Ways to solve water scarcity. Reasons for the shortage of fresh water

Fresh water- one of the most important natural resources for humans. The renewal of fresh water resources is due to everyone known.

Approximately 525 thousand cubic meters evaporate from the surface of the earth annually. m. of water, and most of the water vapor, namely 86%, we are given the oceans and seas. On land, the evaporation of liquid reaches 1250 mm per year. But it is worth noting that half is formed as a result of the release of excess moisture by plants, the so-called transpiration. This natural distillation uses 20% of the sun's energy. Water vapor in the form of precipitation falls on the earth and replenishes the oceans, seas, glaciers, surface and ground waters.

Freshwater, oddly enough, makes up only 2% of the hydrosphere. They are able to constantly renew, which is a very good indicator. The rate of renewal of fresh water determines the availability of resources to humans. 85% of such waters are concentrated, of course, in glaciers. The rate of water exchange in them reaches up to 8000 years, which is less than in the ocean itself.

As for the surface waters of the land, they can be renewed 500 times faster than the ocean. But the renewal of river waters takes only 10, maximum 12 days. The waters of the rivers are of the greatest practical importance for man.

One of the most important sources of fresh water for humans is rivers. But today we are more and more often faced with fresh water problem... Many rivers currently carry industrial waste, which unfortunately ends up in the oceans and seas. Used fresh water is returned by humans to rivers as waste water. The growth of wastewater treatment plants today lags behind the rate of water consumption. But this is not the worst thing, everything is still ahead!

The water used in industry cannot be completely purified. Most of the dissolved inorganic compounds and about 10% of organic harmful substances settle in clean wastewater. Such water can be consumed only after repeated mixing with pure natural water, therefore, the ratio of the amount of waste, even purified, and river waters is important here.

It consists in the following: it is, first of all, the deterioration of its quality. The water becomes unusable, that is, cooking and drinking.

As the world water balance shows, 2200 cubic meters of water are consumed for all types of water use. m per year. Almost 20% of all the world's fresh water is used to dilute wastewater. According to the 2000 data, it can be seen that even if the water consumption rate is reduced and all wastewater is purified, 30-35 thousand cubic meters will be consumed annually to dilute the effluent. m. per year, and this is very, very much. In many parts of the world, water resources have already been depleted, and somewhere they are nearing depletion. It is worth considering, is this a good thing?

Humanity needs to change its water use strategy. This can be: the transition to a closed water supply, isolation of the anthropogenic water cycle, ultimately can help in solving the problem of fresh water. a sharp decrease in the volume of consumed water and wastewater.

Despite the large reserves of fresh water, they can be quickly depleted due to unsustainable water use and pollution. In many countries, already scarce fresh water supplies are polluted. Pollutants, depending on their origin and chemical structure, can be subdivided into several classes.

Not on a single planet in the solar system, except for the Earth, has been found on the surface of water masses, which form a discontinuous hydrosphere. The hydrosphere includes: the waters of the World Ocean, lakes, rivers, reservoirs, glaciers, atmospheric vapors, groundwater. The world's oceans account for 70.8% of the Earth's surface. As for reserves, 94% of the total amount of water in the hydrosphere is concentrated in the World Ocean. Due to the high salinity, these reserves are almost never used for household needs.

The largest reserves of fresh water (about 80% of the world) are concentrated in natural ice in mountain glaciers, on the glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica. Fresh water in glaciers is preserved in a solid state for a very long period, and the volume of fresh water available for use is very small and, excluding glaciers, amounts to only 0.4% of the entire hydrosphere.

However, the largest reserves of water on our planet are concentrated in its depths. VI Vernadsky estimated all the waters of the earth's crust to be approximately equal in volume to the waters in the World Ocean. But a significant part of it is in a state chemically associated with minerals. These are mainly thermal, high thermal waters. Their chemical composition varies from the purest fresh waters to the depths of strong brines. Fresh underground waters are mostly located on the surface, at a depth of 1.5-2 km saline is already beginning. Basins of underground fresh or saline waters sometimes form giant artesian reservoirs.

On the territory of our country there are more than 20 thousand rivers and streams, more than 10 thousand lakes, most of which are concentrated in the Vitebsk region and more than 150 reservoirs. The territory of Belarus has good conditions for replenishment of groundwater reserves. However, to a large extent, surface waters, especially at the end of the 1980s, were subjected to anthropogenic pollution. Belarusian water contains oil products, nitrates, phenols, heavy metal salts. Unfortunately, the mineralization of the largest rivers in Belarus has increased. And recently it has been noted that many pollutants have got into underground aquifers (the problem of Soligorsk).

Worldwide use and consumption of fresh water increased continuously at the beginning of the 20th century, t continues to increase at an accelerated pace. The main increase in water consumption is associated not with a simple increase in the number of the world's population, as it is sometimes imagined, but with the rapid growth of production and the development of agriculture. The maximum water consumption is associated with agriculture, which currently amounts to about 70-75%, and the share of industrial water consumption, according to forecasts, will increase by 2002 and will amount to only 30-32% of the total. As for municipal water consumption, although its total volume has increased 10 times since the beginning of the century, its share remains insignificant (5-10%).

