How fast is the earth's fossil groundwater being depleted?
I have not heard that term before. Just about all ground water could be called "fossil" since it takes a long time to recharge. For instance, water that goes into the Edwards Aquifer up in the limestone and chalk outcrops north of Austin Texas works its way down to the aquifers tapped into by my subdivision's water wells on the west side of Houston. By car it takes 2.5 hours to get there from my house. It takes ground water a decade at least since the gradient is not that great.If you are referring to places like the San Joaquin Valley of California, the water may never be replenished. The ground surface of the Valley has subsided due to removal of water and relieving of the hydrostatic pressure supporting the sediment of the former fresh water lake, by nearly 35 feet. 35 feet! Do a google search for an image of a well casing sticking up 35 feet above the ground from where it was first completed.Back in 1978 my sister sent me a picture and article published by the USGS of huge cracks in the ground outside of Las Vegas, due to drawdown of old aquifer waters to supply the city. I have not followed the trends over the last few decades, but I wager it has not improved. Water taken from rivers in the SW for irrigation and municipal water has resulted in a mere trickle reaching the river's mouth. With population growth the problem is destine only to get worse.In order to do a test like you suggest it would require tracking water movement, which is just something we cannot do. Even if a tracking dye or some other means were allowed, the dilution factor over the distances we are talking would be so great, nothing would come of it. The question puts us in the realm or simple arm waving as I believe it is beyond our capability to measure at this time.
If matter cannot be created nor destroyed, how do trees grow and increase in mass?
No matter has been created and destroyed in the above process. The trees get the resources they need to grow and increase in mass from their surroundings (CO2, water, minerals from soil). The minerals are absorbed and their quantities (except for C02) from the surroundings are likely to be depleted ... that is the valid reason why we need to use fertilizer and water to grow crops and plants :)
How can we prevent groundwater over-usage?
Answer requested by Shreya Sachdeva.Let me start to answer with a small example. Let us consider our body as earth and blood as ground water. We can not draw blood more than a bottle even if the donor is willing. If we draw more, man will tolerate to certain extent but will collapse and dies slowly after excessive drawal.Similarly, if we keep on drawing water without second thought, we would be exhausting all the ground water which is stored for years and gradually fauna and flora will disappear.How can we prevent over usage of ground water?Try to maximise the usage of surface water.Provide number of check dams across all the small nalas and make use of this stored water.Stop developments like residential colonies, shopping complex etc on tank beds.Preserve the existing tanks.Maintain catchments and feeding nalas of tanks clean.Stop polluting the rivers, tanks and other water bodies, don’t make them dumping yards of your localities.Stop the running water (by building bunds), allow this water to percolate in the ground.Develop new tanks in and around your localities which will help in improving the ground water levels.Renew the existing old wells and use them regularly.Promote rooftop rain harvesting system.Maintain the existing forest cover, plant long living plants.Promote sustainable developments.Encourage Drip Irrigation, Precision Irrigation System.Use water judiciously.There are many more but our so called learned people are the first in abusing the natural resources. If they get the wisdom then the problems can be minimised.Conserve, Preserve, Recycle and Reuse the water.
If global warming is a farce then would ozone depletion be a farce too?
I thought that ozone thing had already been debunked years ago? Here are some interesting FACTS about the OZONE fiasco... 1. the # 1 "creator" of atmospheric ozone is... CLOUD-to-CLOUD LIGHTENING. 2. the # 1 "creator" of ozone "depleting" gases is... WETLANDS... including RICE PATTIES (thanks China!), water-ways, deltas, swamplands (thanks environmentalists!) 3. the so-called "ozone hole" over the South Pole is only a SEASONAL phenomena, and CLOSES every year. As for global warming... We just came OUT of the deep freeze with temps to -15(F)... if this is global warming... I DON'T WANT IT TO COOL DOWN... I WANT MORE GLOBAL WARMING, PLEASE MR ALGORE!!! Republican since before she was born… and PROUD of it.
What is water pollution?
Water covers 70% of the earth and only 3% of fresh water. 1% of fresh water and 2% of frozen fresh water. Pollution is a major cause to life. It impacts on marine life and is a major impact to life in the whole world. Afterwards, we are slowly but surely harming our planet to the point where organisms are dying at a very alarming rate. In addition to innocent organisms dying off, our drinking water has become greatly affected as is our ability to use water for recreational purposes. In order to combat water pollution, we must understand the problems and become part of the solution. Causes of water pollution . Water pollution is the action of environmental contamination with man-made waste into water. The source of this waste could be raw sewage, chemicals, trash, or fertilizer. Water polltuion has severe human consequences, since less than 3% of the Earth contains water that is potable or safe for drinking. Also, water is so important for human survival because we cannot live without it. When a source for drinking water becomes cantaminated with untreated sewage it is possible to spread diseases through the water like Giardiasis, a diarrheal disease caused by a parasitic protazoa, Giardia lamblia. These types of diseases can also be caused by bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. Another type of water pollution usually occurs when water is contaminted with fertilizer. The water is then nitrified and phosphorolized by the fertilizer chemicals. These added nutrients in the water can cause eutrophication or the process of changing of a body water due to excessive plant nutrients. This eutrophication promotes excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants, which then chokes the open-water areas, thus decreasing the amount of oxygen available in the water. Consequently, fish and other organism may die off due to the lack of oxygen. Other types of water polltion include trash that is dumped into a body of water or chemicals that seep or are dumped into a body of water. These two types of water pollution can have harmful side effects for humans and different organisms.