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Freshwater Estuary of New YorkAn estuary is a place where salty water from the ocean mixes with fresh water from the

land and creates a unique and special place for marine species to live, feed, and

reproduce. Estuaries are transitional areas where the ocean tides bring in nutrients and

animals, while freshwater runoff reduces the stress caused by saltwater and carries even

more nutrients. Often, estuaries have a restriction across the mouth, like a barrier beach

or sand bar which offers protection from the full force of ocean waves and storms.

Estuaries are a critical part of the life cycle of many different species. They are the

spawning and nursery area for thousands of animals who seek out the quieter waters of

estuaries to provide a protected nursery for their offspring. Estuaries also provide a food

rich resting area for migrating waterfowl like black ducks, harlequin ducks, scoters, and

scaup. Wading birds like the great blue heron, great egret, and glossy ibis, and snowy

egret nest in colonies on islands found in New York Harbor, Long Island Sound and

Gardiners Bay. Raptors like osprey and northern harriers also nest and feed throughout

the marine district of New York.

New York's Marine District has several estuaries which are managed cooperatively by

DEC with other state, local, and federal government agencies, the scientific

community, and direct input from private citizens. They include:

1. The Peconic Estuary

2. Long Island South Shore Estuary

3. New York/New Jersey Harbor

4. Long Island Sound

5. Hudson River Estuary

Yudeysi UrracaARCH 3610 – ASSIGMENT #1 – Prof. Illya A.

Of the thirty-two largest cities in the world, twenty-two are located on estuaries. For example, New York City is located at the mouth of the

Hudson River estuary.

As ecosystems, estuaries are under threat from human activities such as pollution and overfishing. They are also threatened by sewage, coastal

settlement, land clearance and much more. Estuaries are affected by events far upstream, and concentrate materials such as pollutants and

sediments.[Land run-off and industrial, agricultural, and domestic waste enter rivers and are discharged into estuaries. Contaminants can be

introduced which do not disintegrate rapidly in the marine environment, such as plastics, pesticides, furans, dioxins, phenols and heavy metals.

Estuaries tend to be naturally eutrophic because land runoff discharges nutrients into estuaries. With human activities, land run-off also now

includes the many chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture as well as waste from livestock and humans. Excess oxygen depleting chemicals in

the water can lead to hypoxia and the creation of dead zones. This can result in reductions in water quality, fish, and other animal populations.

Jamaica Bay Region

The salt marshes of Jamaica Bay offer prime habitat for migratory birds

and other wildlife. Most of the waters and marshes have been protected

since 1972 as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Though

much improved, pollution is still a problem, and after once enjoying a

worldwide reputation for oysters and supporting a vigorous fishing industry

the area has been closed to shellfishing since the early 20th century as

one result. The marshlands are also fast diminishing.

Jamaica Bay is located on the southern side of Long Island near

the island's western end. The bay connects with Lower New York

Bay to the west through Rockaway Inlet and is the westernmost of

the coastal lagoons on the south shore of Long Island. Politically, it

is divided between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New

York City, with a small part touching Nassau County, New York.

Water & Hydro-Cycle


Water is a chemical compound with the chemical formula H

2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at standard ambient

temperature and pressure, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state (water vapor or steam). Water also exists in

a liquid crystal state near hydrophilic surfaces.

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, and is vital for all known forms of life.[4] On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and

oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies,

and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.[5][6] Only 2.5% of the

Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the

atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured

products.

The hydrologic cycle begins with the evaporation of water from the surface

of the ocean. As moist air is lifted, it cools and water vapor condenses to form

clouds. Moisture is transported around the globe until it returns to the surface

as precipitation. Once the water reaches the ground, one of two processes

may occur; 1) some of the water may evaporate back into the atmosphere

or 2) the water may penetrate the surface and become groundwater.

