Aniston Phillips

Human activity impacts the water cycle by air pollution, deforestation, and climate change. Air pollution causes acid rain and can hurt people and homes. Deforestation causes low water vapor and humidity. Lastly, Climate change causes temperature change.

SOLUTIONS

For air pollution, start using clean energy! For example, Hydroelectric.

For Deforestation, start recycling or using a reusable bag or water bottle, instead of buying a new paper/plastic one.

For climate change, lower the amount of coal and fossil fuels you're putting into the air. For example, you could switch your power from Plant Bowen to solar energy.

you can use renewable energy rather than using fossil fuels

Stop cutting down trees

By: Carson Harris

The way we can stop deforestation is by stop cutting down trees let the water give it a better life. For irrigation we can stop demanding more land destroying for homes and works. For greenhouse gas we can use small steps to stop using a lot of electricity. For emissions by using less air travel and switching to clean energy.

By Emily White

Rights: The University of Waikato

Earth’s water distribution

A number of human activities can impact on the water cycle: damming rivers for hydroelectricity, using water for farming, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.

Different countries use different amounts of water, but we all tend to use them in the same ways, and some of these actions can impact on the water cycle – generating hydroelectricity, irrigation, deforestation and the greenhouse effect, as well as motor vehicle use and animal farming.

Hydroelectricity

Most of New Zealand’s electricity is generated using hydro dams. This involves changing the stored gravitational energy of water held behind the dam into electrical energy that can be used. While this is a non-polluting renewable way to generate electricity, it does have environmental impacts – especially when mismanaged.

Rights: The University of Waikato

Clyde hydro dam

The Clyde dam in the South Island uses water to generate electricity. It is New Zealand’s third largest hydro dam.

Rivers must be dammed, which can affect the function of the river both upstream and downstream – lakes are usually formed from the water accumulating above the dam and a build-up of silt can occur, while the amount of water is reduced further downstream. This can be problematic for any plants and animals that may find themselves with too much or too little water, and migrating fish cannot get through the dams.

Seriously mismanaged dams can result in droughts downstream, with smaller streams completely drying up, leaving areas of uncatered land. People then have to look at ways of getting more water into these dry areas.

Find out more about hydro power.

Irrigation

As the human population has increased, so have our demands on the land. We need more food, and to make food, we need water. Irrigation is the artificial watering of land that does not get enough water through rainfall. Irrigation is used substantially by most countries, some more than others. Arid (dry) lands require far more water, as do countries that have large intensive farming communities.

Rights: 123RF Limited

Spray irrigator

Irrigation is a method used to water farm land. Unfortunately it removes water from rivers and can cause surface run-off and leaching.

The problem with irrigation is that it removes water from its natural source and often causes leaching and run-off where it is used. This removal of nutrients results in farmers using more fertilisers to keep their pastures productive while the waterways become polluted. Another problem is that salt is brought up from lower levels (salination).

Deforestation

The removal of trees (deforestation) is having a major impact on the water cycle, as local and global climates change.

Normally, trees release water vapour when they transpire, producing a localised humidity. This water vapour then evaporates into the atmosphere where it accumulates before precipitating back to the Earth as rain, sleet or snow. Deforestation in one area can therefore affect the weather in another area because if trees are cut down, there is less water to be evaporated into the atmosphere and subsequently less rain.

At a local level, the land becomes drier and less stable. When it rains, instead of the water being soaked up, there is increased run-off and leaching. Areas can become more prone to both droughts and flooding, impacting on plants and animals, and also humans living near deforested areas.

Dynamic and complex: the global water cycle

Water in the Earth system is influencing all aspects of life on Earth. Pathways, storage, transfers and transformations have an effect on the global climate and human welfare. Within this interactive 4 scientists talk about some of the complex aspects of the water cycle.

• buy less plastic

• buy more reusable things

• buy reusable paper bags

a good impact is that we clean oceans to keep this from happening with trash trawlers that filter the fish out of the net. (The picture is an example)

humans have also designed a water pool where filtered clean water enters a pool and will naturally be evaporated and go through the water cycle.