Freshwater Is A Vital Necessity Of Life Essay

Since the beginning of time, water has played a key role in societies all over the world. The earliest recorded civilizations have all been found along large river valleys, such as, the Indus River in India and the Yellow River in China. Water is an essential part of life; it does not just sustain the life of all human beings around the globe, but also sustains the life of every living thing known to this Earth. All of the major cities that we know today are surrounded by large river systems that supply its people with the means to survive in that region. These rivers also link our different communities together and allow us to prosper, but these rivers are being taken advantage of. Our once great rivers are falling victim to pollution and

Water is an important resource that maintains life and is arguably the most substantial resource for the essence of life. As humans, we drink water to stay alive. Shift the perspective to an animal the requires water to live, fish for example, without being submerged in the water it would die. The importance of water is crucial to any ecosystem, and imagine an instance where man-made structures inhibit the natural world and could eventually tip an ecosystem out of control. There is a scientific text, based on research, written by the Western Environmental Law Center that argues how the instream flow of the Spokane River needs to be increased for the survival of the fish. They write to the Washington Department of Ecology

Land transformation as a result of anthropogenic effects continues to be one of the biggest threats to the ecological integrity of headwater streams today. Land transformation induced by human alterations to the landscape, have been shown to have negative impacts on habitat, water quality, and the biota of natural waterways (Allan 2004). For instance, in 2004 Gage found that macro invertebrates were negatively impacted by anthropogenic mediated land use, which often lead to declines and even eliminations of sensitive taxa from the stream (Gage et. al. 2004). Urbanization is considered to be one of the driving forces behind land transformation and is mainly responsible for increases in impervious surface area. Increases in impervious surface area have led to the rapid conveyance of storm waters, resulting in the increased presence of oils, metals, and road salts within surface waters (Moore et. al. 2005). The increased presence of these solutes are leading to variations in ionic concentrations that deviate from natural concentrations, thus altering the conductivity within the water systems.

We live in an age where most environments on earth have been impacted by anthropogenic activities. For thousands of years, humans have been a natural component of ecosystems across the globe (Chapin et al, 2011). Human-environmental interaction contributes to processes that affect fluvial environments. For example, impervious surfaces are ubiquitous in urban areas; these anthropogenic surfaces reroute runoff (among other things), which can ultimately impact the morphology, water quality, vegetation, and floodplain soils of a local watershed, if it is near an urban area. Regardless of the anthropogenic presence throughout environments across the globe, ecological benchmarks can be set—physical, chemical, and biological—regarding what constitutes a healthy, natural environment. These parameters are important factors in ecological remediation activities and synonymous with the term “reference condition.” Based on a spectrum of watershed conditions—ranging from reference to

The fragility of river biome ecosystems are increasing more and more with each passing year. Development of man-made, hydraulic obstructions and pollution are two of the biggest factors putting the Missouri River at risk. Less than 70% of the planet’s longest 177 rivers are without man-made structures, such as dams. The number will only continue to increase as global populations grow and untapped rivers are targeted. Structures built on rivers negatively affect plants, animals, and especially humans, as the majority of water used by people comes from rivers. The effects of interfering with the natural flow of rivers can already be seen in the straining of the Colorado, Indus, and Yellow rivers, as they have begun to dry before reaching the sea. It is only time before the Mississippi River, which is a continuation of the Missouri River, is affected as such. The aforementioned demonstrates the expanding environmental harms rivers are facing. Backing this up, scientists have shown that disrupting a river’s natural flow patterns incredibly affects its wellbeing. For

Sediments are the main source of water pollution, contributing to turbidity issues as well as irregular or harmful nitrite/nitrate, phosphorus, and pH levels. This contributes to the death of marine organisms and can also change which organisms can survive in the body of water as its conditions change due to runoff. Anthropogenic runoff is also a contributor of adverse water effects, such as cultural eutrophication from fertilizer runoff, and also results in the death of aquatic animals and shifts in which organisms are more prominent in the ecosystem. This lab will address the effects soil will have on variables concerning water quality. There is also the option of including fish and/or aquatic plants in the water column, which are independent variables as well as the soil. The pH, ammonia levels, nitrite levels, temperature, D.O., and physical attributes are the dependent variables that will be measured during the lab. The qualitative physical tests (turbidity and odor) will portray the physical state and cleanliness of the water, as well as the level of runoff from the soil.

