Waitaha wai waterways chch. How Water Works | HowStuffWorks. In its purest form, it's odorless, nearly colorless and tasteless. It's in your body, the food you eat and the beverages you drink. You use it to clean yourself, your clothes, your dishes, your car and everything else around you. You can travel on it or jump in it to cool off on hot summer days. Many of the products that you use every day contain it or were manufactured using it. At its most basic, water is a molecule with one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, bonded together by shared electrons.
Water is the only substance that occurs naturally as a solid (ice), a liquid and a gas (water vapor). So water is pretty simple, right? In its purest form, it's odorless, nearly colorless and tasteless. At its most basic, water is a molecule with one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, bonded together by shared electrons. Water is the only substance that occurs naturally as a solid (ice), a liquid and a gas (water vapor).
So water is pretty simple, right? The water cycle — Science Learning Hub. The Earth has a finite amount of water. The water that is here today is the same water that will be here in 20 or even 20 million years’ time. So, if all living things use water, how is it that we don’t use up all our water? The answer is that water is constantly recycled through the Earth’s system through a process called the water cycle1. Dynamic and complex: the global water cycle An interactive diagram featuring the global water cycle with explanations from four New Zealand scientists. The water cycle encompasses a number of processes that circulate water through the Earth’s subsystems. The dynamic water cycle In this video, 4 New Zealand scientists – Dave Campbell, Louis Schipper, David Hamilton and Keith Hunter – talk about how only a small percentage of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and of that small percentage, only a fraction is available for human use.
Water and the atmosphere Water enters the atmosphere through evaporation10, transpiration, excretion and sublimation: Humans and the water cycle — Science Learning Hub. We are becoming increasingly aware of our impacts on nature, but unfortunately many of the things we do have become so ingrained in our way of life that it is hard to change. Different countries use different amounts of water, but we all tend to use them in the same ways, and some of these actions can impact on the water cycle – generating hydroelectricity, irrigation, deforestation and the greenhouse effect, as well as motor vehicle use and animal farming.
Hydroelectricity Most of New Zealand’s electricity is generated using hydro dams. This involves changing the stored gravitational energy of water held behind the dam into electrical energy that can be used. While this is a non-polluting renewable way to generate electricity, it does have environmental impacts – especially when mismanaged. Seriously mismanaged dams can result in droughts downstream, with smaller streams completely drying up, leaving areas of unwatered land. Irrigation Deforestation Greenhouse effect Nature of science. Learn About The Water Cycle - Facts and Stats. The science of water - An introduction to its amazing properties. Advertisement by Chris Woodford. Last updated: August 23, 2016.
Pour yourself a glass of water and you could be drinking some of the same molecules that passed through the lips of Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Martin Luther King, or Adolf Hitler. Indeed, since the human body is about 60 percent water you might even be drinking a tiny part of one of those people! Water is one of the most amazing things about Earth; without it, there would be no life and our planet would be a completely different place. One of the truly amazing things about water is that it's never used up: it's just recycled over and over again, constantly moving between the plants, animals, rivers, and seas on Earth's surface and the atmosphere up above. Photo: Water covers over two thirds of Earth's surface and is an essential ingredient for all the flourishing life our planet enjoys—including this lily of the valley plant. What is water? We can answer that question in many different ways.
Water, ice, and steam Saving water. Water resources. New Zealand has many sources of good-quality water. Rain In New Zealand, some places get too much rain, while others don’t get enough. The Southern Alps are one of the rainiest places in the world. They also cause the west side of the South Island to get a lot of rain. Snow and ice In spring and summer, water from melting ice and snow flows into rivers.
Underground water Aquifers are layers of underground water that flow through gravel or rock. Lakes, dams and reservoirs Natural and artificial lakes hold a lot of water. Rivers Eight of New Zealand’s 10 biggest rivers are in the South Island. Sometimes, usually during summer when there is less rain, river levels can get very low, causing water shortages. If there is too much rain, rivers may flood. Managing water People use water for many things, including drinking, washing, watering crops and making electricity. Water quality in New Zealand | Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
By world standards New Zealand has high-quality water available for many uses. A plentiful supply is something that New Zealanders have taken for granted since the days of early settlement. Maintaining the quality has, for a long time, been largely due to the low population and the low level of contaminants from farming and urban development. How we use water People have contact with water in many ways, including: wading in streams and rivers while tramping or fishing boating, swimming or fishing in lakes washing or drinking from a reservoir or water tank.