The highest water consumption noted in Asia (about 60% of the total world, mainly for irrigation) and the smallest in Australia, only 1%. A lot of water is irretrievably lost during evaporation, infiltration from reservoirs and canals. For example, water losses from canals account for up to 30-50% of their water intake. Against the general still almost prosperous world background, almost all underground and river waters in California, Belgium, the Ruhr Basin, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Central Asia have been exhausted. More than 50 countries of the world are now forced to solve the complex problem of supplying the population with drinking water.

The problem of water scarcity is primarily determined by 2 reasons 1) geographic uneven distribution of water resources 2) uneven distribution of the population. About 60% of the land area, which is home to a third of the world's population, is arid regions experiencing an acute shortage of fresh water.

If we formulate the overall quantitative aspect of the problem of water resources, then we can say that on a global scale the problem of lack of fresh water does not exist as long as its supply is large enough to meet all the needs of growing humanity. At the same time, in a number of regions of the world, a local problem of water scarcity has arisen and is taking and has already taken threatening measures due to the uneven distribution of water resources, which, first of all, requires a corresponding change in water resources management. This problem is complicated many times over by another sad aspect - the deterioration of water quality.

There are ways to overcome the water crisis, and humanity will undoubtedly solve this problem, albeit at a high cost. Now no one doubts the simple truth, which was known from ancient times to the inhabitants of the deserts, that one has to pay for water and pay dearly. There are several ways to compensate for the lack of fresh water in a particular point of the planet: 1) Desalting salt water and converting it into drinkable and household water. The simplest and most famous is distillation or distillation, which has been known to man since ancient times. So far, this is the most promising method of seawater desalination, although it requires high costs and energy consumption. The second way is the direct use of solar energy for heating and distilling water, 2) inter-basin redistribution of river flow (Vileika system), 3) the use of Antarctic icebergs as a source of fresh water is already being considered quite seriously and there are a number of projects for towing icebergs to the shores of the USA, Australia, Saudi Arabia (for example, let's say that a sufficiently large iceberg can provide a six-month demand for fresh water for the whole of Australia), 4) construction of superdeep wells in a number of countries with arid deserts, 5) Improvement of recycled water supply. In Japan, for example, a system has been introduced in which water is first used by the population, and then, after primary treatment, is supplied to industrial needs. In Israel, the recycling of water in greenhouses has been introduced in large volumes.

Pollution of fresh ecosystems and waters of the World Ocean. The main problem of fresh waters of our time is their progressively growing pollution with industrial, agricultural and household waste. If the discharge of wastewater does not exceed the natural ability of the hydrosphere to self-purify, then for a long time nothing unpleasant happens. Otherwise, degradation and poisoning of fresh water takes place. Calculations show that even now up to 50% of the world's river flow is spent on diluting wastewater. The construction of expensive treatment facilities only postpones the terms of high-quality depletion of water resources, but does not solve the problem, which creates the problem of clean water in general. We are not talking about a quantitative shortage of water resources, but about the purity of water. Freshwater pollution pathways:

1) industrial pollution - wastes from the production of synthetic materials, detergents, detergents (they are chemically, biologically stable, not destroyed by aquatic microorganisms and do not settle), salts of heavy metals.

2) washed off rainfall from the fields of synthetic pesticides and products of their metabolism, which are highly persistent in the biosphere: as you know, traces of DDT were found in the body of polar bears in the Arctic and penguins in Antarctica, and some underdeveloped countries still use DDT.

3) the removal of excess mineral fertilizers from the fields, especially nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, resulting in eutrophication, blooming of many reservoirs, especially large reservoirs with slow water movement and abundant shallow waters.

4) water pollution by oil and oil products. This type of contamination drastically reduces the self-cleaning ability of water due to the gas-tight surface of the film. For example, 1 ton of oil covers the water surface with a thin film over an area of ​​12 km 2.

5) biological pollutants containing waste of living cells (production of fodder protein, medicines)

6) thermal pollution by waste water from thermal and nuclear power plants. Chemically, these waters are pure, but they cause drastic changes in the composition of the biota.

7) salinization of waters used in irrigated agriculture and discharged with drainage runoff or seepage waters.

To determine the class of surface water pollution, the following gradations are used: very clean water, clean, moderately clean, moderately polluted, polluted, dirty, very dirty ... The most polluted river on the territory of Belarus is the Svisloch river below the city of Minsk. According to Min. natural resources in 1992, 705 m 3 of sewage was discharged into the river every day. Dirty rivers: Mukhavets, Dnieper, Yaselda, r. Ulla, v-shch Loshitsa, v-shche Zaslavskoe.

Small rivers (no more than 100 km long) suffer even more from pollution, which, incidentally, was observed in Belarus due to anthropogenic erosion, which leads to siltation and the impact of large livestock complexes. Due to their lack of water and small length, small rivers are the most vulnerable links in river ecosystems in terms of their sensitivity to anthropogenic loads.

