Hydrological cycle and an Overview of Global Water Pollution

R. Nagendran
Centre for Environmental studies
Anna University, Chennai 600025
rnagendran@gmail.com

Introduction

The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, describes the continuous
movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. Since the water
cycle is truly a "cycle," there is no beginning or end. Water can change states among
liquid, vapor, and ice at various places in the water cycle. Although the balance of
water on Earth remains fairly constant over time, individual water molecules can
come and go.

Where is all the Earth’s water?

Water is the most widespread substance to be found in the natural

environment and it is the source of all life on earth. Water covers 70% of the
earth’s surface but it is difficult to comprehend the total amount of water when
we only see a small portion of it. The distribution of water throughout the earth
is not uniform. Some places have far more rainfall than others.

There are many reasons for this, such as where the mountains are and where
the prevailing winds blow. This rainfall distribution partly explains the differences in
vegetation and why some areas are deserts and some are rainforests.
 Water exists in three states: liquid, solid and invisible vapour. It forms the
oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and the underground waters found in the top layers of the
earth’s crust and soil cover. In a solid state, it exists as ice and snow cover in polar and
alpine regions. A certain amount of water is contained in the air as water vapour,
water droplets and ice crystals, as well as in the biosphere. Huge amounts of water are
bound up in the composition of the different minerals of the earth’s crust and core.

To assess the total water storage on the earth reliably is a complicated problem
because water is so very dynamic. It is in permanent motion, constantly changing
from liquid to solid or gaseous phase, and back again. The quantity of water found in
the hydrosphere is the usual way of estimating the earth’s water. This is all the free
water existing in liquid, solid or gaseous state in the atmosphere, on the Earth’s
surface and in the crust down to a depth of 2000 metres. Current estimates are that the
earth’s hydrosphere contains a huge amount of water - about 1386 million cubic
kilometres. However, 97.5% of this amount exists as saline waters and only 2.5% as
fresh water.

The greatest portion of the fresh water (68.7%) is in the form of ice and
permanent snow cover in the Antarctic, the Arctic and in the mountainous regions.
29.9% exists as fresh groundwaters. Only 0.26% of the total amount of fresh water on
the earth is concentrated in lakes, reservoirs and river system, where it is most easily
accessible for our economic needs and absolutely vital for water ecosystems.

Different Processes connected with water cycle

Precipitation

Condensed water vapor that falls to the Earth's surface. Most precipitation
occurs as rain, but also includes snow, hail, fog drip, and sleet.
 Approximately 505,000 km3 (121,000 cu mi) of water fall as precipitation each
year, 398,000 km3 (95,000 cu mi) of it over the oceans.

Canopy interception

The precipitation that is intercepted by plant foliage and eventually evaporates

back to the atmosphere rather than falling to the ground.

Snowmelt

The runoff produced by melting snow.

Runoff

The variety of ways by which water moves across the land. This includes both
surface runoff and channel runoff. As it flows, the water may infiltrate into the
ground, evaporate into the air, become stored in lakes or reservoirs, or be
extracted for agricultural or other human uses.

Infiltration

The flow of water from the ground surface into the ground. Once infiltrated,
the water becomes soil moisture or groundwater.

Subsurface Flow

The flow of water underground, in the vadose zone and aquifers. Subsurface
water may return to the surface (eg. as a spring or by being pumped) or
eventually seep into the oceans. Water returns to the land surface at lower
elevation than where it infiltrated, under the force of gravity or gravity induced
pressures. Groundwater tends to move slowly, and is replenished slowly, so it
can remain in aquifers for thousands of years.
Evaporation

The transformation of water from liquid to gas phases as it moves from the
ground or bodies of water into the overlying atmosphere. The source of energy
for evaporation is primarily solar radiation. Evaporation often implicitly
includes transpiration from plants, though together they are specifically
referred to as evapotranspiration. Total annual evapotranspiration amounts to
approximately 505,000 km3 (121,000 cu mi) of water, 434,000 km3
(104,000 cu mi) of which evaporates from the oceans.

Sublimation

The state change directly from solid water (snow or ice) to water vapor.

