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Do Now:

Do Now:. 30 Million people in 7 states depend on water from the Colorado River basin. We know that during drought years this severely affects the way of life for millions. Is there a solution/alternative for water in this these states? Explain your answer in complete sentences. .

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Do Now:

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  1. Do Now: • 30 Million people in 7 states depend on water from the Colorado River basin. We know that during drought years this severely affects the way of life for millions. Is there a solution/alternative for water in this these states? Explain your answer in complete sentences.

  2. Aim: Is extracting groundwater the answer? Concept 13-2 Groundwater used to supply cities and grow food is being pumped from aquifers in some areas faster than it is renewed by precipitation.

  3. Memory Check • What is groundwater and where is it stored?

  4. Groundwater is Being Withdrawn Faster Than It Is Replenished • Most aquifers are renewable • Aquifers provide drinking water for half the world • Water tables are falling in many parts of the world, primarily from crop irrigation

  5. Groundwater is Being Withdrawn Faster Than It Is Replenished • India, China, and the United States • Three largest grain producers • Overpumping aquifers for irrigation of crops • India and China • Small farmers drilling tubewells • Effect on water table • Saudi Arabia • Aquifer depletion and irrigation

  6. Do you understand how groundwater is being withdrawn faster then it can be replenished?

  7. Trade-Offs: Withdrawing Groundwater, Advantages and Disadvantages

  8. Natural Capital Degradation: Irrigation in Saudi Arabia Using an Aquifer

  9. Case Study: Aquifer Depletion in the United States • Ogallala aquifer: largest known aquifer • Irrigates the Great Plains • Very slow recharge • Water table dropping • Government subsidies to continue farming deplete the aquifer further • Biodiversity threatened in some areas • California Central Valley: serious water depletion

  10. Ogallala Aquifer

  11. Natural Capital Degradation: Areas of Greatest Aquifer Depletion in the U.S.

  12. Kansas Crops Irrigated by the Ogallala Aquifer

  13. Overpumping Aquifers Has Several Harmful Effects • Limits future food production • Bigger gap between the rich and the poor • Land subsidence • Mexico City • San Joaquin Valley in California • Groundwater overdrafts near coastal regions • Contamination of groundwater with saltwater

  14. Subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley

  15. Solutions: Groundwater Depletion, Prevention and Control

  16. Deep Aquifers Might Be Tapped • May contain enough water to provide for billions of people for centuries • Major concerns • Nonrenewable • Little is known about the geological and ecological impacts of pumping deep aquifers • Some flow beneath more than one country • Costs of tapping are unknown and could be high

  17. Summary • What are three things you can do to promote more sustainable use of the Ogallala Aquifer and groundwater in general?

  18. Homework • Read pages 328-343 • Answer the questions on the worksheet • Answer critical thinking questions 4 and 9.

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