Ocean pollution is mainly associated with the intake of a huge amount of anthropogenic harmful substances up to 30 thousand different compounds in the amount of 1.2 billion tons annually. The main routes of entry of pollutants are 1) direct discharge and intake of toxicants with river runoff, from atmospheric air, 2) as a result of the destruction or flooding of waste and poisonous gases directly in the sea areas, 3) by sea and during tanker accidents. About 500 thousand tons of DDT have already been concentrated in the waters of the world's oceans, and this amount is increasing every year. As I said, a particular danger to marine ecosystems is oil pollution... Already, more than 20% of the ocean's surface is covered with oil films. Such thinnest films are capable of disrupting the most important physicochemical processes in the ocean, which negatively affect the already established stable hydrocenoses, for example, the dying off of corals, which are very sensitive to the purity of the water. Suffice it to recall the accident on March 18, 1967 of the Torrey Canyon tanker with a cargo of crude oil off the coast of Great Britain. He hit the reefs and all the oil - 117 thousand tons. poured out into the sea. At that time, mankind realized for the first time what kind of danger accidents of large-capacity tankers could pose. During the liquidation of the accident, in order to set fire to and thus destroy the spilled oil, the tanker was bombed from the air. 98 bombs, 45 tons were dropped. napalm and 90 tons. kerosene. As a result of the disaster, about 8000 seabirds alone were killed.

4) Nuclear pollution. The main sources of radioactive contamination are: 1) nuclear weapons tests, 2) nuclear waste that is directly thrown into the sea, 3) nuclear submarine accidents, 4) radioactive waste disposal. During the tests of nuclear weapons, especially before 1963, when the tests were carried out in the atmosphere, and the atmosphere was emitted a huge amount of radionuclides, which subsequently fell into the world ocean with precipitation. For a quarter of a century USA, England, France 259 explosions in the atmosphere, total power 106 megatons And the country that shouted most of all for the ban of nuclear tests (USSR) called 470 nuclear explosions with a capacity of more 500 megatons For example, only on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago was 130 nuclear explosions and from them 87 in the atmosphere. A nuclear bomb with a power of more than 200 megatons - world record. Operation of three underground nuclear reactors and a radiochemical plant for the production of plutonium, as well as other production facilities in Krasnoyarsk -26. led to radioactive contamination of the Yenisei for 1500 km and these radioactive contamination got into the Arctic Ocean. A significant danger is represented by 11 thousand containers with radioactive waste, as well as 15 emergency reactors from nuclear boats, dumped in the Kara Sea (near the Novaya Zemlya archipelago).

Strukova Valeria

Today people face global problems. Their failure to resolve them threatens the very existence of humanity. The problem of fresh drinking water has already come to the fore. People are forced to use water for drinking purposes that does not meet hygienic requirements, which poses a serious threat to their health.

A lot of attention is paid to the issue of the shortage of drinking water. A person affects the environment in a very negative way. Despite the fact that there is less and less fresh water on Earth, people use it unwisely, disrupting the ecological balance, without thinking about future generations. Water pollution by industrial waste, agricultural production has a detrimental effect on the environment, leading to the accumulation of heavy metals (trace elements) and toxic elements; it is dangerous for both animals and humans. Today, the consequences of deteriorating water conditions are already expressed in a number of global, regional and local environmental problems related to the state of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and human health. The topic I have chosen is very relevant in our time.

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Western Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Samara Region

District competition of research projects of junior schoolchildren "Gulliver"

Section

Ecology

JOB TITLE

Performed:

Strukova Valeria

students of 3 "B" grade

GBOU SOSH №10

Syzran

Work supervisor:

Elena G. Kosterina

primary school teacher

G. Syzran, 2014

Introduction

Main part

1. Water is the source of life.

Practical part

1. Results of the survey
2. Experiment Results

Conclusion

Resources used

Appendix

INTRODUCTION

Relevance

Today people face global problems. Their failure to resolve them threatens the very existence of humanity. The problem of fresh drinking water has already come to the fore. People are forced to use water for drinking purposes that does not meet hygienic requirements, which poses a serious threat to their health.

A lot of attention is paid to the issue of the shortage of drinking water. A person affects the environment in a very negative way. Despite the fact that there is less and less fresh water on Earth, people use it unwisely, disrupting the ecological balance, without thinking about future generations. Water pollution by industrial waste, agricultural production has a detrimental effect on the environment, leading to the accumulation of heavy metals (trace elements) and toxic elements; it is dangerous for both animals and humans. Today, the consequences of deteriorating water conditions are already expressed in a number of global, regional and local environmental problems related to the state of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and human health.The topic I have chosen is very relevant in our time.

Hypothesis:

Let's assume that the tap water is really clean.

Objective of the project:

Comparison of tap water and bottled water.

Tasks:

• Find and summarize facts about water known to science;
• Determine in the available ways what substances are contained in the water we drink;
• Find out whether the substances contained in it bring harm or benefit to human health.

Research methods:

• study of theoretical sources;
• questioning;
• observation;
• analysis of experimental material;
• comparison;
• generalization.

Object of study:

Tap water and bottled water

Subject of study:

Water composition.

MAIN PART

1. Water is the source of life.

“This is not to say that water is necessary for life:

She is life ",

So said Saint-Exupery

about this liquid that we drink

without thinking too much.

Since ancient times, man has treated water as one of the most important miracles. It was believed that the gods brought water to people.

The ancient Slavs prayed on the banks of rivers, lakes and other sources, believing that prayers would save their lands from drought and cause rain.