Groundwater either seeps its way to into the oceans, rivers, and streams, or is

released back into the atmosphere through transpiration. The balance of

water that remains on the earth's surface is runoff, which empties into lakes,

rivers and streams and is carried back to the oceans, where the cycle begins

again.

Lake effect snowfall is good example of the hydrologic cycle at work. Below

is a vertical cross-section summarizing the processes of the hydrologic cycle

that contribute to the production of lake effect snow. The cycle begins as

cold winds (horizontal blue arrows) blow across a large lake, a phenomena

that occurs frequently in the late fall and winter months around the Great

Lakes.


Distribution of Earth’s Water

Flow of water

Water is widely distributed on Earth as freshwater and salt water in the oceans. The Earth

is often referred to as the "blue planet" because when viewed from space it appears

blue. This blue color is caused by reflection from the oceans which cover roughly 71% of

the area of the Earth.

The oceanic crust is young, thin and dense, with none of the rocks within it dating from

any older than the breakup of Pangaea. Because water is much denser than any gas,

this means that water will flow into the "depressions" formed as a result of the high

density of oceanic crust. (On a planet like Venus, with no water, the depressions appear

to form a vast plain above which rise plateaux). Since the low density rocks of the

continental crust contain large quantities of easily eroded salts of the alkali and alkaline

earth metals, salt has, over billions of years, accumulated in the oceans as a result of

evaporation returning the fresh water to land as rain and snow.

.

Water quantities & Distribution over time.

Human Impact on water use

Humans impact the earth both directly and indirectly. Our mere presence on this planet, or the state of being “alive” and breathing produces carbon dioxide, a known depletory of the ozone. Industrialization, production, agriculture, land-use practices, hydropower generation, fossil fuel and nuclear power generation, disposal of wastes, and our ever-lasting desire for consumption to obtain more, whether it be material objects or material items, causing devastating impacts to our ecosystems and water sources. We use water for such tasks as bathing to watering our garden, not to mention that it comprises nearly 70% of our body. It is for these reasons that we need to take careful steps to reduce negative impacts

• According to the U.S. Department of Public Health, 85% of the water in the U.S. today

is dangerously contaminated.

• The World Health Organization estimates that as much as 80% of the world's cases of disease are traceable to unclean water. Time Magazine, April 4, 1977.

• There are now present in America's water systems over 12,000 toxic chemicals. Each year 500 new chemicals are introduced into industry which are more

complex and difficult to treat.

• "125.40 billion pounds of toxic garbage are produced in the U.S. yearly; an estimated 93% of it is disposed of improperly." Family Weekly, January 11, 1981.

• Over 23 million Americans are presently drinking polluted water, eight million are drinking water rated "potentially dangerous."

• "For years, people have assumed that the earth would filter the rainwater and keep underground supplies pure. Recent evidence suggests instead that

chemicals are seeping through the earth too, going a little deeper with each rainfall." The Sacramento Union, September 30, 1980.



“Our water resources, irregularly distributed in space and time, are under pressure due to major population change and increased demand. Access to reliable data on the availability, quality and quantity of water, and its variability, form the necessary foundation for sound management of water resources. The different options for augmentation expand the boundaries of the water resource in a conventional sense, helping to match demand and supply. All components of the hydrological cycle, and the influence of human activities on it, need to be understood and quantified to efficiently

and sustainably develop and protect our water resources.”REFERENCE: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/water-resources/l-3/7-protecting-water-resources.htm#0p0

Our relationship to water:

http://www.greenfacts.org/glossary/pqrs/sustainability.htm

Four basic human needs, given the current state in world population, are food, shelter, health care and education.

Needs vs. Desire

A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological, such as the need for self-esteem. On a social level, needs are sometimes controversial. Understanding needs and wants is an issue in the fields of politics, social science, and philosophy.

“ Desire is a sense of longing for a person or object or

hoping for an outcome. The same sense is expressed by

emotions such as "craving" or "hankering“ “


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care


Needs Ten Indicators:

Common needs

Desire Example:

A single person desired

needs.


