WATER: Clear Gold?

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WATERClear Gold?
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Natural Resource Water Agenda Water
Conservation Lesson Plan Topics I. Self
analysis A. Daily water consumption B. National
average per person II. Aral Sea A. Size and
reduction B. Socio-economic reasons and
impact C. Applicable to Great Lakes III.
Conservation Treaty Proposal A. Conservation
Home Evaluation Website B. Five areas to
improve C. Written proposal D. Present the
proposals E. Evaluate and reflect on the success
of their implementation F. Correlations between
this and the UN/Envirnomental Treaties IV. Essay
to Legislators
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Table 1 Dishwasher water use rates, national
average
Mayer, et. al. 1999
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ARAL SEA
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Dont let it happen!
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Aral Sea
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The Aral Sea is located in the countries of
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
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UZBEKISTAN
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The Aral Sea was once twice the size of
Belgium but has steadily decreased in size.
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BELGIUM
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Aral Sea
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Aral SeaAbandoned BoatKarakalpakstan,
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan was heavily irrigated
during Soviet times, to provide water for growing
cotton. The excessive water taken from the
Amu-Darya river caused the Aral Sea to dry up.
This has had devastating consequences for the
region of Karakalpakstan. Here, a boat sits in
what used to be the Aral Sea.
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SHIP GRAVEYARD OF THE ARAL SEA
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History of Aral Sea
The Aral Sea is located in southwestern
Kazakhstan and northwestern Uzbekistan, near the
Caspian Sea.  See map, on slide above.   It was
once twice the size of Belgium but has steadily
decreased in size.  Only a few decades ago, the
Aral had a surface area of 64,000 square
kilometers a water volume of 1,020 cubic
kilometers an average depth of twenty to
twenty-five kilometers.  Mineralization of the
sea, which was freshwater, was less than 9 grams
per liter.  Each day, 160 tons of fish were
pulled from its waters. In the 1960s, economic
officials in Moscow began diverting the waters
from the Syr and Amu rivers, which flow into the
Aral, for use in cotton farming.  Irrigation
canals were dug speedily without any type of
lining, such as concrete or clay.  Due to this,
the canals lose up to 40 of the water they carry
before it reaches its crop or destination. 
However, at the time, the large amounts of money
from cotton blinded the officials to the definate
future results of their actions. They pushed the
cotton industry at all costs! Currently,
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are substituting less
water intensive crops such as winter wheat,
grains, soybeans, fruits, and vegetables to
replace the cotton industry thus reducing some of
the need for irrigation.
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Recent aerial view of Aral Sea Its sea level is
now 40 meters, its surface area 40,000 square
meters, and its volume 400 cubic kilometers.
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Aral Sea

• http//visearth.ucsd.edu/VisE_Int/aralsea/frameset
  s/aralnav_fish.html
• Use this interactive website to click on various
  locations within the Aral Sea to retrieve a close
  up view.

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Withdrawals and Consumptive Uses of Water
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Diagram showing inflow and outflow rates for Lake
Michigan(source U.S. Geological Survey
Water-Resources Investigations Report 00-4008)
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D E C L I N E I N A Q U I F E R
Figure 6.  Decline in water levels in the
sandstone confined aquifer, Chicago and Milwaukee
areas, 1864-1980. (Modified from Avery, 1995.)
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GREAT LAKES WATERSHED BASIN
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Figure 4.  Estimated ground-water withdrawal
rates for some major U.S. metropolitan areas
(data not available for Canadian areas).
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Subcontinental Divide and the Great Lakes Basin

• The subcontinental divide that crosses the
  study area is the watershed boundary for the
  Great Lakes Basin. West of this divide, rivers
  and the waters that replenish them do not
  discharge to the Great Lakes but, instead, are
  tributary to the Mississippi River. The
  subcontinental divide is very close to Lake
  Michigan
• in southeastern Wisconsin.
• The map shows that more
• than half the case study
• area lies west of the divide
• and, therefore, falls in the
• Mississippi River Basin.

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The Importance of Ground Water in the Great Lakes
Region
Ground water helps to replenish the lake level
water.
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Extra Slides

• The following slides are extra resources for the
  teacher.

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Rapid vs. Slow Ground-Water Circulation
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Figure 5.  Generalized ground-water flow (A)
under natural conditions and (B) affected by
pumping (Note that surface-and ground-water
divides are coincident in A but not in B).
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Figure 1.  Surficial geology of the Great Lakes
Basin
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