Other uses include: farm irrigation and drinking water for animals effluent disposal generation of hydroelectricity as a coolant for thermal power stations. What is ‘clean’ water ? Water quality must be defined according to different uses. Washing or wasting? New Zealanders use about 560 cubic metres of water each per year: that’s 1.5 cubic metres down the drain every day.
Erosion Sewage and other pollution Too much of a good thing Farming. Water and Maori. A Maori view of rivers. As a child, I lived with my grandparents by the Whakatane river. My grandparents taught me how the Maori regarded and respected the river, they said that the river was protected by the Atua (God) and we humans had to seek God's permission through prayer before carrying out any activity such as swimming, fishing, etc. As a result of the Atua's influence certain qualities were placed in the river and the Maori referred to these qualities as: (a) Mauri or life giving principle. Each river had its own mauri, and the mixing of water from two different sources such as two different rivers or water that contains or has contained human, animal, toxic or industrial waste is dangerous and could affect the productivity of the river. (b) Mana - spiritual power and authority originating from the Atua.
Permission to use the river had to be obtained through prayer. (c) Tapu - ceremonial restriction which has been placed on some part of the river by a tohunga or priest such as: (ii) ceremonial purposes; Uses of water. Water page for kids. This page provides an overview of freshwater use and management for kids. About fresh water The Earth’s surface is mostly water but only 2.5 per cent of this is fresh water.
About 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water is stored as snow and ice in glaciers and icecaps. Most of the rest is groundwater (ie, water beneath the Earth’s surface). Less than half a per cent of fresh water is in rivers and lakes. Fresh water in New Zealand New Zealand has a lot of water in snowfields, glaciers, aquifers (ie, permeable rock), rivers and lakes. Read a description of this image. New Zealand has plentiful fresh water. Canada - 82 million litres Australia - 22 million litres United States - 9 million litres China - 2 million litres United Kingdom - 2 million litres Source: Statistics NZ 2011, World Bank 2013 How much water we use We receive around 600 billion cubic metres of rainfall per year.
We only use about 1.8 per cent of the water we receive (not including hydroelectricity generation). Managing water. WaterThelifebloodofCanterbury. How clean are our rivers? Fiona Proffitt investigates the state of New Zealand's freshwater resources and the solutions science can offer As New Zealand tries to squeeze maximum value out of its natural resources, conflicts over water are coming to a boil. We’re fast approaching water resource limits in some parts of the country, and pollution issues are threatening our clean, green brand. Despite a comprehensive clean-up of dirty ‘point-source’ discharges in the 1990s, water quality in many of our lakes and rivers is still declining. The cause this time is ‘diffuse-source’ pollution associated with intensive land use, particularly pastoral farming.
So how do we balance the drive to grow our economy with the need for clean water? Can our freshwater systems sustain the spread of intensive dairying? These are the kinds of issues exercising the Land and Water Forum, a stakeholder group charged with finding a collaborative solution to water resource issues. Status and trends in water quality Contaminants from the land. Common hydrological terms. Descriptions of the common terms that explain the processes that occur in hydrology. Hydrological cycle The movement and storage of water in our natural environment is described as the hydrological cycle. Water is found in liquid (rain, river flow), solid (snow, ice) and gas (water vapor, evaporation) forms. The key storages and processes within the hydrological cycle are: evaporation from the Earth's surface (from oceans, land and vegetation)precipitation (in the form of rainfall, snow, hail, mist and fog)soil moisturegroundwaterstreamflow.
Key drivers of the hydrological cycle include radiation from the Sun, the seasons, winds, weather patterns, and precipitation. Precipitation Precipitation is moisture that falls onto the land surface as rain, dew, snow or hail. Evaporation Evaporation is the transfer of water from liquid to vapour. Soil moisture Soil moisture is water held in soil layers above the level at which groundwater (see below) occurs. Groundwater Streamflow Runoff Hydrograph Low flows. Water for Kids - Free Games, Cool Experiments, Projects, Science Online. Water.org: Water Charity For Safe Water & Sanitation.