/person/day
Gaza 37 gallons/person/day
Australia is the driest continent, but has small
population
Asia has 2/3 of world population, but 1/3
renewable water
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Water Demand
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The three major factors causing increasing
water demand over the past century

• population growth
• industrial development
• expansion of irrigated agriculture.

Agriculture accounted for most freshwater
withdrawal in developing economies in the past
two decades
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Population expected to grow to 9.3 billion by 2050
2 billion people will be water scarce (UNFPA,
2002)
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Industry and Income
Country Agriculture
Industry
High income 30 59 Middle income 74 13 Low
income 87 8
Industrial use in China is expected to increase
5-fold .
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Agricultural Production
1 world energy
Food production has grown with population
70 of all water used
Irrigated land expected to expand by 23 in 25
years
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Overall Consumption
Irrigation for crops uses 65- 70 percent of fresh
supplies
It takes over 528 gallons of water to produce
enough food for one person for one day
Over the past 30 years, the area of land under
irrigation has increased by about 30.
Industry uses 20-25 percent of available
freshwater
steel, computers, and raw materials for
industrial products
annual industrial water use in China could grow
from 52 billion tons to 269 billion tons (5X)
within the next two decades
Domestic use accounts for about ten percent of
water use
each person needs between 2 -3 gallons of water a
day for drinking, food preparation, and
cooking
average consumption per person is five gallons a
day (WHO, UNICEF), but in the U.S., Canada, and
Western Europe the total consumption rises
dramatically (gt50 gal/day)
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Supply and Demand
Turning to Groundwater
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Turning to Groundwater Use
Local, On-demand Availability, Drought
Resistance, Good Quality
Heavy investment in groundwater exploration
50 of the worlds drinking water 40 of
industrial water 20 of agricultural water
1.2 billion urban citizens worldwide depend on
groundwater
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Groundwater Use
Fastest growing countries
India China Pakistan
½ the worlds total agricultural groundwater use
In India, 80 of domestic supply and 70 of
agricultural supply is from groundwater
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Growing Pains
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This part of China is mostly flat and the soil,
replenished by silt carried down by the Yellow
River, is well-suited to agriculture
Shallow sand, gravel, rock
North China Plain
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½ Chinas wheat, 1/3 corn
Shallow aquifer largely depleted (renewable)
99,900 wells were abandoned
Shift to Deep fossil aquifer (non-renewable)
Agricultural well depths can exceed 1000 feet ()
Municipal well depths can exceed 3000 feet
Aquifer Levels dropping 3 ft/year
Chinas grain production has fallen from its
historical peak of 392 million tons in 1998 to
an estimated 358 million tons in 2005 (34
million tons-8)
China largely covered the drop-off in production
by drawing down its once vast stocks until 2004,
at which point it imported 7 million tons of
grain.
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India
Population 1,132,446,000
21 million wells
water table is falling by 6 meters (20 feet) per
year
falling water tables have dried up 95 percent of
the wells owned by small farmers
drilling 3000ft to reach water
agriculture is rain-fed and drinking water is
trucked in
Pakistan
Punjab
Quetta
Pakistan is growing by 3 million people per year
In the Punjab plain, the drop in water tables
appears to be similar to that in India. In the
province of Baluchistan, water tables are falling
by 11 feet per year. within 15 years Quetta will
run out of water if the current consumption rate
continues
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Israel
Cenomanian-Turonian Mountain Aquifer
Besor
highly permeable
recharged from the West Bank
Coastal Aquifer
Width between 3 and 20 km
depth to groundwater 60 m to 8 m
chief resource of water for Gaza
Besor
Gaza has the lowest per capital water
availability in the world .
Negev
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80-100 sites lack infrastructure and mitigation
measures
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Saudi Arabia
Disi Conveyance Project
al-Disi aquifer
Sandstone aquifer not subject to recharge
Partly in Jordan
1984 Saudi national survey reported fossil water
reserves at 462 billion tons
Wheat on 2.5 million acres of desert
½ has been depleted
irrigated agriculture could continue for perhaps
a few decades
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The Sahara Libya
1953
Nubian Sandstone Aquifer
fossil water
Formed 145.5 to 65.5 million years ago
two million square kilometers
world's largest fossil-water reserve
equivalent to the flow of 200 years of water in
the Nile River
located near the center of the world's largest
continuous stretch of desert
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The Great Man-Made River Project
the largest underground network of pipes in the
world
1300 wells
more than 500 m deep
10,000km³
6,500,000 m³ water/day
4,800km³
Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirt
20,000km³
4 major basins
Water is 1/10 cost Of desalinization
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United States
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Wettest
Water (mi2)
water
Land (mi2)
United States 3,618,770 79,481 2.2
Rhode Island 1,545 500.6 32.4
Florida 65,975 11,808 17.9
North Carolina, Maine, Louisiana, Minnesota,
Massachusetts
Driest?
New Mexico 121,593 243 0.2
Arizona 114,000 364 0.32
West Virginia 24,232 145 0.6
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Surface water 79
Groundwater 21
Texas California Idaho Illinois
California Texas Nebraska Arkansas
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Groundwater and Surface Water Use
Groundwater
1 irrigation 2 public Supply
Surface water
1 power generation 2 irrigation
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Surface Water
Groundwater
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Agriculture and the Ogallala Aquifer
Irrigation
1930s 600 wells 1970s 200,000 wells
¾ of wheat traded on the world market
Slowly replenished
Water tables have fallen By up to 100 ft
5 25/yr Rainfall
Pumping has declined by ½ new wells banned
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irrigated
Below is a link for a story on NPR
http//www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
Id12595774
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Surface Water
Groundwater
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Summary
Surface water 79 of withdrawals Ground water 21
of withdrawals
1 use of groundwater is for irrigation 1 use of
surface water is for power generation
Both ground and surface water withdrawals peaked
in 1980
Texas uses the greatest amount of surface
water California uses the greatest amount of
groundwater