Earth Science for STEM
Quarter 1–Lesson 10:
Activities that Affect the Quality and
Availability of Water
for Human Use
VICTOR G. MABAGOS JR.
TEACHER II
After going through this
LESSON, you are expected
to:
• 1. explain the different activities that affect the
quality and availability of water;
• 2. describe the quality of water available in your
community;
• 3. suggest ways of conserving water resources;
and
• 4. employ promotion on the conservation of
water through slogan.
• Water is a substance that
forms water resources
such as oceans, lakes and
rivers.
• Our resources are facing threat from a
variety of factors, the majority of which
are driven by human activities. The
impact of these activities on the quality
and availability of water for human
consumption would be considerably
reduced if these activities were addressed.
• Conservation is the ethical use and
protection of valuable resources.
Activities that Affect the Quality and
Availability of Water for Human Use
• Water quality describes the
condition of the water,
including chemical, physical,
and biological characteristics,
usually concerning its
suitability for a particular
purpose such as drinking or
swimming.
Water has physical
and chemical
characteristics.
•Some of the physical
attributes include
temperature, color, taste,
odor, and turbidity.
The temperature of water
affects some of the
important physical
properties and
characteristics of water:
The temperature of water affects some of the
important physical properties and characteristics
of water:
THERM DENSIT SPECIFI VISCOS SURFA SPECIFI SALINI
AL Y, C ITY, CE C TY,
CAPACI WEIGH TENSIO CONDU AND
TY, T, N, CTIVIT SOLUBI
Y, LITY
OF
DISSOL
Color, on the other hand, is
primarily a concern of water
quality for aesthetic reasons.
• Colored water gives the appearance of
being unfit to drink, even though the water
may be perfectly safe for public use. It can
indicate the presence of organic
substances, such as algae or humic
compounds. More recently, color has been
used as a quantitative assessment of the
presence of potentially hazardous or toxic
organic materials in water.
Taste and odor
are human
perceptions of
water quality.
• Human perception of taste includes
sour (hydrochloric acid), salty
(sodium chloride), sweet (sucrose),
and bitter (caffeine). Relatively simple
compounds produce sour and salty
tastes. However sweet and bitter tastes
are produced by more complex
organic compounds. Humans detect
• Furthermore, turbidity is a measure
of the light-transmitting properties of water
and is comprised of suspended and colloidal
material. It is important for health and
aesthetic reasons.
• The chemical characteristics of natural water
are a reflection of the soils and rocks with
which the water has been in contact. In
addition, agricultural and urban runoff and
municipal and industrial treated wastewater
impact the water quality. Microbial and
chemical transformations also affect the
chemical characteristics of water.
• Water with good qualities is good for
human consumption. Water
availability is defined as the quantity
of water that can be used for human
purposes without significant harm to
ecosystems or other users.
• However, our water
resources face a host
of serious threats.
Currently, about 40%
of the world's
population lives in
water-stressed areas.
• Water scarcity occurs when the amount of
water withdrawn from lakes, rivers or
groundwater is so great that water supplies are
no longer adequate to satisfy all human or
ecosystem requirements, resulting in increased
competition between water users and other
demands. Water scarcity can be caused
primarily by human activities which promote
sedimentation, pollution, climate change,
Water stress or scarcity occurs when demand for
safe, usable water in a given area exceeds the supply.
• Although it is difficult to
instantly put an end to such
problems, man must
manage, develop, and
protect water and related
resources in an
environmentally and
economically sound manner.
How are aquatic
ecosystems threatened by
sediments in water?
• One of the most serious threats
to water resources is the
degradation of the ecosystem. It
often takes place through
changes of landscapes such as
the clearance of forests, the
conversion of natural
landscapes to farmland, the
growth of cities, the building of
• Also, sediments can occur in bodies of water naturally, but they are also produced in
large amounts because of land-use change and agriculture. Sediments are naturally
occurring particles that develop as earth materials are broken down through weathering
and erosion. Sediment can consist of sand, rocks, and minerals, or may consist of
organic particles of plants and microbes. Activities such as farming, clearing forests,
building roads, and mining can put too much soil and particulate matter as sediment in
rivers. These sediments can harm plants and animals by carrying toxic chemicals into
the water, smothering fish eggs and small organisms used by fish as food, raising the
water temperature, and reducing the amount of sunlight penetrating the water.
• Sediment can also reduce the
capacity of reservoirs and make it
difficult for ships to navigate in
waterways. It can also damage
equipment used in water supply
installations and hydroelectric
plants, thus increasing their
maintenance costs.