Advection

The movement of water — in solid, liquid, or vapor states — through the

atmosphere. Without advection, water that evaporated over the oceans could
not precipitate over land.

Condensation

The transformation of water vapor to liquid water droplets in the air, producing
clouds and fog.

Transpiration

The release of water vapor from plants into the air. Water vapor is a gas that
cannot be seen.
What is the Hydrological Cycle?

The values for stored water given above are for natural, static, water storage in
the hydrosphere. It is the amount of water contained simultaneously, on average, over
a long period of time, – in water bodies, aquifers and the atmosphere. For shorter time
intervals such as a single year, a couple of seasons or a few months, the volume of
water stored in the hydrosphere will vary as water exchanges take place between the
oceans, land and the atmosphere.

The total amount of water on the earth and in its atmosphere does not change
but show that rain and flowing rivers must be a motion that transfers water in a never-
ending cycle. Oceans, rivers, clouds and rain, all of which contain water, are in a
frequent state of change. This circulation and conservation of earth’s water as it
circulates from the land to the sky and back again is called the ‘hydrological cycle’ or
‘water cycle’.

How does the Hydrological Cycle work?

The stages of the cycle are:

• Evaporation
• Transport
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Groundwater
• Run-off
Evaporation

Water is transferred from the surface to the atmosphere through evaporation,

the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas. The sun’s heat provides
energy to evaporate water from the earth’s surface.

Land, lakes, rivers and oceans send up a steady stream of water vapour and
plants also lose water to the air (transpiration).

Transport

The movement of water through the atmosphere, specifically from over the
oceans to over land, is called transport. Some of the earth’s moisture transport is
visible as clouds, which themselves consist of ice crystals and/or tiny water droplets.

Clouds are propelled from one place to another by the jet stream, surface-based
circulations like land and sea breezes or other mechanisms. However, a typical cloud
1 km thick contains only enough water for a millimetre of rainfall, whereas the
amount of moisture in the atmosphere is usually 10-50 times greater than this.

Condensation

The transported water vapour eventually condenses, forming tiny droplets in clouds.

Precipitation

The primary mechanism for transporting water from the atmosphere to the
surface of the earth is precipitation.

When the clouds meet cool air over land, precipitation, in the form of rain, sleet
or snow, is triggered and water returns to the land (or sea). A proportion of
atmospheric precipitation evaporates.

Groundwater
 Some of the precipitation soaks into the ground and this is the main source of
the formation of the waters found on land - rivers, lakes, groundwater and glaciers.

Some of the underground water is trapped between rock or clay layers - this is
called groundwater. Water that infiltrates the soil flows downward until it encounters
impermeable rock and then travels laterally. The locations where water moves
laterally are called ‘aquifers’. Groundwater returns to the surface through these
aquifers, which empty into lakes, rivers and the oceans.

Under special circumstances, groundwater can even flow upward in artesian

wells. The flow of groundwater is much slower than run-off with speeds usually
measured in centimetres per day, metres per year or even centimetres per year.

Run-off

Most of the water which returns to land flows downhill as run-off. Some of it
penetrates and charges groundwater while the rest, as river flow, returns to the oceans
where it evaporates. As the amount of groundwater increases or decreases, the water
table rises or falls accordingly. When the entire area below the ground is saturated,
flooding occurs because all subsequent precipitation is forced to remain on the
surface.

Different surfaces hold different amounts of water and absorb water at different
rates. As a surface becomes less permeable, an increasing amount of water remains on
the surface, creating a greater potential for flooding. Flooding is very common during
winter and early spring because frozen ground has no permeability, causing most
rainwater and melt water to become run-off.

This entire process repeats as illustrated in Figure 1.

 Figure 1 Stages of Hydrological cycle

Water Balance

A considerable portion of river flow does not reach the ocean, having
evaporated those areas with no natural surface run-off channels. On the other hand,
some groundwater bypasses river systems altogether and goes directly to the ocean or
evaporates.

