Human Activities That Affect
the Quality and Availability of
Water for Human Use
Ervaine John A. Lupos 2022 Sep 27
Charibeth S. Pilongo
Reychelle Joy G. Rota
Rose Marie C. Concina 1
Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to;
• identify some of the human activities affecting the
quantity and quality of water.
• understand the effects of human activities on the
quality and availability of water.
• apply with willingness and interest the ways /
practices learned on how to utilize available water
resources in the locality wisely.
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WATER AVAILABILITY
“Enough amount of water may turn-on the bulb
of life, but if it spills out or Ooze - out it may result to
short circuit, bust the bulb of life”
The illustration speaks up for the entire meat
of the lesson wherein water resources being vital to
life, must be saved and used properly, or else it will
just cause scarcity of water and even disasters.
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“Those who are near the water source have sufficient water supply. While those
away from the source have inadequate or no water anymore.”
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Causes of Water Unavailability are as follows:
• Long time drought - This is a natural instance, where perhaps we humans do not
have control of. That is why in many areas in our locality people makes dam as
artificial storage for water in time of drought. They usually direct water flow
through irrigation canals leading to their farms particularly rice fields. There are
also natural water sources like rivers and lakes. But never-the-less, they might just
dry –up if dry season takes too long.
• Wasteful / excessive use – This is one of the major human activities which needs to
be addressed. Simply turning-off the faucets after using is already a gesture of
showing concern on saving water. And also, we must learn to utilize water thriftily
when taking a bath and washing clothes.
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• Mismanagement of water source – A particular locality has to have a good
community water association that would manage the utilization and maintenance of
water for the continuous consumption of all residents.
• Pollution – Water pollution is considered a factor for water scarcity, thus we must be
well-guided in making sure not to contaminate our bodies of water.
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WATER QUALITY
When talking about water quality, we directly think of water pollution, where these are
technically not synonymous.
Water quality would basically refer to the safeness of water we consume or use for
talking a bath or washing. It may also imply the safeness of aquatic organisms.
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Pollution is a change in air, water, or even land that might cause harm to the living
things. Usually when we hear water pollution, we picture out floating water bottles and
plastics which is also indeed a form of water pollution but still manageable compared to
those chemicals combining with the water already.
There are other forms of water pollution which is more complicated like acid rains,
chemicals from factories and disease-causing microorganisms.
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Human Activities That Affects the Quality of Water :
• Acid Rain - Rain water for instance is becoming more acidic nowadays. Acid rain is
the condition in which rain becomes acidic because of too much acids in the
atmosphere accumulating in it.
Many human activities are responsible for the change in rainwater. Chemical fertilizers
release nitrogen oxides to the air. Industrial plants and automobile exhausts give off sulfur
and nitrogen oxides. Both types of oxides combine with water in the air. They eventually
mixed with rain thus causing acidity.
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• Chemicals – Most chemicals come from big factories but it may also come
from us in our daily activities such using of detergents from washed clothes,
bleaches and fertilizers. This will to the formation of too much algae. When
algae die they are decomposed by bacteria, which requires much oxygen.
With lesser oxygen, aquatic creatures may die.
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• Sediments- Erosion and runoff from the agriculture and construction deposit
trillion of kilograms of sediments in United States water each year. These
sediments fill in water-ways, harbors, and reservoirs. They keep sunlight
frim reaching underwater plants and decrease plant growth. Fishes that
depend on this plants die.
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• Disease-causing organisms – Sewage contains viruses and germs that cause
disease in human and animals. If the sewage is not properly treated, disease
can spread. The wastes from farm animals, meat packing plants and leather-
making industries also release harmful organisms in the streams.
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Some naturally occurring Water Contamination and the Ways of
Human to Cope with them:
Saltwater Intrusion when the saline water moves into fresh water aquifers, which
the main source of drinking water in coastal areas, it often leads contamination.
Intrusion of salt water happens naturally because of the varying densities of salt
water and fresh water. However, when the demand for fresh water is greater than
the natural recharge rate of the aquifer (primarily though, the rest of salt water
intrusion increases, leading to the depletion of usable ground water.
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To mitigate the effects of saltwater intrusion, injection wells are built where fresh water is injected.
The addition of freshwater in injection wells creates a hydraulic pressure or barrier to saltwater
intrusion.
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QUIZ
I. Write “WQ” if the given scenario talks about human activity affecting water quality and “WA” if it talks about
water availability. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper. 2pts each
1. wasteful and excessive use of water
2. disposing off used detergents in the river
3. Not turning off the faucet after use
4. Chemical waste products from factories
5. A drought that dries up the river in
6. Due to acids in the rain many plants are dying
7. A truck full of sediments spills on a water reservoir
8. Animal manure have washed up into a water stream
9. Utilization and maintenance of water for consumption
10. Pollution causes water scarcity 5
QUIZ
II. Enumeration. 1pts each
1.
2.
4 Causes of Water Unavailability
3.
4.
5. refer to the safeness of water we consume or use for talking a bath or washing.
6. is a change in air, water, or even land that might cause harm to the living things.
7.
8. 3 Types of Human Activities that Affects the Quality of Water
9.
10. When Saline waters moves into saline freshwater aquifers.
