Scribd
Upload
17 views2 pages

Human Impact on Water Resources

The document discusses various ways that humans alter water availability through engineered structures like levees, dikes, and dams. It provides details on the Three Gorges Dam in China, including that it is 2 km wide and 185 m tall, creating a 660 km long reservoir. It also notes both benefits, like large hydroelectric power generation and flood control, and drawbacks, like the over 1 million people that were displaced and interruption to natural water flows. The document also discusses fish ladders, the drying of the Aral Sea due to water diversions, desalination processes, and that water is not equally available globally despite most of the Earth's surface being covered in water.

Uploaded by

Marvin Hill
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
17 views2 pages

Human Impact on Water Resources

The document discusses various ways that humans alter water availability through engineered structures like levees, dikes, and dams. It provides details on the Three Gorges Dam in China, including that it is 2 km wide and 185 m tall, creating a 660 km long reservoir. It also notes both benefits, like large hydroelectric power generation and flood control, and drawbacks, like the over 1 million people that were displaced and interruption to natural water flows. The document also discusses fish ladders, the drying of the Aral Sea due to water diversions, desalination processes, and that water is not equally available globally despite most of the Earth's surface being covered in water.

Uploaded by

Marvin Hill
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

APES ch.

9 -- Module 27: Human Alteration of Water Availability


Reading Guide for Friedland 3e
Pages 313-319

1. Complete the table describing various ways that humans alter waterways:

Engineered Description Purpose Benefits Drawbacks


Structure

Levee An enlarged bank prevent flooding. floodplain land levees may prevent
built up on each could be developed flooding at one
side of a river. for residential and location, but by
commercial use. doing so they force
floodwater farther
downstream where
it can cause even
worse flooding.

Dikes Dikes are similar to Prevent ocean The dikes, The original pumps
levees in that they waters from combined with were powered by
are built to keep flooding adjacent pumps that move windmills, which is
water from flooding land any intruding water why we often
onto the land back out to the associate the
ocean, have Netherlands with
allowed the country wind energy.
to inhabit and farm Today, however,
areas that would the water is
otherwise be under pumped with
water. electric and diesel
pumps.

Dam A barrier that runs Dams hold water Reduce or prevent Dams provide
across a river or for a wide variety of flooding farther substantial benefits
stream purposes, including down the river. to humans, but they
human come with financial,
consumption, societal, and
generation of environmental
electricity, flood costs.
control, and
recreation.

Aqueducts

2. Describe 2 facts, 2 benefits, and 2 drawbacks to the Three Gorges Dam. Answer:

 The Three Gorges Dam built across the Yangtze River in China.
 This massive structure is 2 km (1.3 miles) wide and 185 m (610 feet) high, and has created a reservoir
660 km (410 miles) long behind it.

2 benefits

 The benefits of the Three Gorges Dam include the large amount of hydroelectric power it generates,
which reduces the extraction and use of fossil fuels.
 The costs of building dams, both to people and the environment, are substantial.

2 drawsbacks

 The Three Gorges Dam and the reservoir it created flooded 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages;
more than 1.3 million people were forced to relocate.
 The interruption of the natural flow of water to which many organisms are adapted.

3. What is the purpose of fish ladders? Answer: Which are built like a set of stairs with water flowing over
them, have been added to some dams. Migrating fish can swim up the fish ladders and reach their
traditional breeding ground.

4. Why is the Aral Sea drying up? Answer: The Aral Sea was originally the fourth largest lake in the
world in terms of surface area, the diversion project reduced its surface area by more than 60 percent,
as shown in FIGURE 27.6. The withdrawals of water caused the Aral Sea to split into two parts: the
North Aral Sea and the South Aral Sea. Dust storms have eroded soil, salt, and pesticide residues from
the dry lakebed and carried particles of these substances into the atmosphere.

5. What is desalination and what are the two most common technologies? Answer: The process of
removing the salt from salt water. Also known as desalinization. Distillation and reverse osmosis.

6. Is water equally available to all people on Earth? Answer: No, water is not equally available to all
people on Earth. While approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only a small
portion of that is freshwater.

You might also like