22/06/2024

Liquid Lifeline:
Navigating the Water Cycle,
Crisis, and Sustainable Solutions

Dr. Mario S. Torres

Professor of Biology, Biological Sciences Department, College of Science

Liquid Lifeline
• Properties and Significance of Water
• The Water Cycle
• Link between Water Crisis and Health
• Water Footprints and Consumption
• Factors Affecting Sustainable Water Use

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Adhesive
Cohesive
Universal solvent
High heat capacity
Less dense
Transparent

Water is a dipole molecule

Significance of Water

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What does water do to you?

Water
Concentration
• Moderates climate; sculpts
the land; supports aquatic
organism; removes and
dilutes wastes and pollutants

• 97.5% saltwater, 2.5%

freshwater in ice caps and
glaciers, groundwater, less
than 1% accessible freshwater

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The water crisis is a

health crisis!
• Nearly 1 million people die each year
from water, sanitation and hygiene-
related diseases which could be reduced
with access to safe water or sanitation.

• Every 2 minutes a child dies from a

water-related disease.

Is the amount
of water you take
sustainable?

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• Direct (visible) water is the water used at home

for a variety of domestic activities (e.g. water we need
to drink or bathe or wash our dishes, clothes, and cars)

• Indirect (virtual) water is the water used to

produce goods and services consumed (e.g. water
used to produce everything we eat or use, clothes we wear
to the cellphone in our pocket)

Types of water based on usage ....

Water based on usage

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Water footprint refers to the amount of water associated with

the use of water (direct or indirect, combined direct and indirect)

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Breakfast = 496
Lunch = 2,932
Dinner = 3,881

Water Footprint for Food

7,309 litres

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Changing habit Substitute of a product

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Why is it important
to know your
Water footprint?

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Changing habit Substitute of a product

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What are the threats to

unsustainable
water use?

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• Increased temperatures due to climate change increase the

rate of evaporation of water from both land and oceans. This
enable the atmosphere to hold more water more than the
normal and will cause drought (less rainfall than before) in
some areas and excess rainfall in other.
This will affect crop production and will cause
flooding in some areas.

• Rising sea levels could induce salinization of freshwater

reservoirs like ground water.
This will make the water unsuitable for drinking or
irrigation and will affect food security.

Climate change

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• Climate change will melt ice caps, ice sheets and

glaciers (source of freshwater) as well as expanding
water volume (water expands in higher temperatures)
will cause rising sea levels.
This will harm coastal communities
and various ecosystems, possibly
causing death of organisms.

Climate change

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• Water is required to support biodiversity.

Without access to water, biodiversity losses will become its
consequence. At the same time, biodiversity is also critical to
the maintenance of both the quality and quantity water.

• Biodiversity plays a crucial role in the water cycle by

regulating water movement across land and water infiltration
into soils. Biodiversity supports water cycling in soils and in
plants, including all food crops. Together, these processes
control land erosion and regulate water quality and water flow
to surface waters as runoffs.

Biodiversity loss

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• The higher concentration of air pollutants, the lower is the quality

of rainwater used by crops and infrastructure.
• Water pollutants from agriculture (eroded soil, pesticides and
fertilizer residues) and heavy erosion from deforested mountains
and landscapes contribute to siltation and loss of water
biodiversity.
• Polluted water bodies (pathogenic microorganisms, putrescible
organic waste, fertilizers and plant nutrients, toxic chemicals,
sediments, heat, petroleum, and radioactive substances)
degrades the quality of water affecting aquatic
organisms.

Water pollution

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Urbanization affects water quality because more

pollutants are produced in urban settings, and the
watersheds lose the ability to hold and retain water
because of the increase in impervious surfaces.

Urban waters take on large amounts of pollution from a

variety of sources, including industrial discharges, mobile
sources (e.g., cars/trucks), residential/commercial
wastewater, trash and polluted stormwater runoff from
urban landscapes.

Urbanization

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• Consumer behavior impacts quality of life by letting the

consumers purchase or acquire whatever product or service
they want that use great amount of water
footprints. Every time a person wants to buy something
he or she knows they have a quality of life due to the
expenses of their product.

• Consumerism includes the depletion of natural resources

(including water) and pollution. The
way the
consumer society is working is not
sustainable. We are currently overusing Earth's natural
resources with more than 70 percent.

Consumerism

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• Water has properties which is of marked

significance to both life and ecosystems.

• One should look through the water cycle to

understand the emerging and persistent
freshwater crisis.

Key takeaways…..
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• Understanding the concept of water footprint

computation leads to positive action on water
conservation.

• Sustainable utilization of fresh water may be

affected by climate change, biodiversity loss,
water pollution, urbanization, and consumerism.

Key takeaways…..
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ADHESIVE COHESIVE TRANSPARENT HIGH HEAT

CAPACITY UNIVERSAL SOLVENT

properties 97.5% 25%

SALT WATER FRESH WATER less than 1%

ATMOSPHERE ACCESSIBLE WATER

concentration

DIRECT INDIRECT
HYDROSPHERE WATER
CHANGE HABIT SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS
usage
SUSTAINABLE
LITHOSPHERE WATER FOOTPRINT
UNSUSTAINABLE

CLIMATE LOSS OF WATER

URBANIZATION CONSUMERISM
CHANGE BIODIVERSITY POLLUTION

ADHESIVE, COHESIVE, TRANSPARENT, HIGH HEAT CAPACITY, UNIVERSAL SOLVENT, SALT WATER,
FRESH WATER. ACCESSIBLE WATER, DIRECT, UNSUSTAINABLE, CLIMATE CHANGE, LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY,
URBANIZATION, CONSUMERISM

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Mario @mariovision • 10m

“Stay green by sustainably utilizing blue”.

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