Water; water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Welcome to my web site on Water, Water Usage and Water Management. Water is an extremely precious resource, without water there would be no life. My web page is designed to give you some basic information on the Earth's water resources and some problems we face due to shortages (droughts), an abundance (floods) and contamination of our Freshwater. Then, I would like to discuss with you problems that are occurring at two important natural waterways in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades.

Water covers 70% of the earth's surface, but it is difficult to comprehend the total amount of water when we only see a small portion of it.

A well is a hole drilled into an aquifer. A pipe and a pump are used to pull water out of the ground, and a screen filters out unwanted particles that could clog the pipe. Wells come in different shapes and sizes, depending on the type of material the well is drilled into and how much water is being pumped out.

A well can be easily contaminated if it is not properly constructed or if toxic materials are released into the well. Toxic material spilled or dumped near a well can leach into the aquifer and contaminate the groundwater drawn from that well. Contaminated wells used for drinking water are especially dangerous. Wells can be tested to see what chemicals may be in the well and if they are present in dangerous quantities.

Lead is one of the most dangerous contaminants of drinking water. It can cause high blood pressure and other health problems. In children it can impair the development of brain cells. The contamination comes from solder in old plumbing. The EPA estimates that at least 42 million Americans are exposed to high levels of lead every year.

Water supplies are constantly changing because rainfall is never constant in a geological area. Water is a necessary resource for survival, but an excess or a shortage of water can be deadly. Floods occur when there is an excess of water. This usually occurs after heavy rainfall or when heavy winter snows begin to melt. Deforestation greatly contributes to flooding. When a hillside or mountainside is deforested-for timber, fuelwood, grazing land or farmland-precipitation does not seep into the ground but becomes runoff(6). This runoff erodes the topsoil and floods low-lying areas. Threats of flooding can be reduced by creating artificial levees, embankments and channels. A flood control damn can also be used to hold back water for gradual release into streams and rivers (6).

A shortage of freshwater is called a drought. Severe droughts can damage or kill crops, animals and humans. There is not much that can reduce the effects of droughts except the conservation of our current water supplies. If we conserve the water we have, then we will be better able to withstand drought conditions.

These include heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, zinc; they also include pesticides, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and many other chemicals. By definition, toxic substances are poisonous to humans and other living things and can cause a wide range of health effects. There are over 70,000 chemicals in use today, and less that 2% have been adequately tested for their impact on human health and the environment. Testing, monitoring, and controlling toxic substances are very complex and expensive activities. As a result, we know far too little about the kinds and amounts of toxic chemicals entering the Bay or their effects on living things.

Erosion results in massive amounts of soil entering the Bay. This sediment destroys habitat, clouds the water, and suffocates fish and shellfish. Also, phosphorus and toxic contaminants, such as pesticides, attach to sediment particles that are carried downstream and deposited into the Bay. One way to control the sediment in the Bay is to reconstruct the landscape, such as planting trees, which traps the sediment, and in turn slows down the deposits into the Bay.

Nutrient reductions alone will not restore the Chesapeake and all the species that once lived in it. Dams prevent migratory fish from reaching hundreds of miles of spawning grounds. Decades of over-fishing have depleted many fish and shellfish populations. Diseases have decreased the oyster populations which once helped filter excessive algae from the water. Grass beds, one of the best single indicators of water quality, have decreased. Waterfowl that fed on the grasses have left the Bay or found other food sources. Low levels of toxins pose risks in many parts of the Bay and its tributaries. A reduction of the pollutants should improve water quality in the Bay that would ripple throughout the system. This in turn would create conditions for healthy populations of ducks, fish, shellfish, grasses, and other Bay life.

The picture on the right is of the sawgrass marshes in the Florida Everglades. The picture below and to the left is of the Great Blue Heron, the middle one is a Snowy Egret and the right picture is a Glossy Ibis. These are only some of the 350 species of birds found in the Everglades. (10)

Over the last century the Everglades have shrunk to less than half their original size as agricultural and residential development in the region (and, in turn, irrigation and flood control demands) have expanded. The process has been accelerated over the last 30 years with the rapid proliferation of the sugar industry and skyrocketing development of Florida's east coast. Moreover, water is diverted from and sometimes to the Everglades as the needs of these adjacent residential and agricultural uses dictate. Accordingly, the ecological balance of the area has been thrown off, resulting in habitat and biodiversity loss. (A recent survey concluded that the region's wading bird population has decreased by 90 percent over the last two decades alone, indicating a sharp drop in ecosystem health.) Still more habitat destruction in the Everglades is being caused by invasions of exotic plants, such as Australian melaleuca, which depletes the region's water resources and squeezes out the native species on which the rest of the ecosystem depends.

Additionally, polluted runoff from nearby sugarcane and other agricultural operations significantly alters the Everglades' complex and unique water chemistry. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus added by human activities cause profound imbalances in the Everglade water chemistry, disrupting native plant communities and altering wildlife habitat. Everglades National Park, including Florida Bay, is seriously threatened

One of the largest physical obstacles to Everglades restoration is the farmland that has been created from its marshes, restricting natural water flow through the ecosystem and loading it with fertilizer-laden pollution. The single biggest political obstacle to restoration is the federal price-support program that props up Florida's sugar industry. But even in the age of the Republicans' Contract with America and their pledge to cut spending, the powerful sugar industry lobby has held its grip on its federal handouts, worth some $1.4 billion a year.

Facts about Water:

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9. Webmaster (1999, November). Welcome to the Groundwater Foundation.