From the film, Blue Gold: World Water Wars (winner for Best Ecological Film of the year and Best Documentary Film of 2010 at the European independent Film Festival), there were many things that came up which we discussed in class about water and where it comes from.
We are going to dig into the water sources from our own countries. I will do this also for Maine. :) I'm very interested to see what we have and where our watershed is. Maine is very rich in resources, including water.
For further discussion and inquiry in class about the importance of water, water purification, water desalinization, and new technologies for making fresh, clean drinking water available for the future and now, research the following questions regarding your home country by Friday:
- What rivers flow through your country?
- Where do the rivers come from? (Include the countries that it flows through)
- Are there any blockages? (Dams, hydroelectric plants)
- What forms of industry are located on the rivers?
- What springs/natural reservoirs are there in your country? (Lakes, aquifers, watershed)
- Where does your country get their water supplies from? If it's from your country, do you ship/export water to different countries?
- How do you get water to your house? (Katja asked this in class)
After researching these various questions about your own country? I'm pretty sure that this
has left you with a lot of inquiries. Write them down in your post. Try to find the answers to as many of the above answers as well as your own as you can. I look forward to reading your posts! :) You can read my post on the classroom blog by Sunday as well.
DUE SUNDAY NIGHT, Sunday September 19, 2010
Well, I found out a lot of interesting information by looking at the Maine Geological Survey. Almost 40% of the homes in Maine have their own wells. We do have our share of groundwater issues though.
ReplyDeleteGroundwater issues
* Low yield bedrock wells
o This is a problem in areas where the bedrock is sparsely fractured and can have significant impact on homeowners and communities.
* Saltwater intrusion
o This is an issue in many coastal communities where development (and private wells) is clustered along the shoreline.
* Withdrawal effects on surface water
o Groundwater and surface water are linked. Extraction/use must always be discussed in the context of impact on surface waters.
* Quality
o Natural quality issues - metals (As, Cd, others). Man-made quality issues - hydrocarbons, pesticides. Regardless of the source, it is much more difficult and expensive to remediate problems than to prevent them.
http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/water/facts/water.htm
ReplyDeletehttp://www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/docmonitoring/pg19_22.pdf
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