Directed Reading: Water Resources

Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______

Lab Environmental Science

Directed Reading: Water Resources

1.  Define the following terms:

a.  Surface Water-

b.  River System-

c.  Watershed-

d.  Groundwater-

e.  Aquifer-

f.  Porosity-

g.  Permeability-

h.  Recharge Zone-

2.  What are the two kinds of water found on the earth?

3.  What percentage of the Earth’s water is Salt water?

4.  What percentage of the Earth’s water is fresh water?

5.  What percentage of the Earth’s fresh water is contained in Icecaps and glaciers?

6.  What is the name of the watershed that covers almost half of the United States?

7.  What are the six major watershed located in North America?

8.  How can the amount of water in a watershed rapidly increase?

9.  What is the name of the largest river system in the world?

10.  How much groundwater is there on the earth in km3?

11.  Where is the water table located?

12.  How much water is held in the Ogallala Aquifer?

13.  What types of material are permeable?

14.  What types of material are impermeable?

15.  The most productive aquifers form in what type of materials?

16.  What type of rock allows water to pass through it?

17.  Why is a recharge zone environmentally sensitive?

18.  Why would someone consider using a well?

19.  In relation to the water table, where is the bottom of a well located and why?

20.  Where is the Earth’s surface water located?

21.  Explain why pollution in a watershed poses a potential threat to the river system that flows through it?

22.  Why is fresh water considered a limited resource?

23.  What factors affect the level of the water table?

24.  What are the states of matter that water in the water cycle goes through?

25.  What effect can buildings and parking lots have on an aquifer’s recharge zone?