Water Resources, Irrigation and Wetlands

Main Objectives

Understand the fundamentals about water resources

Comprehend the main factors that determine and influence irrigation

Capable of describing the dilemma of wetland conservation/utilization

Key Terms and Concepts

Evaporation
Transpiration
Infiltration
Percolation
Biological oxygen demand
Chemical oxygen demand
Oxidative sulfur transformation
Reductive sulfur transformation

1. Water resources

(1) The global hydrologic cycle

Ocean: 97%
Glacial ice: 2%
Ground water: 0.7%
All others: 0.3%

Lakes: 60%
Soils: 33%
Atmosphere: 6%
Rivers: 1%

In the global hydrological cycle, the flow of water among ocean, land, and air, may be represented by these processes: evaporation, transpiration, precipitation, infiltration, interception, percolation, surface runoff, and soil storage. Please draw a diagram of the global hydrological cycle using boxes for pools and arrows for flows.