Sea Level rise

Scientific research indicates sea levels worldwide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimeters) per year since the early 1990s. The trend, linked to global warming, puts thousands of coastal cities, like Venice, Italy, (seen here during a historic flood in 2008), and even whole islands at risk of being claimed by the ocean.

Core samples, tide gauge readings, and, most recently, satellite measurements tell us that over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) has risen by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). However, the annual rate of rise over the past 20 years has been 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year, roughly twice the average speed of the preceding 80 years.

Over the past century, the burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities has released enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These emissions have caused the Earth's surface temperature to rise, and the oceans absorb about 80 percent of this additional heat.

The rise in sea levels is linked to three primary factors, all induced by this ongoing global climate change:

Thermal expansion: When water heats up, it expands. About half of the past century's rise in sea level is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space.


Consequences

When sea levels rise rapidly, as they have been doing, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats. As seawater reaches farther inland, it can cause destructive erosion, flooding of wetlands, contamination of aquifers and agricultural soils, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants.

When large storms hit land, higher sea levels mean bigger, more powerful storm surges that can strip away everything in their path.

In addition, hundreds of millions of people live in areas that will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate. Low-lying islands could be submerged completely.


Water use

The water in the Nation's rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and underground aquifers are vitally important to our everyday life. These water bodies supply the water to serve the needs of every human and for the world's ecological systems, too. Here in the United States, every 5 years the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) compiles county, state, and National water withdrawal and use data for a number of water-use categories.

In 2005, about 410,000 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of water was withdrawn for use in the United States. (All 2005 water use information is from the report Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005.) About 80 percent of the total (328,000 Mgal/d) withdrawal was from surface water, of which 82 percent was freshwater. The remaining 20 percent (82,600 Mgal/d) of total withdrawals was from groundwater, of which about 96 percent was freshwater. If withdrawals for thermoelectric power (which isgenerally a "flow-though process") in 2005 are excluded, about 209,000 Mgal/d was withdrawn, of which 129,000 Mgal/d (62 percent) was supplied by surface water and 80,700 Mgal/d (38 percent) was supplied by groundwater.

Total water use, by category of use, 2005

In 2005, more surface water than groundwater was withdrawn for all categories except self-supplied domestic, livestock, and mining. Of the 270,000 Mgal/d fresh surface-water withdrawals, more than one-half were for thermoelectric power, and more than one-fourth were for irrigation. The largest surface-water withdrawals were in California, where irrigation was the largest use of fresh surface water. Large quantities of fresh surface water were withdrawn in 2005 for thermoelectric power in Illinois, Texas, and Michigan. The largest saline surface-water withdrawals were for thermoelectric-power generation in California and Florida.


Although the majority of people in the United States used water provided by public suppliers in 2005, about 42.9 million people, or 14 percent of the population, supplied their own water for domestic use in 2005. (All 2005 water use information is from the report Estimated use of water in the United States in 2005.) These self-supplied withdrawals totaled 3,830 million gallons per day (Mgal/d), or about 1 percent of estimated withdrawals for all uses in 2005. Nearly all (98 percent) of these self-supplied withdrawals were from fresh groundwater.

Self-supplied domestic withdrawals for the Nation

Comparison of water consumption

The same UN report indicated that the US topped the charts for per capita water use, with Australia and Italy rounding out the top three consumers.

To provide some perspective, in the same year the citizens of Mozambique used only four gallons of water each per day. Of course, being only an average that meant that a great many Mozambicans went without any water, with disastrous results.

This problem continues and is projected to get far worse. UN-Water predicts that by 2025, 1800 million people will live in absolute water scarcity, and that two-thirds of the world’s population will exist in a state of very limited resources.

It is generally not up to Western citizens to provide water to those who do not have it, even though it has been attempted. The ultimate goal is one of support and education, and providing an example of responsible stewardship in a time when clean water will finally be recognized as the

world’s most valuable commodity.

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