First Homework of the year

Page 17 qs

1.      For each region in the United States, the greatest single use of water is in the Midwest and the East.

2.      The differences in how water is used in the East and in the West are great. In the East less water is used for irrigation because the land is not in good conditions for agriculture; however, the amount of water usage for steam and electric is greater due to the amount of factories and underground transportation in the region. In the West more water is used for agriculture because the land is more fertile, but the amount of water usage for steam and electric is less because there are not as many factories in the West and less underground and electric public transportation.

3.      Two factors that could explain the greatest water usage are; the Midwest tends to have more farmland than cities and use more electricity to power the machines that plow the land, and the East tends to have colder weather and cannot sustain very large amounts of crops and so the East tends to have more factories.

Page 23-24 qs

1. If Jimmy Hendricks drank just packaged fruit juice he did use water because the fruits in the juice had to be grown with water and the steel can that the juice came in had to be made with water; therefore Jimmy was indirectly using water.
2. Three indirect uses of water associated with production of bread: Growing the grain involves water, grinding the wheat into flour, and the paper package that flour comes in is made with water in a factory.
3. Water has changed in the past 100 years because the pollution in oceans has increased due to the presence of non-biodegradable waste and other human influences. Also, the quality of water has changed because 100 years ago the water was probably not bottled or purified to the extent it is now. In the past million years water has changed exceptionally because of human influences and the presence of different animals on Earth.
4. 9.The following locations are in order of greatest to least water abundance on Earth: oceans, glaciers, rivers, and water vapor.
5. A situation where there is water everywhere but none to drink would be on the boat in the middle of the ocean because if a human drank salt water it would dehydrate that person quicker.
6. 77% of water usage in the West is used for agriculture.
7. 1.3% of the Earth’s fresh water comes from glaciers and ice caps. 0.00028% of the Earth’s fresh water comes from rivers.
8. It might be possible that a dinosaur once swallowed a molecule of water I drank today because the water on Earth and in the glaciers and polar ice caps has been around since the beginning of life and even if it changed a littler bit it is the same water.
9. The apparent discrepancy between the amount of water used per capita in the U.S. and the amount of water used by each person in the U.S. may be because of the fact that each person’s water use is not accurately calculated or could be misjudged.