ENVIRNONMENTAL SCIENCE A

underground rock formations that hold large amounts of groundwater; usually consist of rocks, sand, and gravel with a lot of air spaces in which water can accumulate - they recieve water that percolates down from the surface in a very slow process

eutrophication caused by humans when too much inorganic plant nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen get into the water from sewage and fertilizer runoff

accumulation on increasinglly large amounts of a toxin within the tissues of organisms at each successive trophic level

the process of removing salt from water; two methods: distillation - where heat is used to evaporate fresh water from salt water leaving salts behind; and reverse osmosis - pressure is used to push water though a membrane in which salt can not pass through

water that seeps down through the soil to collect underground

pollution that comes from many sources, can reach water by way of storm sewers, it can come from anywhere, and any surface by way of runoff; it is extreamly difficult to regulate and clean up

pollution that is discharged from a single source such as a factory, a wastewater treatment plant or an oil tanker; it is relatively easy to regulate an controlled and is easily identified and traced, not always easy to clean up

surface area from which ground water origniates

fresh water found above the ground in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams; what humans have relied on for water

when excessive amounts of heat are added to a body of water; occurs when power plants and other industries located along lakes and rivers use the water in their cooling systems, and return warm water to river or lake after it has been run through engines