evaporation takes heat from it's

surrounds

evapotranspiration: plants take water from 

the ground, through it's body and water

evaporates from the top (like a pump)

single most important agent

for sculpting the earth's surface

high % of water - about 65%

we need 6 pints or 1 gallon a day

all water on earth has been recycled

what we've got is what we have

75% of earth is water

3% is freshwater

(most freshwater is ice)

also, more groundwater is not on land 

or in rivers

world wide average annual

precipitation is...

.1 to .15 in.

not quite desert, but close

life as we know it

earth is the only place in the universe to have

water on it's surface

cannot be destroyed

usefullness and availability can change 

mankind tries to control water because:

5 reasons

we need to have enough

for safety (floods)

transportation

electricity

recreation

high specific heat

exists in all 3 states of matter at ordinary

conditions

expands as it freezes

(ice is lighter than water, so rivers can thaw)

upstream: flash floods

quickly over a small area

downstream: extensive regional flooding

can take months or longer

huge areas

• flash flood
• July 1976
• Estes park at bicentenial party
• radar was down
• lots of deaths

• flash flood
• July1982
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• damn burst
• 4 hours, 3 deaths

• flash flood
• July 1997
• from rain
• 5 deaths

• 13 year long flood
• Yu levees
• no dredging - levees w/o dreding are a very bad idea

erode

transport

deposit

whips around at steep parts and goes slower

at point bars

Why we build damns/reservoirs

3 reasons...

create electricity

flood control

recreation 

when you put in a reservoir you change the

environment - reservoir induced seismicity

water court in downtown Greeley is important

from the moment a reservoir fill sitself it is doomed due to sediment

St. Francis damn - big failure

• one of the first big national fights
• rainbow bridge
• glenn canyon
• finally built in the 60's
• maybe now we should drain Lake Powell?
• loses water from storage and evaporation
• could support 5 big cities
• 2000 drought drained 60%
• 1980's was a big flood
• controled floods in 96, 04, 08
• damn broke @ Long Lake and hit estes park

Doctorine of Prior Appropriation

Colorado River Compact

Flood Control Act

1872

if you come out here and find vaulable land, you can have it and claim water if you put it to use

Diversions

C-BT project

Alba B. Adams tunnel

Thorton bought farms in Ault...

1922

Divided the CO river between 7 states 

not enough water to satisfy the law

1928

Direct result of Mississippi River

plan of flood control

damns and resrevoirs, jobs

upset about radioactivity

air pollution

not going to dig it up, leech it out of the water

Northern Integrated Supply Project

ongoing

2 new reservoirs - Glade and Galeton

heligtite water molecules creeping along,

similar to drip stone in CO springs

97.2% ocean

2% glaciers

<1% groundwater

Amazon in Brazil

Congo in Zaire

Yangtze in China

Mississippi in US

stream valley: the channel and surrounding terrain that directly connects water to the stream

valley deepening: rapids and waterfalls

Valley widening: flood plain

Changing base level: meanders

Caverns

Travertine/dripstone

stalgtites \/

stalagmites /\

infilitration...

transpiration...

evapotransipiration...

infilitration: water soaks into the ground

transpiration: plants absorv water and release it back

evapotransipiration: combo of evaporation

and transpiration

drainage basin....

laminar flow...

turbulent flow....

drainage basin: land area that water contributes to

laminar flow: slow flow

turbulent flow: erratic flow

gradient...

discharge...

dissolved load....

gradient: slope

discharge: volume of water flowing past a point within a certain point

dissolved load: brought to s tream by groundwater and dispersed

suspended load...

bed load...

sorting....

suspended load: suspension

bed load: moves along the bottom

sorting: like with like within a river

meanders...

cut off...

flood plain...

meanders: slow moving beds of water

cut off:new short river channels

flood plain: flat plain around rivers

delta...

natural levee...

backswamps....

delta: formed by a quick moving water body having to slow down

natural levee: parallels to river

backswamps: flooded marshes

flood...

zone of saturation...

zone of aeration....

flood: discharge of a stream overflows banks

zone of saturation: how much soil water can hold w/o flooding

zone of aeration: area above water table where the soil, sediment, and rock are not saturated

porosity...

permeability...

aquitards....

porosity: volume of pore spaces

permeability: material indicates its ability to transmit a fluid

aquitards: impermeable layers that hinder water movement

aquifiers...

springs...

hot springs....

aquifiers: water carriers

springs: natural flow of groundwater results

hot springs: warmer than mean annual air temperatures where they occur

geysers...

artesian...

caverns...

geysers: intermittent hot springs with water ejections

artesian: groundwater rises in a well above the level where it was initially encountered

caverns: carved by groundwater's erosion (limestone)

acre foot: 10 to 13k

putting people in bad debt

• cheap source of all precipitation
• in interstital spaces, not rivers or lakes
• porous: like a sponge, sandstone, limestone
• no interstital spaces after a few inches down in the ground
• belt of soil moisture: keeps the roots of plants wet
• water table
• cone of depression: around the water table - drow down

• if water table drow downs it will dry up
• perc test: checking water permeability
• sinhole inks: salt dissolved in oil and oil wells put in cracks = big sinkholes and groundwater pollution
• Ogallala: rock layer, underlies corn