1. Water Issues

2. What’s special about H2O?
Heat capacity
Universal solvent
Exists in all 3 phases at normal Earth
surface temperatures
 Solid H2O is lighter than the liquid H2O
 Sunlight penetrates water




3. The earth is
71%
covered by
water...
Earth is the
only planet
known to
have water
in all three
phases
(gas,liquid
and solid)
It never
disappears,
as it is
perfectly
recycled

4. A water shortage?
 With a planet covered in water?
 With perfect solar powered recycling taking
place constantly?
 HOW can one claim that water is a resource
in crisis?

5. The Water Cycle... Perfect recycling
Ecclesiastes 1:7
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the
rivers come, thither they return again

6. Precipitation
Evapotranspiration
Runoff
Streamflow
Recharge
Recharge
ater
ndw
u
Gro
Groundwater Terms

8. 


Ocean water 97.2%
Polar Ice 2.15%
97.2 + 2.15 = 99.35%
 .65% of global water supply is the amount
generally available for human use.

9. The problem(s) with water…
 Uneven Distribution… some areas have
too much water, others much less than
necessary
 Water Quality: When it is present, the water
is often in a condition that makes it
unacceptable for specific uses… e.g. salty
or polluted or full of sediment

13. The approximate location of the 100th Meridian… the traditional
dividing line between the humid east and the arid west

14. Comparison:
 Florida
– East, wet
– Abundant water, groundwater
 Southern California
– West, dry
– Scarce water, groundwater

29. Water Laws… east vs. west
 East of the 100th Meridian in the US, water is
generally abundant
 The law governing water allocation in the
East is the same as in Europe… the
RIPARIAN DOCTRINE
 West of the 100th Meridian, water is
governed by an entirely different set of
assumptions Prior Use doctrine or
APPROPRIATION DOCTRINE

30. Riparian Doctrine
 Water flowing in defined watercourses is treated
under riparian doctrine.
 Rights arise from ownership of real property
underlying or bordering a stream or river.
 A riparian right is the right to use water flowing in a
stream on riparian land. No right to divert a
specific quantity of water is obtained.
 A riparian may use all water necessary for
domestic use (drinking, bathing, cooking, laundry,
livestock watering, and other uses essential to the
preservation of life and health).
 If there is insufficient flow to maintain all domestic
and non-domestic uses, domestic uses have
priority.

31. Riparian Doctrine contd.
 Riparian users are entitled to "reasonable use"
which may cause some diminution of streamflow
so long as other riparians are not "unreasonably"
harmed.
 The landowner does not own the water itself but
rather the right to use it on his riparian land.
 Based on English ‘Common Law’ adjudicated in
the courts

32. Appropriation (Prior Use)
Doctrine
 First in time of use is first in right (i.e.,
the earliest appropriator on a stream has
the first right to use the water), and
 Application of the water to a beneficial use
is the basis and measure of the right.
 The law in virtually all western states.

33. Water in the west…
 Eighty percent of the Nation’s water is used in
the West—most of it for agriculture
 Water left in the stream is considered ‘wasted’
 Water rights exist as a legal entity independent
of the land.

34. BLUE states generally use riparian doctrine.
GREEN states generally are considered regulated riparian.
RED states generally use the prior appropriation doctrine.
GRAY states use mixed approaches.

35. Defining ‘beneficial’
 Beneficial use has two components: the
nature or purpose of the use and the
efficient or non-wasteful use of water.
 Keeping water in the stream is
considered ‘wasteful’
 The issue of anadromous fish!

36. Water and Wildlife
 The special case of Salmon in the Pacific
Northwest
 In the Columbia River basin, development
was modeled on the Tennessee River
system
 The entire river system is controlled by a
series of dams that provide hydroelectric
power, make the river navigable and provide
‘recreation’ opportunities

38. Salmon…. More than resource… a
spiritual identity for the region

39. “IN Stream flow”
 There is a benefit to fish (esp. temperature
sensitive fish species like salmon and trout)
of keeping water in the stream
 This benefit can be expressed in economic
terms
 Some of the most successful programs
transfer $ from advocacy groups to ranchers
to purchase forage crops for their cattle…
forgoing using their water rights to irrigate
pastures/hay fields.

40. Water...

42. Water Use:
Withdrawal vs. consumption
irrigation consumes the
highest percent (81 percent)
commercial the lowest (1
percent)
The difference between the
volume of water withdrawn
and that consumed is the
return flow.

43. Irrigation
81% of water used for Irrigation is ‘consumed’...
Removed from the water system
(evapo-transpiration) and it is by far the most
consumptive use of water.
Technology has made irrigation much more
efficient....
Drip Irrigation has single emitters for each plant

44. Flood or Furrow Irrigation

47. Spray Irrigation

48. Center-Pivot Spray irrigation

51. Drip Irrigation

53. Domestic water use
Our society
consumes 50100 gallons
per person,
per day.
This pie chart
shows how an
average home
in Akron, OH
uses water
(src: USGS).
Figure 15.28, S&S p. 538

54. How much water is consumed? How much is returned to the hydrologic cycle?

55. Point
Nonpoint

57. Issues: non-point source pollution
 The 1977 “Clean Water Act” provided
federal guidelines and control over point
source pollution.
 Non-Point source pollution... Who is
responsible? How can it be controlled?
 Agricultural land use... The sacred institution
of ‘the family farm’

61. Ground Water…
 According to the USGS, in 2000 21% of
water used in the United States
 69.8 Billion gallons /day came from groundwater sources
 68 percent, was used for irrigation
 19 percent was used for public water
supplies
 99% of ‘self supplied’ water sources were
ground water (a well)

62. Groundwater
• Occurs below the water
table, where the soil is
saturated
• Aquifer = underground
zone where water can be
extracted at useful rate
• Depletion by wells causes
drawdown a cone of
depression in the water
table
S&S Figure 15.12, p. 519

63. Saturated zone, Saturated zone,
Water Table

64. Groundwater & surface water flow system
© 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers
Water table

65. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wugw.html

66. Ground Water Withdrawals by State, 2000

68. Groundwater ‘mining’...
 In some areas, notably the Ogallala Basin in
the central great plains groundwater
withdrawal has exceeded recharge of the
aquifer.
 Wells are constantly drilled deeper, bigger
pumps installed... The end of a region?

69. The Ogallala Aquifer
• Composed of water bearing sands
and gravel, i.e. groundwater
• …filled during melt of ice sheet in last
ice age.
• …current 20 x overdraft, -> 1.74 feet
per year (1,082,631 acre ft).
– North Plains Groundwater
Conservation District (http://
www.npwd.org)
“Ground
water
mining”

70. --(Guru 2000)

77. Cost of water?
 Abundant water is available virtually everywhere
on the planet…
 Cheap water is available in only a limited number
of places
 Water will run uphill to $
 The Los Angles Basin sits next to/on the largest
body of water on the planet! But ocean water is
salty…the technology to remove salt is simple and
available… however it is expensive. It is cheaper
to acquire water from other regions and ship it.

78. Cost of water…
 If the cost of water is not reflected in its allocation
then inefficiency is bound to occur.
 Irrigation rights… no additional cost for the last
water used…. There is no incentive to conserve.
 Subsidized water… some estimates place the
subsidy as high as 90% for American agriculture
(the farmer pays just 10% of the cost of the water)
… incentives to conserve are limited

79. Inter basin transfers
 The Owens valley project
 North American Water and Power Alliance
[NAWAPA]
 Making beneficial use of ‘excess’ or ‘wasted’
water.