Deck 8: Freshwater Resources

Question 1

Where is most of the world's freshwater located?

A) in ice and snow
B) underground in the form of groundwater
C) in lakes
D) in the atmosphere
E) in rivers

Answer 1

in ice and snow

Question 2

How much of the world's water is freshwater?

A) 30%
B) 20%
C) 10%
D) 5%
E) less than 3%

Answer 2

less than 3%

Question 3

Which of the following is responsible for most consumptive water use?

A) agriculture
B) municipal water use
C) industry
D) transportation
E) mining

Answer 3

agriculture

Question 4

When river water is used for households, what category of water use is that?

A) instream; nonconsumptive
B) instream; consumptive
C) offstream; nonconsumptive
D) offstream; consumptive
E) instream and offstream; consumptive and nonconsumptive

Question 5

What does the term mining mean in the context of groundwater resources?

A) refers to hand dug vertical water wells
B) refers to horizontal mine shafts excavated to tap water from the interior of a mountain
C) refers to separating out minerals from groundwater by chemical solution
D) refers to the situation where water is taken out of the ground faster than it is replaced
E) refers to quanats in the Middle East

Question 6

What do the terms oligotrophic, mesotrophic, and eutrophic refer to?

A) nutrient levels in lakes
B) severity of catastrophic events in nature
C) depth of groundwater resources
D) types of consumptive water use
E) classes of groundwater based on origin

Question 7

What is a "water witch,"also known as a "dowser"?

A) a female spiritualist who likes to drop water balloons on hapless victims
B) a type of insect that is able to land on the surface of a pond
C) one who claims to be able to locate groundwater using "divining rods"
D) a well-drilling device that drills or witches its way into the ground
E) a device for hydraulic mining for gold and gem stones

Question 8

What is a rock or soil mass that lacks permeability by definition called?

A) aquifer
B) aquiclude
C) aquanaut
D) sandstone
E) conglomerate

Question 9

Which of the following is a general name for a rock or soil mass that contains producible water for a water well?

A) aquifer
B) aquiclude
C) aquamarine
D) sandstone
E) conglomerate

Question 10

Which of the following refers to the level underground below which all open spaces are filled with water?

A) zone of aeration
B) capillary fringe
C) water table
D) pressure head
E) aquiclude

Question 11

What is the name for the narrow moist zone above the water table?

A) zone of aeration
B) capillary fringe
C) water table
D) pressure head
E) aquiclude

Question 12

Steams that add water to the underlying groundwater resource are called which of the following?

A) altruistic streams
B) gaining streams
C) losing streams
D) perennial streams
E) rejuvenated streams

Question 13

What does Darcy's Law pertain to?

A) the volume rate of flow of a stream
B) the volume rate of flow of water through the ground
C) the amount of precipitation that infiltrates from the surface
D) rainfall versus climate
E) surface water rights

Question 14

What is a cone of depression?

A) an explosive volcanic feature
B) a contour map of a sink hole, having a roughly conical shape
C) an area where the water table has been drawn down locally around a water well
D) a feature found in limestone caverns
E) a low area on a structure contour map

Question 15

What is potable water?

A) water that can be easily transported from place to place
B) drinkable water based on established purity standards
C) water that contains dangerously high concentrations of dissolved solids
D) industrially polluted water
E) water that can be used for purposes other than drinking

Question 16

Judge the following sentence according to the criteria given below: In freshwater lakes, cooling or warming to 0.4°C is an important tipping point BECAUSE 0.4°C is the actual temperature when lake water freezes.

A) The assertion and the reason are both correct, and the reason is valid.
B) The assertion and the reason are both correct, but the reason is invalid.
C) The assertion is correct, but the reason is incorrect.
D) The assertion is incorrect, but the reason is correct.
E) Both the assertion and the reason are incorrect.

Question 17

Which of the following statements is correct?

A) Dowsers can find groundwater using divining rods.
B) Groundwater occurs as large pools of water underground.
C) A surface stream has a mirror-image underworld stream beneath it.
D) Groundwater maintains stream flow when there is no rain.
E) With respect to the global water balance lakes are quantitatively important.

Question 18

What is artesian water?

A) water that has been removed from the cone of depression
B) water from a karst terrain rich in dissolved calcium
C) water that has been pumped from a perched aquifer
D) water under pressure from a tilted confined-aquifer
E) expensive bottled water from Artois, France

Question 19

What is the name for surface runoff due to the intersection of the ground surface with the water table?

A) brook.
B) creek.
C) river.
D) spring.
E) stream.

Question 20

A city with a population of 80,000 people covers an area of 10 miles by 12 miles. The city council wants to determine if it has enough groundwater resources to supply its population at the U.S. average rate of 1,400 gallons per person per day. Drilling has determined that there is a 20-foot thick aquifer under the entire city with a porosity of 20% and a specific yield of 5%. The city geologist has determined that the sustained yield is one-fiftieth of the specific yield. Up to how many gallons per person per day can this city pump water without lowering the water table? (There are 640 acres in a square mile and 325,851 gallons in an acre-foot.)

A) 1,251 gallons per person per day
B) 62,563 gallons per person per day
C) 100,101,427 gallons per person per day
D) 625,633,920 gallons per person per day
E) 5,005,071,360 gallons per person per day

Question 21

Domestic use of river water, such as in your home, is considered to be nonconsumptive.

Question 22

A freshwater lake with low nutrient input, low plankton, and low fish population will tend to have clear water.

Question 23

If you disregard agricultural use, about one-third of U.S. public water supply comes from groundwater.

Question 24

Shipping using rivers is considered to be instream water use.

Question 25

Groundwater everywhere tends to occur in underground pools and streams.

Question 26

A permeable rock mass must be porous (or fractured), but a porous rock mass may not necessarily be permeable.

Question 27

Porosity refers to the ease with which fluids pass through rock and soil masses.

Question 28

Permeability is a function of how interconnected open spaces are within a rock mass.

Question 29

Typically, a significant amount of groundwater is held within a water-bearing formation and will not flow out into wells. The water that is held this way is called specific yield.

Question 30

The definition of the word artesian has nothing to do with water quality.

Question 31

In ocean islands, such as Hawaii, the freshwater body within the island floats on top of ocean water.

Question 32

"Sweet"and "fresh"water are distinguished from each other on the basis of taste.

Question 33

Leaking gasoline-storage tanks are a leading cause of groundwater pollution.

Question 34

Hard water is common in areas underlain by limestone.

Question 35

Soil, once it is contaminated with hydrocarbons, cannot be cleansed.

Question 36

Lakes are an important reservoir of continental freshwater.

Question 37

Groundwater requires more purification than surface water.

Question 38

A desert oasis occurs where the water table is at the surface.

Question 39

Pumping a well does not impact the water levels in other wells nearby.

Question 40

Water levels lower during the wet season and rise during the dry season due to the lag time effect.

Question 41

What causes overturn in freshwater lakes?

Question 42

Why does much of the nation drink fluoridated water?

Question 43

What is an artesian well? What are the geological factors that make artesian wells possible?

Question 44

What is sustained yield, and what happens if it is exceeded?

Question 45

What causes water to become "hard,"other than freezing?

Question 46

What is recharge, and how can it be accomplished by human action?

Question 47

How did use of groundwater affect surface water resources in the case of the San Joaquin River, California?

Question 48

What conditions contribute to saltwater intrusion?

Question 49

How is saltwater intrusion prevented on Long Island, New York?

Question 50

Why is it important that people with heart problems (hypertension) not drink softened water?