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Learning about Water as a Resource

Previous 1-7 Topics

 

8.

 

What is "good" water?

 

9.

 

What are pollutants?

 

10.

 

What are harmful microorganisms?

 

11.

 

What are natural solutes?

 

12.

 

How is water cleaned and tested?

 

13.

 

How is drinking water cleaned?

 

14.

 

How is wastewater cleaned?

       

What is "good" water?

A girl drinking water from a fountain

© Bart Simpson

Humans use water.

The term “water quality” is used to describe how good a water source is for human use. The idea of water quality would be easy to deal with if all water sources were either “good” or “not good.” The real world is more complicated than that. There are all degrees of “goodness” of water. That is because many substances can affect water quality, and their concentrations can range from very low to very high. The quality of water required also depends on its intended use. For example, the quality of water that is meant for drinking (“potable” water) is different from the quality of water that can be used irrigation of fields.

 

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Fossil of the skull of a saber-toothed cat, an extinct mammal that lived in the Pleistocene epoch. Albert Copley © Oklahoma University; Image Courtesy of the Earth Science World Image Bank.  Photo ID: hn81e5

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Last updated:July 23, 2008


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