Fresh Water Systems

1
Fresh Water Systems

• Lakes, Ponds Wetlands, Streams, Rivers, and
  Groundwater

2
Freshwater systems

• Exist above ground in lakes, ponds, streams, and
  wetlands

• Exist as ground water

• Exist in the air as water vapour.

• Exist in three different states
• Solid
• Liquid
• Gas

3
Lake Ponds Wetlands

• Lakes and ponds are holes in the ground filled
  with water

• Lake is deeper . . . Sunlight does not go to the
  bottom (depending on clarity the amount of
  dissolved solids suspended in the water)

• Wetlands are low areas that are almost always
  saturated with water. Wetlands provide a habitat
  for a surprising number of organisms

4
Streams and rivers

• Flowing waterways . . . Fast flowing rivers and
  streams are usually rich in oxygen

• Stream or river profile is a description of its
  characteristics
• Flow rate
• Steepness of bed
• Erosion rate of its banks

5
Streams and rivers cont

• Source of streams and rivers may be high in the
  mountains (melting snow and ice from glaciers)

• Small streams gather into one channel forming a
  river.

• In the early stages flow is swift and the river
  is fairly straight.

• As the river reaches lower elevations it slows
  and meanders (curves.) It begins to drop the
  sediment it was carrying to form deltas. Really
  good example Fraser River flowing to Vancouver.

6
Streams and rivers cont

• The Fraser River begins in the mountains ends in
  the Pacific Ocean

7
Watershed

• Also called a drainage Basin

• It is all the area of land that drains into one
  main body of water.

• It can contain streams rivers lakes.

• The location of the highest land on the continent
  determines the direction of the flow. This is
  called the continental divide. In N. America,
  its the Rocky Mountains.

• The river begins at the Headwaters and ends at
  the Outflow usually at the mouth of the river.

8
7 Major Watersheds in Alberta

• Peace/Slave Athabasca Hay River flow into
  Arctic Ocean
• Beaver North and South Saskatchewan Rivers flow
  into Hudsons Bay
• Milk River flows into the Gulf of Mexico

9
Run-off and Erosion

• Moving water is a powerful force.
• Washes soil away wears away or dissolves rock
  (universal solvent remember?)
• The sediment load of the river/stream is
  determined by the flow, steepness, vegetation,
  what the banks and bottom are made of (rock or
  soil)

10
Why is monitoring sediment important?

• When we know how much and what makes up the
  sediment in rivers and streams we can determine
  the source of pollutants and measure their impact
  on plants, animals and our drinking water supply.

11
Project for this topic

• A webquest
• Individual work
• Small groups (groups of 3 students)
• Presentations

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What is this Webquest

• The quest begins with role-play. Acting as
  members of a Watershed Advisory Task Force,
  students will work on the development of a new
  water policy, first as individuals and then as
  part of a team. The quest culminates with each
  team presenting their recommendations to Alberta
  Environment (the class).
• We will quickly discover we all live downstream.

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What are the timelines?

• Class 1 today, review topic, pick groups.
• Classes 2 3 research stakeholder point of view.
• Class 4 put together team presentation
• Class 5 make presentations (may need 1 extra day)