Every year, the turnover of water on Earth involves 577,000 km3 of water. This
is water that evaporates from the ocean surface (502,800 km 3) and from land (74,200
km3). The same amount of water falls as atmospheric precipitation, 458,000 km3 on
the ocean and 119,000 km3 on land. The difference between precipitation and
evaporation from the land surface (119,000 – 74,200 = 44,800 km3/year) represents
the total run-off of the Earth’s rivers (42,700 km3/year) and direct groundwater run-
off.
How does Water Supply and Sewage Disposal fit into the Hydrological Cycle?

We have seen that water flows into rivers, lakes and into groundwater storage.
Most importantly, for our daily water needs, it also flows into our homes and taps. A
network of underground pipes, pumping stations and treatment works ensures that
clean, fresh drinking water is delivered by our local water utility to our homes every
day of the week. After water has been used, the water utility collects, transports and
then cleans this dirty water and returns it safely back into rivers where it can continue
its journey downstream to the sea. The water utility’s responsibility begins at the
precipitation stage of the hydrological cycle. Utilities in some water-scarce countries
encourage the collection of rainwater from rooftops (rainwater harvesting) but in most
of Europe the hydrological cycle begins with surface waters. Figure 2 illustrates the
water utility’s role in the hydrological cycle.

Figure 2 Water utility’s role in the hydrological cycle

Surface Waters

Rain water searches for the quickest route to the sea and flows into rivers,
streams, lakes and underground stores. The water in the surface waters is clean
enough to support a variety of wildlife. Although it is clean, it is not safe to drink and
needs to be treated in a water treatment works to remove any substances that may be
harmful.

Water Treatment Works

Water is abstracted from underground sources via boreholes or alternatively is

pumped from rivers and stored in reservoirs before being passed through sand filter
beds which trap any dirt and organisms. It is then treated using the most up to date
advanced water treatment (AWT) technology such as ozonation and carbon filtration
(granular activated carbon) which remove the substances that we cannot see.

Water Distribution

Clean, fresh drinking water is pumped into an underground network of pipes

and storage reservoirs and is not seen again until it reaches your tap. This guarantees
that the water you drink remains clean and fresh.

Water Use

On average, in European countries, each person uses around 55,000 litres of water
every year. Baths, showers, washing up, washing clothes and toilet flushing all use
large amounts of water.
These activities transform clean tap water into dirty wastewater. The water utility not
only supplies clean drinking water but also collects, transports and disposes of the
dirty water after it has been used.

Sewerage

Dirty water or sewage is collected firstly in drains and then in underground sewers and
is transported via a sewerage system (a network of pipes and tunnels) to a sewage
treatment works.

Sewage Treatment Works

These works use natural micro-organisms to remove harmful substances from dirty
water. The solid material (sludge) is separated from the liquid (effluent) and both are
treated to produce clean effluent that can be released back to the river and bio-solids
that can be used in agriculture as a fertilizer or incinerated to produce energy.

Completing the Cycle

The river continues its journey back to the sea where the cycle starts again. Water
evaporates to form clouds, condenses to droplets and eventually falls as rain on to the
ground.
Water Pollution

Although we as humans recognize the fact that water is essential for everything on our
planet to grow and prosper, we disregard it by polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Subsequently, 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.

Point and nonpoint sources of water pollution

According to the American College Dictionary, pollution is defined as: “to make foul
or unclean; dirty”. Water pollution occurs when a body of water is adversely affected
due to the addition of large amounts of materials to the water. When it is unfit for its
intended use, water is considered polluted. Two types of water pollutants exist; point
source and nonpoint source. Point sources of pollution occur when harmful
substances are emitted directly into a body of water. The major oil spills (E.g., Exxon
Valdez oil spill) best illustrates point source water pollution. A nonpoint source
delivers pollutants indirectly through environmental changes. An example of this type
of water pollution is when fertilizer from a field is carried into a stream by rain, in the
form of run-off which in turn affects aquatic life. The technology exists for point
sources of pollution to be monitored and regulated, although political factors may
complicate matters. Nonpoint sources are much more difficult to control. Pollution
arising from nonpoint sources accounts for a majority of the contaminants in streams
and lakes.
Causes of water pollution

Many causes of pollution including sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as
nitrates and phosphates. In excess levels, nutrients over stimulate the growth of
aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently
clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to
deeper waters. This, in turn, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the
respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water.

Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, wash off
plowed fields, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks
when it rains. Under natural conditions, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies undergo
Eutrophication, an aging process that slowly fills in the water body with sediment and
organic matter. When these sediments enter various bodies of water, fish respiration
becomes impaired, plant productivity and water depth become reduced, and aquatic
organisms and their environments become suffocated. Pollution in the form of
organic material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and
grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. When natural
bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to
use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Many types of fish and bottom-dwelling
animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts
per million.

When this occurs, it kills aquatic organisms in large numbers which leads to
disruptions in the food chain.

Pathogens are another type of pollution that proves very harmful. They can cause
many illnesses that range from typhoid and dysentery to minor respiratory and skin
diseases. Pathogens include such organisms as bacteria, viruses, and protozoan.
These pollutants enter waterways through untreated sewage, storm drains, septic
tanks, runoff from farms, and particularly boats that dump sewage. Though
microscopic, these pollutants have a tremendous effect evidenced by their ability to
cause sickness. The pathways of water contamination are indicated in Figure 3.

Figure 3 The pathways of water contamination

Additional forms of water pollution

Three last forms of water pollution exist in the forms of petroleum, radioactive
substances, and heat. Petroleum often pollutes water bodies in the form of oil,
resulting from oil spills. The previously mentioned Exxon Valdez is an example of
this type of water pollution.
These large-scale accidental discharges of petroleum are an important cause of
pollution along shore lines. Besides the supertankers, off-shore drilling operations
contribute a large share of pollution. One estimate is that one ton of oil is spilled for
every million tons of oil transported. This is equal to about 0.0001 percent.
Radioactive substances are produced in the form of waste from nuclear power plants,
and from the industrial, medical, and scientific use of radioactive materials. Specific
forms of waste are uranium and thorium mining and refining. The last form of water
pollution is heat. Heat is a pollutant because increased temperatures result in the
deaths of many aquatic organisms. These decreases in temperatures are caused when
a discharge of cooling water by factories and power plants occurs.

Classifying water pollution

The major sources of water pollution can be classified as municipal, industrial, and
agricultural. Municipal water pollution consists of waste water from homes and
commercial establishments. For many years, the main goal of treating municipal
wastewater was simply to reduce its content of suspended solids, oxygen-demanding
materials, dissolved inorganic compounds, and harmful bacteria. In recent years,
however, more stress has been placed on improving means of disposal of the solid
residues from the municipal treatment processes. The basic methods of treating
municipal wastewater fall into three stages: primary treatment, including grit removal,
screening, grinding, and sedimentation; secondary treatment, which entails oxidation
of dissolved organic matter by means of using biologically active sludge, which is
then filtered off; and tertiary treatment, in which advanced biological methods of
nitrogen removal and chemical and physical methods such as granular filtration and
activated carbon absorption are employed. The handling and disposal of solid
residues can account for 25 to 50 percent of the capital and operational costs of a
treatment plant (Figure 4).
 Figure 4 A schematic of wastewater treatment

The characteristics of industrial waste waters can differ considerably both within
and among industries. The impact of industrial discharges depends not only on their
collective characteristics, such as biochemical oxygen demand and the amount of
suspended solids, but also on their content of specific inorganic and organic
substances. Three options are available in controlling industrial wastewater. Control
can take place at the point of generation in the plant; wastewater can be pretreated for
discharge to municipal treatment sources; or wastewater can be treated completely at
the plant and either reused or discharged directly into receiving waters.

Agriculture, including commercial livestock and poultry farming, is the source of

many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and groundwater. These
contaminants include both sediment from erosion cropland and compounds of
phosphorus and nitrogen that partly originate in animal wastes and commercial
fertilizers. Animal wastes are high in oxygen demanding material, nitrogen and
phosphorus, and they often harbor pathogenic organisms.
 Wastes from commercial feeders are contained and disposed of on land; their
main threat to natural waters, therefore, is from runoff and leaching. Control may
involve settling basins for liquids, limited biological treatment in aerobic or anaerobic
lagoons and a variety of other methods.