Water existed in the Universe in the form of ice or steam long before the emergence of our planet. She settled on specks of dust and pieces of cosmic particles. From the combination of these materials, the Earth was formed, and water formed an underground ocean in the very center of the planet. Volcanoes and geysers have shaped our young planet for millennia. They spewed fountains of hot water, a large amount of steam and gases from the bowels of the Earth. This vapor enveloped our planet like a blanket.

One more part of the water came to us from space in the form of huge blocks of ice, which werethe tail of the largest comets that bombarded our young planet.

The surface of the Earth was gradually cooling down. The water vapor began to turn into liquid. Rains fell on our planet, filling future oceans with seething dirty water. It took many years tothe oceans are cold, cleared and steelas we know them today:salty blue watersand cover most of the Earth's surface.Therefore, the Earth is called - BLUE PLANET.

The only planet in the solar system where life originated is our Earth. There are many opinions about the origin of life on Earth, but they all agree thatthe basis for the origin of life was water.

Most of the volcanoes were submerged by the waters of the first ocean. But volcanoes continued to erupt under water, supplying heated water and minerals dissolved in it from the bowels of the Earth. And there,at an amazing depth, near volcanoes, according to many scientists, and life was born.

The most the first living organisms were bacteriaand blue-green algae... They don't need sunshine to livethey existed thanks to volcanic heat and minerals dissolved in water... But how did they withstand such high temperatures emanating from volcanoes?

Nowadays, in the ocean depths, as well as many centuries ago, there are amazing hot springs smoking with white and black steam, they are called underwater smokers. Near them live many species of marine animals that have adapted to this environment and, of course, bacteria.

But how did the first living organisms come about?

Scientists have discovered in space a large number of molecules (these are the "bricks" of which all living and non-living things are composed) from which the first living organisms could have formed. They could get to our planet together with water. Or maybe not molecules, but bacteria came to us from outer space?

They constantly amaze people with their ability to walk through fire and water.

They were found in Egyptian mummies and in the nose of a mammoth. In an oil well and ice in Antarctica at a depth of four kilometers. They were found in the water at a nuclear power plant. They were all alive and well and continued to reproduce.

Or maybe life on Earth originated simultaneously in different ways? Until the end, this secret of nature is not revealed.

Exactly one thing: there was everything on earth for the origin of life,

all that was needed was the conditions for their connection. Sea water became these favorable conditions for the origin of life and its development. And underwater volcanoes provided heat and food.

About 400 million years ago, the seas began to grow shallow, the bays dry up. Drying lakes and swamps remained in their place. To maintain their bodies on land, these animals required strong limbs and a strong spine.

But as a memory of the place of origin of life, the embryos of animals, birds and humans have preserved the signs of a fish embryo.After all, we have a common cradle of the origin of life- Ocean ... Nature has made sure that we do not forget about it. And the Earth has preserved for us samples of plants and animals living in those distant times. She wrote her story with bone and leaf prints, shells, sand and silt.

For a long time, people settled along the banks of rivers. The river gave drink, fed, washed. On the rivers you can swim to the sea, get to other countries. The villages along the rivers turned into cities.

Canals stretched to ancient Rome from the distant hills, where cold springs gushed from the ground. Tall stone arches held them to themselves. Clean water diverged to houses, fountains, Roman baths, and dirty water went underground.

In Babylon, high above the earth, lush gardens have sprung up. This beauty seemed like a miracle under the hot sun. Only here the main miracle was water. She went through the channels to each tree.

The work that people found in the water became more and more cunning. The whole world warmed tea in teapots, and as soon as the water boiled, the lid began to jump. What if you heat up a lot of water and make the steam do useful work? After all, this steam throws up the lid. This is how steam engines appeared. Now water in the form of steam moved steamers and steam locomotives. She made machines work in factories and plants.

Steam engines were replaced by electric ones. But electricity helps us get water too. For this, people built hydroelectric power stations on large rivers.

From ancient times to the present day, every second, water has been working for the good of man.

1. Water is the cause of global catastrophes.

Rain on time is always a blessing. The same cannot be said for the violent downpours. Floods caused by heavy rains are a perennial calamity that haunts people.

Most of all troubles are brought to people by storm waves - tsunamis.

Natural disasters are emergencies that are almost impossible to avoid, as they are often caused by uncontrolled natural events. However, timely forecasting can save lives and not lead to global losses.

Water disasters are doubly dangerous. The flood is terrible in scale, which harms the health of people, leads to death and causes material damage.

For reasons of occurrence, the following types of floods are distinguished:

High water is a phenomenon of a systematically recurring rise in the water level in rivers, lakes, and seas. High water can be caused by heavy rainfall, melting snow;

A flood is a short-term, but intense and sharp rise of water in rivers;

Blockage of the river bed as a result of the accumulation of ice floes can lead to jam or jam (if the ice is loose);

Wind surges of large amounts of water occur as a result of rising water levels on sea coasts;

A water spill can occur as a result of an emergency discharge of water from reservoirs and during the breakthrough of hydraulic structures in the form of dams, dams.

Floods of various kinds are known to history. A terrible flood occurred in 1278 in the Netherlands, when hundreds of settlements were under water. In 1887, the flood of the Yellow River in China took with it more than 1 million people, and in 1931 in China, a flood flooded 4 million houses! In 1889, as a result of heavy downpours near the American city of Johnstone, a dam burst, a stream of water rushed at a speed of 60 km / h and destroyed more than 10,000 buildings.