The Importance Of Water To Living Organisms Water is normally the most abundant component of any living organism. As most human cells are approximately 80% water and 60% of the human body is made up of it, it is extremely important in many different ways to both the survival and the well being of living organisms. Evolutionists believe that life probably originated in water and even today thousands of organisms make their home in it. Water also provides the medium in which all biochemical reactions take place. The importance of water to living organisms originates from its many properties including its solvent properties, its high specific heat capacity, its high latent heat of vaporization,

The water quality of the U-High creek is excellent. However, not all creeks, rivers, or bodies of water have excellent water quality. One way humans pollute water is through the fertilization of crops. Farmers use fertilizers on their plants to help them grow. These fertilizers and pesticides can be washed away from the fields when it rains, causing them to end up in rivers. When large amount of fertilizers end up in a river or creek, the amount of nitrate and phosphate in the water increases. The increases of these chemicals affect algae growth since algae uses these substances to grow. A massive amount of algae growth, which is known as eutrophication, causes pollution. When the algae die and break down, the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water decreases. Algae must use dissolved oxygen in order to break down, thus removing large amount of it from the water. (Lenntech BV,

All around the world, countries are fighting to keep their drinking water clean. Whether it’s streams, rivers, or lakes, countries have taken great measures to maintain high quality drinking water for both human consumption and animal consumption. Countries must first understand the sources of the polltion, then determine the best methods to eliminate the pollution. Clean drinking water is a valuable resource and a the key to human survival. Plants and animals also depend on water for their growth, so all water must be kept clean. The major contributors to water pollution can be classified in three categories, industrial, agricultural and municipal.

The best way to protect local bodies of water is to give the resources necessary for professionals to analyze the patterns of the ecosystem 2. Currently, information from water testing is extremely scarce and many individuals within the government do not understand the necessity for water monitoring and watershed preservation3. Although there are various laws that work by directly protecting public health, many of these laws do not focus on protecting the entire ecosystem. Much of this negligence is a result of the economic drawbacks and regulations on human development that are required to preserve local bodies of water3. A major issue that greatly affects the entire ecosystem and watershed is climate change. The rapid changing of water parameters has caused many dangers for aquatic organisms and the surrounding environment4. To truly understand this impact, water monitoring is a necessity to preserving the ecosystem and protecting the health of all

The ecosystem of the Mississippi River has deteriorated due to the exploitation of the land surrounding the river, the Mississippi River Basin, for agricultural large-scale agricultural use or agribusiness. One of the most significant contributors to the degradation of the river’s ecosystem is the utilization of synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers were an important component of the Green Revolution, a major transformation in the way food was produced worldwide. These fertilizers applied to crops in this region, eventually runoff and find their way into the Mississippi, where their effects on the water quality and ecosystem are substantial, the most notable of which, is eutrophication. Eutrophication is a naturally occurring process but humans have affected this process at unprecedented levels. Anthropogenic contributions to eutrophication mainly include sewage and agricultural runoff (Lund, 372). This paper focuses on the agricultural runoff aspect of water pollution and

How many of you, when you go to a restaurant and the waiter/waitress asks you what you want to drink ask for water?

Thesis statement: Fresh and clean water is vital to the very existence of the human race.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to spare. This is the reality – especially when regarding the amount of freshwater available. Fact: The earth contains only 3.5% freshwater. Fact: 98.8% of all freshwater is shielded from our grasp in glaciers or groundwater. Fact: Only 0.0003% of the Earth’s water is accessible for consumption. With such a minute quantity of freshwater available, the high amount of pollution contaminating this water is appalling. Water quality levels are decreasing, hurting us as well as the countless organisms depending on freshwater habitats to be safe homes. One of the main contaminants, nitrates, which spring from mainly manmade sources, are especially treacherous…

There is a balloon the shape and size of a beach ball. A string keeps it tethered to the ground. Someone in a white lab coat stands about eight feet away with a rod about as