Water Resources

What is surface water? Surface water is any body of water above ground level. Some examples are streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, creeks, and wetlands. Also saltwater and oceans are considered surface water. 70 percent of the Earth is surface water. This includes oceans, lakes, and rivers. Surface water is freshwater most of the time. Of the 70% of surface water more than 60% is delivered to American homes. But nearly half of rivers and streams and more than one-third of lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking. Connecticut population trends from 1990 - 2015 have been rising. In 1990 the population was 3.289 million. In 1995 the population was 3.265 million. 2000 the population was 3.298 million. In 2005 it was 3.477 million. Then in 2010 it was 3.527 million. And finally in 2015 it was 3.588. As the population grows we take more water because we need more water. In 1990 we withdrew more than 310 billion gallons per day. About 80 billion gallons of that was saline water and the rest was freshwater. In 2000, we withdrew 325 billion gallons of water per day and 85 billion of that was saline water. In 2010 we withdrew 303 billion gallons of water per day and 84 billion gallons of that was saline water. The main use of surface water is for drinking.

In the image, the red shaded area shows where we have groundwater it is about 12% of CT. As you can see there is a lot of water in the bottom part near the water and there is a lot of groundwater in the center of Connecticut. The blue area at the bottom is the Atlantic Ocean. The blue lines that run through CT are the rivers that flout though Connecticut. To be more specific all of the blue is fresh surface water. Almost all of the water that we have in Connecticut comes from the Atlantic Ocean.

If there was no water then everything that we have will die and we will die eventually because our body needs water to survive.

Water pollution is very important. Pollution, in general, is very important. What is pollution? Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials to the environment which can lead to a lot of problems. What can pollution damage? Pollution can damage air quality, water, land, and the ozone layer of the Earth. What is water pollution? Water pollution is when harmful chemicals go into the water and cause damage. Water pollution makes the quality of the water bad. The harmful chemicals get into the water when something goes into the water and stays there. For example, bags have a lot of harmful chemicals and there are bags in the water. Also, a big runner of pollution is fertilizer runoff because what farmers use has a negative impact on the environment. Also, when bags are produced they release harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. Based on data since 1895 the temperature of the atmosphere has been increasing by 2.6F. But when we started building more and more and releasing more and more chemicals into the air the temperature started rising faster. Since 1960 the temperature has been roughly increasing by 6.0F per century.

• Air Pollution ---- 55 (which is Moderate)
• Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility--- 25 (which is Low)
• Dissatisfaction with Garbage Disposal ---- 20 (Low) Dirty and Untidy ---- 45 (Moderate)
• Noise and Light Pollution --- 55 (Moderate)
• Water Pollution ---- 45 (Moderate)
• Dissatisfaction to Spend Time in the City ---- 45 (Moderate)
• Dissatisfaction with Green and Parks in the City --- 40 (Moderate)

• Air quality -- 45 (Moderate)
• Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility --- 75 (High)
• Garbage Disposal Satisfaction ---- 80 (Very High)
• Clean and Tidy --- 55 (Moderate)
• Quiet and No Problem with Night Lights --- 45 (Moderate)
• Water Quality --- 55 (Moderate)
• Comfortable to Spend Time in the City ----- 55 (Moderate)
• Quality of Green and Parks --- 60 (High)

• Air Pollution --- 6.25 (Very Low)
• Drinking Water Pollution and Inaccessibility --- 6.25 (Very Low)
• Dissatisfaction with Garbage Disposal ---- 12.5 (Very Low)
• Dirty and Untidy ---- 31.25 (Low)
• Noise and Light Pollution --- 41.67 (Moderate)
• Water Pollution --- 12.5 (Very Low)
• Dissatisfaction to Spend Time in the City ---- 18.75 (Very Low)
• Dissatisfaction with Green and Parks in the City --- 18.75 (Very Low)

• Air quality ---- 93.75 (Very High)
• Drinking Water Quality and Accessibility --- 93.75 (Very High)
• Garbage Disposal Satisfaction --- 87.5 (Very High)
• Clean and Tidy ---- 68.75 (High)
• Quiet and No Problem with Night Lights --- 58.33 (Moderate)
• Water Quality --- 87.5 (Very High)
• Comfortable to Spend Time in the City --- 81.25 (Very High)
• Quality of Green and Parks --- 81.25 (Very High)

This image shows how many billions of gallons per day of fresh and saline water are used for the years 1950-2015. Also, this map goes by every 5 years. The blue is representing the freshwater. The pink/purple is representing the saline water. As you can see the water demands increase and then for the last two years the water demands have decreased for both the freshwater and the saline water.