PRACTICAL PART

1. Ecological problem of clean water

The supply of clean fresh water is rapidly decreasing as a result of the global pollution of the hydrosphere by wastewater containing toxic components.

Hundreds of enterprises emit harmful substances into the atmosphere and water bodies, as a result of which animals and plants die, water bodies are polluted.

Domestic sewerage, industrial and agricultural wastewater pollute rivers and worsen water supply conditions.

The scale of pollution and depletion of water resources is now threatening. The calculations of ecologists have shown that if such a rate of consumption of fresh water is maintained by 2100, mankind may be left without water!

It is intended to draw public attention to the state of water bodies, to think about the role of water in the life of every person on Earth; to draw attention to the problems of lack of drinking water.

Drinking low-quality water, a person cannot be healthy. Everyone should be able to assess the quality of drinking water.

1. Results of the survey

It was interesting for me to know what the other children think about the water that flows from the tap. I have compiled and completed a questionnaire. (Annex 1)

35 children participated in the survey.

From the results of the questionnaire, I learned that the opinion of my classmates does not coincide with my hypothesis that the water in the tap is clean.

Thus, the majority of the surveyed students understand the problem of drinking water quality and take care of their health, purifying water in accessible ways, but the health of a student who regularly uses tap water is of concern.

1. Experiment Results

Comparison of the quality of tap and bottled water.

(Appendix 2)

1. Determination of water transparency.

(pouring water into a glass, looked to see if the printed text was visible)

Tap and bottled water allows you to read the text at its maximum mark.

Conclusion: both samples are transparent.

1. Determination of the intensity of the smell of water.

Conclusion: According to the table of odor intensity, we got the following results: tap water - 1 point, bottled water - 0 points.

1. Determination of water hardness.

What is hard water

Hardness is the property of water due to the presence in it

soluble calcium and magnesium salts. The degree of hardness depends

from the presence of calcium and magnesium salts in water (hardness salts) and is measured in milligram - equivalent per liter (meq / l). According to GOST standards, water is more than 7 mg - eq. l - is considered to be tough. Rigidity can create problems. When taking a bath, washing dishes, doing laundry, or preparing food, hard water is much less effective than soft water.

Ca and Mg cations interact with anions to form compounds (hardness salts) that can precipitate. (Ca 2+ interacts with HCO 3-, Mg 2+ with SO 42.

It turns out that the harder the water, the worse it has an effect on the body. 1. Water hardness adversely affects the skin, causing premature aging. When hardness salts interact with detergents, deposits are formed in the form of foam, which, after drying, remains in the form of a microscopic crust on human skin and hair. The main negative effect of these sediments on humans is that they destroy the natural fatty film (which protects the skin from aging and unfavorable climatic influences), which is always covered with normal skin.

Because of this, pores are clogged, dryness, flaking, and dandruff appear.

The skin not only ages early, but becomes allergic and sensitive to irritation. 2. High hardness has a negative effect on the digestive system. Hardness salts, combining with animal proteins found in our food, settle on the walls of the esophagus, stomach, intestines, interfering with peristalsis, causing dysbiosis, disrupting the work of enzymes and poisoning the body.

The constant intake of water with increased hardness leads to a decrease in gastric motility, to the accumulation of salts in the body. 3. Most of all, the cardiovascular system suffers from water overflowing with calcium and magnesium ions. (Ca controls the heart rate, is necessary for contraction and relaxation, including the heart muscle) 4. The constant intake of water with increased hardness leads to joint disease (arthritis, polyarthritis). In the human body, seven main types of bone connection can be distinguished, providing various degrees of their mobility. Between the connected elements there is a transparent yellow liquid, called synovial in medicine. It acts as a lubricant, allowing the bones to rotate easily relative to each other at the junction. If, instead of such a liquid, there are inorganic minerals supplied with drinking water, and poisonous crystals, then each such movement will be given to a person with difficulty, causing painful sensations. 5. It is believed that water hardness leads to the formation of stones in the kidneys and biliary tract. An interesting fact is that kidney stones are formed due to a lack of calcium in food. Scientific experiments prove that stones are not formed from calcium absorbed from food. Experiments have been carried out using radioactive labels on calcium in food. When kidney stones and spurs were later examined, they did not contain a single radioactive calcium. Thus, it has been proven that 100% of kidney stones and bone spurs are built from calcium leached from the bones to neutralize the acidity of body fluids. On the other hand, Mg is a Ca antagonist in metabolic processes. With an excess of Mg, the excretion of Ca from the body increases, that is, Mg begins to displace Ca from tissues and bones, which leads to disruption of normal bone formation.

To determine the hardness of the water, a soapy solution was prepared and heated. The test tube was shaken. We are watching. We continued to pour the soap solution in portions, shaking the contents of the test tube each time.

As a result of the studies, it was revealed that in tap water, soap foams poorly, a white precipitate has formed, but in bottled water there is no such precipitate, and the soap foams well.

