If water from a watershed drains into a reservoir, what is the water quality like, and how does it change?

Question

If water from a watershed drains into a reservoir, what is the water quality like, and how does it change?

Answer 1

a watershed is runoff from rain or ice/snow melt.

most situations where runoff is allowed to penatrate the soil and make it's way to a larger body of water will be purified by simply running through the soil.Ofcourse the more gravel content in the soil the better the purification.I hope this helped.

Answer 2

That is a simplier question than the answer. It really depends on the quality of the watershed- if you have a bunch of houses upstream that are using fertilizer- it pollutes the reservior. If you have a natural pristine woodland (or the soil to filter the water correctly) you really will not see any bad effects.  Unless you completely cement off the reservoir, it will have drainage into it- acidic rain, even if it is cemented off.

       As for changing- addition of fertilizer (or any organic matter) increases the productivity of the lake- more acidic, more plants, more algae, and it fills in (look up eutrophication) and becomes undrinkable rather quickly, which is why a lot of reservoirs are treated with chemicals.

Answer 3

Contaminants from  erosion that settle out as the water stays in a resorvoir are not particularly harmful to the quality..Some chemicals and minerals that dissolve in the water are greater problems to deal  with. The fact that a resorvoir even exists probably means those issues were studied before the resorvoir was built. Some resorvoirs built for irragation can tolerate lower water quality than that used as potable water.

Answer 4

it will add many chemical contaminants from agro chemicals  ,such as  pesticides ,herbicides and fertilizers ,which are impregnated   in to the soils and which raise the PH level of the water ,

This has a range of effects on humans who consistantly drink this ,including affecting sexual     devellopment in develloping fetuses