Exam 12: Water Resources

Because sediment was being transported in the Colorado and deposited in the Glen Canyon Reservoir, this reduced sand delivery to sand bars and beaches within the Grand Canyon, which impaired native aquatic life.

When oxygen is injected into a contaminated area for treatment, ____ remediation is applied.

The average residence time for pollutants is highest in which of the following reservoirs?

A farmer in arid or semiarid areas may experience ____________ when salts accumulate in heavily irrigated soils.

Which of the following is an example of a biodegradable pollutant?

Explain how the stopping of irrigation in the Great Plains would impact the United States economy.

Explain why lab rats are used to determine the risk of cancer from toxic pollutants.

Which circumstance will occur if the present pattern of water use of the Ogallala aquifer continues?

What geologic reason caused the Teton Dam to fail in 1976?

If too much freshwater is pumped out of an aquifer that is located near the coast, ____.

When desert or semidesert soils are irrigated for long periods of time, ____.

Some of the most productive agricultural regions in the United States are deserts, which has led to water conservation techniques being required by cities in these areas for domestic users.

Before 1961, the water that flowed to Mexico from the Colorado was high in dissolved salts that caused large amounts of people on that side of the border to get cancer.

Explain why groundwater resources are at risk and discuss three reasons this is the case.

Explain how the Colorado River was divided into two basins for water rights and discuss ramifications of population growth to one basin that could impact the availability of water for that region.

If a factory release impurities that could reduce the quality of water, what has the factory caused?

If you worked at a nuclear plant that had cooling systems in electric power-generating plants and the facility discharged water, the water from your plant could impact aquatic ecosystems in lakes or rivers because of what?

Larger lakes such as Lake Powell have a greater surface area, which means these lakes have a higher potential for loss of water due to __________________.

Persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) ____.

Explain how the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 has helped improve water quality yet has not solved this issue and discuss an example of a contaminant of concern.