Conclusion: Tap water is hard

Hard water has a negative impact on human health (based on the studied literature). Stiffness can have a negative effect on the mineral balance in the human body, having a negative effect on the digestive system. It negatively affects the joints.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study do not support the original hypothesis that the water in the faucet is really clean. We all use tap water and need to know what it contains. More detailed monitoring of the quality of drinking water is required.

There is nothing more precious in the world than ordinary pure water.

Without it, there is no and cannot be life. Water must be protected. This must be understood and remembered by everyone, no matter what path he has charted for himself in the future.

Before it is too late, we need to do everything necessary to preserve the reservoirs and save our blue planet, and that means ourselves.

List of used sources of information

1. http://nowa.cc/showthread.php?p=3834400
2. http://www.rodnik35.ru/index.php?id=rodniki
3. http://club.itdrom.com/gallery/gal_photo/scenery/421.html
4. http://www.nnews.nnov.ru/news/2006/04/28/
5. http://newsreaders.ru/showthread.php?t=2572
6. http://altai-photo.ru/publ/istorija_altaja/15-2-11
7. http://fabulae.ru/prose_b.php?id=11476

8. ANNEX 1

   Application form

   ____________________________________________________

   ____________________________________________________

   ____________________________________________________

   ____________________________________________________

   Application form

   1. Do you think the tap water is clean?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Do you drink water from the tap?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Does the quality of drinking water affect our health?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Do I need to purify water using filters?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Is it possible to purify water from harmful substances by boiling?

   ____________________________________________________

   Application form

   1. Do you think the tap water is clean?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Do you drink water from the tap?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Does the quality of drinking water affect our health?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Do I need to purify water using filters?

   ____________________________________________________

   1. Is it possible to purify water from harmful substances by boiling?

   ____________________________________________________

   APPENDIX 2

   Lack of fresh water on our planet - one of the most pressing problems that humanity faced at the end of the twentieth - the beginning of this century. At the same time, every year its relevance only increases, both in connection with the growth of the human population (currently more than 7.3 billion people according to the UN), and in connection with the development of industry. Let's talk about the reasons and solutions to this problem in more detail.

   Fresh water reserves on Earth

   The total volume of water on our planet is colossal - more than 1.4 billion cubic kilometers, but fresh water is only slightly more than 2% of this, only 35 million cubic kilometers, of which only about 200 thousand cubic kilometers - less 1% of the total fresh water reserves can be effectively used by humans in their life, since the bulk of fresh water is either deep underground or far from populated areas (most of the reserves are ice in the Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland).

   The main volume of water on Earth is the endless waters of the World Ocean, once seemingly endless ancient, hence the name Finisterre (“end of the earth” in ancient Greek), given by the pioneers to the westernmost cape of Europe, located in modern Spain. View from it to the endless waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the photo below:

   

   Fresh water reserves used by humans are rivers, lakes, soil waters and shallow underground water - with a depth of 100-200 meters. They are distributed extremely unevenly - a third of the world's fresh water reserves are located in Latin America, another quarter in Asia, while the countries of the Middle East and North America account for only 1% of the world's fresh water reserves. Well, in North Africa with its Sahara Desert - and even less. About a third of the land area inhabited by humans falls on arid belts, where water shortages are especially acute.

   But apart from purely geographical features, there is much more to the problem. lack of fresh water the host activity of a person affects. We'll talk about this in the next section.

   Reasons for the shortage of fresh water on Earth

   It is easy to guess that the main reason for the shortage of fresh water is the growth of the human population - more people, respectively, they need more water for eating and for hygiene. In addition, there is a huge number of industrial industries that consume water in huge quantities both as raw material and as a cooling agent. And what can we say about agriculture - in addition to irrigation, a large amount of water is spent on raising livestock and poultry. It is hard to believe, but for the production of 1 kg of beef, 15,000 liters of water must be spent! Pork is less “water-consuming” - 6,000 liters of water are enough to produce 1 kg.

   Naturally, climate change also plays a role - global warming, increasing the territory occupied by desert and semi-desert regions, and leading to the melting of the eternal ice of the Arctic and Antarctic, also reduces the supply of fresh water in the world. According to UN experts, every year the total water consumption of mankind is growing by more than 64 million cubic kilometers. And if now the number of people deprived of access to satisfactorily purified fresh water is half a billion people (mainly in Africa), then by 2030, if nothing changes, their number will already be 5 billion people, or 2/3 of the world's population. by this time.

   On the whole, the picture is rather pessimistic. Can anything be done to prevent the coming shortage of fresh water on the planet?

   Ways to tackle water scarcity

   Naturally, scientists not only make predictions, but also try to suggest ways to solve this problem. Around the world, environmental movements are gaining momentum to stop the destruction of our planet's water resources. More and more people around the world are signing petitions to governments to take action. The marches held in many cities around the world last year, calling for an end to global warming, gathered a huge number of participants - in New York alone, more than 300 thousand people came to this demonstration - an unprecedented number of people since the protests against the Vietnam War. And governments are forced to reckon with public opinion - developed countries are adopting laws restricting the use of fresh water for industrial needs, more and more countries in the world are joining the Kyoto Protocol, the next agreement on which is scheduled for December 2015.