Global water pollution

Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion people lack safe drinking water and that at
least 5 million deaths per year can be attributed to waterborne diseases. With over 70
percent of the planet covered by oceans, people have long acted as if these very bodies
of water could serve as a limitless dumping ground for wastes. Raw sewage, garbage,
and oil spills have begun to overwhelm the diluting capabilities of the oceans, and
most coastal waters are now polluted. Beaches around the world are closed regularly,
often because of high amounts of bacteria from sewage disposal, and marine wildlife
is beginning to suffer. Perhaps the biggest reason for developing a worldwide effort to
monitor and restrict global pollution is the fact that most forms of pollution do not
respect national boundaries.

The first major international conference on environmental issues was held in

Stockholm, Sweden, in 1972 and was sponsored by the United Nations (UN). This
meeting, at which the United States took a leading role, was controversial because
many developing countries were fearful that a focus on environmental protection was
a means for the developed world to keep the undeveloped world in an economically
subservient position. The most important outcome of the conference was the creation
of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

Water quality

Water quality is closely linked to water use and to the state of economic
development. In industrialized countries, bacterial contamination of surface water
caused serious health problems in major cities throughout the mid 1800s.
By the turn of the century, cities in Europe and North America began building sewer
networks to route domestic wastes downstream of water intakes. Development of
these sewage networks and waste treatment facilities in urban areas has expanded
tremendously in the past two decades. However, the rapid growth of the urban
population (especially in Latin America and Asia) has outpaced the ability of
governments to expand sewage and water infrastructure. While waterborne diseases
have been eliminated in the developed world, outbreaks of cholera and other similar
diseases still occur with alarming frequency in the developing countries. Since World
War II and the birth of the “chemical age”, water quality has been heavily impacted
worldwide by industrial and agricultural chemicals. Eutrophication of surface waters
from human and agricultural wastes and nitrification of groundwater from agricultural
practices has greatly affected large parts of the world. Acidification of surface waters
by air pollution is a recent phenomenon and threatens aquatic life in many area of the
world. In developed countries, these general types of pollution have occurred
sequentially with the result that most developed countries have successfully dealt with
major surface water pollution. In contrast, however, newly industrialized countries
such as China, India, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico are now facing all these issues
simultaneously.

Conclusion

Clearly, the problems associated with water pollution have the capabilities to disrupt
life on our planet to a great extent. Congress has passed laws to try to combat water
pollution thus acknowledging the fact that water pollution is, indeed, a serious issue.
But the government alone cannot solve the entire problem. It is ultimately up to us, to
be informed, responsible and involved when it comes to the problems we face with
our water. We must become familiar with our local water resources and learn about
ways for disposing harmful household wastes so they don’t end up in sewage
treatment plants that can’t handle them or landfills not designed to receive hazardous
materials.
 In our yards, we must determine whether additional nutrients are needed before
fertilizers are applied, and look for alternatives where fertilizers might run off into
surface waters. We have to preserve existing trees and plant new trees and shrubs to
help prevent soil erosion and promote infiltration of water into the soil. Around our
houses, we must keep litter, pet waste, leaves, and grass clippings out of gutters and
storm drains. These are just a few of the many ways in which we, as humans, have
the ability to combat water pollution. As we head into the 21st century, awareness
and education will most assuredly continue to be the two most important ways to
prevent water pollution. If these measures are not taken and water pollution
continues, life on earth will suffer severely.

Global environmental collapse is not inevitable. But the developed world must
work with the developing world to ensure that new industrialized economies do not
add to the world's environmental problems. Politicians must think of sustainable
development rather than economic expansion. Conservation strategies have to become
more widely accepted, and people must learn that energy use can be dramatically
diminished without sacrificing comfort. In short, with the technology that currently
exists, the years of global environmental mistreatment can begin to be reversed.

Acknowledgement

This article is based the information sourced from the publications of several
experts in the field. I wish to acknowledge all the authors.