Science Research Experiment?

Question

I am doing some research for a science lab and would appreciate some assistance =)

1.Where does the water you drink come from? (Not the faucet!)

2.Does groundwater often come from nearby sources?

3.How is groundwater related o surface water? HINT: recharge and discharge

4.What are some of the ways groundwater is used in your community (NYC)?

5.What is the water table?

6.How does groundwater move underground?

7.What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fertilizers and pesticides in urban areas?

8. How can contaminated groundwater be cleaned up?

9. Which soil type has the greatest potential/least potential for pollution (between gravel, fine sand, medium thick sand)

10. How can spills on the surface of oils, gasoline, fertilizers, and other chemical runoffs contaminate nearby lakes, ponds, rivers, and even groundwater below?

11Once an aquifer is contaminated with chemical pollutants, how long do you think it would take to cleanse itself? What could be done to decontaminate it

Answer 1

1.Where does the water you drink come from?

ground water or well water

2.Does groundwater often come from nearby sources?

usually a reservoir

3.How is groundwater related o surface water? HINT: recharge and discharge

rain usually refills both surface and groundwater.

4.What are some of the ways groundwater is used in your community (NYC)?

cleansing and quenching

5.What is the water table?

http://www.agwt.org/info/pdfs/watertable...

6.How does groundwater move underground?

It seeps into pores and spaces underground untill it hits the saturated zone where sediment and soil is saturated by the water and cannot go down any further.

7.What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fertilizers and pesticides in urban areas?

disadvantages is that the groundwater is contaminated by fertilizers and pesticides and not good to consume.

only advantage is that what ever you use the fertilizer and pesticides for helpes your plants grow and keeps insects away until it rains then you have problems.

8.How can contaminated groundwater be cleaned up?

It can be filtered by the sediment.  Sometimes people can use lime on their lawn which can help neutralize the soil and water.

9. Which soil type has the greatest potential/least potential for pollution (between gravel, fine sand, medium thick sand)

Usually the finer and more compacted soils helps inhibit pollution to make it through without being filtered out.  Bigger sediment makes bigger spaces which facilitates pollutants to enter the ground water.

10. How can spills on the surface of oils, gasoline, fertilizers, and other chemical runoffs contaminate nearby lakes, ponds, rivers, and even groundwater below?

because oil because it is lighter can travel far floating on water till it meets it's lowest point using the water to carry it through.  Oil and other pollutants can contaminate just as easy as the rain getting to its lowest point.

11Once an aquifer is contaminated with chemical pollutants, how long do you think it would take to cleanse itself? What could be done to decontaminate it

While many aquifers, given sufficient time, might gradually flush out most chemicals, such natural cleansing could take millennia. Aquifers with no steady throughflow would never cleanse themselves. Human efforts at cleaning a contaminated aquifer can be equally futile. For example, pumping out, cleaning, and replacing the water might not be feasible and, even if done, these efforts may not remove all the contaminant. Therefore, contamination probably is irreversible in any practical sense and for any humanly relevant time period.

This irreversibility means that preventing contamination becomes more feasible and cost-effective than cleaning it up. It also means that it is efficient to be conservative: if harmful effects are possible, it is better to avoid them. Once done they cannot be undone easily.