   But even at the household level, in every apartment or house, there is an opportunity to make a small contribution to the conservation of the planet's water resources. It is enough just to start taking care of this irreplaceable natural resource - try to start taking a shower instead of a bath, turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, watch out for leaks in the water supply system, etc. Well, for irresponsible citizens, the installation of water meters will be an excellent incentive - the system of payment “on average” or per person, widespread in the past, naturally did not stimulate to. Yes, our country has one of the largest reserves of fresh water in the world, but these reserves are not eternal, therefore, the sooner we think about a more careful attitude to water, and to all nature, the more chances that our children will not have to live in conditions of a shortage of water resources.

   The reasons for the emergence and intensification of the shortage of fresh water are considered, it is shown that in the middle of the third decade of the XXI century. this deficit will inevitably take on a global scale and cause a restructuring of the world economy. In the global market, the sectors of water-intensive products, water-saving and water-protection technologies will rapidly develop, while water markets will remain mainly basin-based due to a sharp jump in the cost of transporting water when crossing basin boundaries. Russia has colossal fresh water resources, the use of which will allow to develop the production of various types of water-intensive products to export scales and not only meet the needs of the world community, but also ensure high-quality economic growth in the country.

   The author considers reasons of emergence and strengthening of the deficiency of sweet water, it is shown that in the middle of the third decade of the 21st century this deficiency will inevitably increase in global scales and will cause restructuring of the world economy. Sectors of wet industry, water-efficient and water-protecting technologies will be increasingly developed in the world market while the markets of water will remain generally basinal because of sharp leap in costs for transportation of water when crossing the borders of basins. There are enormous resources of sweet water in Russia which use will allow to develop production of different types of wet industry to export scales and not only to satisfy the requirements of the world community, but also to provide high-quality economic growth in the country.

   1. Introduction

   The lack of fresh water is a phenomenon familiar to mankind since ancient times. More than once he became the cause of crises and social catastrophes. In a traditional society, water shortages occurred on a local scale, and the resulting crises also remained local. But with the development of mankind, the scale of both water shortages and crises increased. It was the water crisis caused by the consequences of the grandiose works on hydro reclamation (namely, the secondary salinization of the soil) that caused the death of the civilization of the Ancient Mesopotamia. Similar manifestations of inept water use led to the economic weakening of Carthage, followed by its subsequent defeat in the wars with Rome and the actual disappearance from the map of the Ancient Mediterranean. Nowadays, the water crisis is taking on a global scale.

   An unacceptably high water intake from many rivers, as well as from underground sources, causes a change in the regime of water bodies, which is also facilitated by the suppression and transformation of natural ecosystems in catchments and the construction of all kinds of hydraulic structures. The World Commission on Water stated that more than half of the world's major rivers "are seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the ecosystems surrounding them, threatening the health and livelihoods of the people who depend on them."

   By 1950, 5 thousand dams with a height of more than 15 m were built in the world. Now there are more than 45 thousand such dams. In the last half century, an average of two dams have been built per day. However, the possibilities of large-scale hydrotechnical construction that meet the criteria of economic feasibility in Europe and the United States have practically been exhausted - it is these, and not environmental restrictions, as is often announced, that explain the very noticeable decline in such activity in these regions in recent years. In developing countries, the level of use of hydroelectric potential is, naturally, noticeably lower, and accordingly, there are more opportunities for the construction of large hydraulic structures. The decline in large-scale hydro-construction in Europe and North America is explained by the fact that there are very few hydro resources left there that are not yet involved in the economy (and in France and a number of other Western European countries, they are almost completely gone). There are many unused resources in Asia, Africa and South America, where the reason for the slowdown in hydro construction is different: a lack of capital investments. The needs of industrial enclaves controlled by transnational corporations are met, while the domestic needs of developing countries are not of interest to wealthy investors. Let us emphasize that the expansion of water use requires balanced decisions, otherwise it can lead to extremely negative consequences.

   Thus, the world reserves of fresh water, which could be involved in the economy at reasonable costs, are close to depletion. Meanwhile, world population growth will continue for at least half a century, albeit at a diminishing rate. However, it is not only the additional population that will drive the increased demand for water. It is equally important that this growth is supported by the desire of the population of all countries, and above all developing countries, to improve the quality of life, which is impossible without solving water management problems.

   4. Alternative to the extensive growth of water consumption

   The economic prosperity of developed countries is largely due to the skillful use of economies of scale, when the return of each subsequent unit of costs increases with an increase in production volumes. The reasons for the possibility of economies of scale operate in the manufacturing industry, especially in mass production and high-tech industries. In water use, exploitation of mineral and biological resources, land use, such reasons are covered by other factors - the law is in force diminishing efficiency... The costs of transporting water in the scale of its industrial, drinking and agricultural use (in km 3) undergo a sharp jump when crossing the boundaries of the basin.

   Let us emphasize that we are talking about the industrial and agricultural use of fresh water. Several examples give an idea of ​​the scale of water demand in various industries. A thermal power plant with a capacity of 1 million kW consumes more than 1 km 3 of water per year, a nuclear power plant of the same capacity - at least 1.5 km 3 of water per year. The average water consumption for the production of 1 ton of steel is about 20 m 3, 1 ton of paper - 200 m 3, 1 ton of chemical fiber - more than 4000 m 3.

   Import of 1 ton of grain is equivalent to import of 1000 m 3 of water. The decisive factor for the formation of flows of agricultural products in the world market is the shortage of water. In terms of water intensity of production, the import of food products to North Africa and the Middle East is equivalent to the annual flow of the Nile River. A second Nile is needed - in a sense, virtual, to feed the population of this region with current food production technologies.

   The statement about a sharp jump in the cost of transporting water when crossing the basin boundaries is true precisely for large-scale water use, typical for industry and agriculture. The often repeated statement that a bottle of water is more expensive than a bottle of gasoline, and the assumption that it can be transported in the same ways, is true not so much for water as for bottles. The noted price phenomenon indicates, first of all, what ugly forms the satisfaction of imposed needs sometimes takes in the modern consumer society. This has nothing to do with solving the problem of the global shortage of fresh water.

   The jump in transportation costs is the main reason why water cannot be traded in the same way that oil is traded. Water markets, with very rare exceptions, will always be nothing more than basin-wide (meaning, of course, large basins), so that the mitigation of water shortages in countries where it already occurs and will continue to increase, perhaps either due to the large-scale application of water-saving technologies , either by abandoning the production of water-intensive products and replacing them with imports (or as a result of a change in the end-use system, but this possibility is beyond the scope of our analysis).

   It is estimated that the costs of water management development in accordance with the “as usual” strategy for water supply, sanitation, water treatment, agriculture and environmental protection will amount to USD 180 billion annually. until 2025 (assuming no large-scale flow transfers will take place). This colossal amount can be reduced by an order of magnitude - up to 10-25 billion dollars a year for the next 20 years, if intensive technologies are widely applied. The point, of course, is not only to reduce costs, but also to the fact that these technologies ensure a decrease in the volume of water used and improve its quality in natural sources by reducing anthropogenic impact on them and their catchments, do not destabilize water consumption in the long term, but vice versa. , contribute to its sustainability.

   What are the reserves for saving water during the transition to intensive technologies of water use can be judged from several examples. In 2000, the specific water capacity of the economy in m3 / year per 1 dollar of GDP was: in Russia - 0.3 m3 / year, in Sweden - 0.012 m3 / year, in Great Britain - 0.007 m3 / year, in Belarus - 0.22 m 3 / year. Compared to the 1990 level, the specific water intensity of the Russian economy has doubled, Sweden has remained at the same level, and the UK has halved (none of these countries is water-deficient).

   In the global market, the sector of intensive water use technologies - water-efficient, water-saving and water-protective - will increasingly develop and expand as the global water shortage increases. These technologies are based on the use of a wide range of substances of "high chemistry" and control information and computer systems, sellers here will be developed countries, holders of patents, licenses, "know-how" and other intellectual property, qualified personnel, advanced high-performance industries. In the complementary sector of water-intensive products, sellers can only be countries that have water resources in excess of their domestic needs. Russia belongs to them, second only to Brazil in terms of water supply.

   Degradation of small rivers, unacceptable pollution of large rivers and especially their tributaries are phenomena characteristic of all regions of Russia with developed industry and a relatively high population density. Our practice shows that even very significant water resources can be brought to degradation if they are used carelessly, neglect the elementary rules of water protection, ecological and hydrological requirements - to discharge huge masses of wastewater without sufficient purification, randomly drill wells for the exploitation of groundwater, barbaric to cut down forests in the catchment area, it is illiterate to design and build roads and GTS, litter land in river basins, etc. In terms of this indicator, the Asian part of our country is more like developing countries (35-50%). It would be a disaster if the mass economic development of water resources to the east of the Urals in the future took place in the same anti-ecological (and anti-economic) forms as it took place in the past to the west of it. The involvement of water resources in the economy should take place only in such forms and volumes that guarantee the sustainability of water use, the full preservation of the property of their renewability.

   Let us emphasize that the market for water-intensive products is a market for products, not raw materials. For the effective participation of the country as a seller in this market, natural resource reserves alone are not enough - it is also necessary to use its production, not only the extraction and transportation of raw materials. The resource used - fresh water - is reproducible, inexhaustible (of course, in compliance with water protection rules, compliance with hydrological and environmental standards of operation). In addition, it is a resource that, in principle, is not replaceable by any other, its substitutes can compete with it only up to a certain natural limit, since life itself is based on "wet" technologies, and the lower limit of water use (direct and indirect, through food, etc.) is assigned to a person as a biological organism, regardless of the level of his economic and social development.

   5. The global water crisis and the prospects for the Russian economy

   What are the prospects for Russia's entry into the market of water-intensive products? For the industry, they are undoubtedly very high. All major subsectors are highly water-intensive electric power industry, and Russia has a very solid technological experience and scientific groundwork here. Of course, a significant part of the equipment at our thermal power plants is obsolete and physically worn out, but the prospect of exporting electricity can serve as an incentive for renewal. Russia has colossal reserves of coal, and it is very likely that they will be in demand until fundamentally new methods of generating electricity appear. Naturally, the expansion of the use of coal requires a transition to technologies that provide a radical reduction in the negative impact on the environment. By the way, there is no doubt that the expected new power generation technologies will also be very water-intensive. Water in significant quantities is necessary for metallurgical production, and the USSR 20 years ago was the world leader in terms of volumetric indicators of steel and a number of non-ferrous metals smelting. Are extremely water-consuming petroleum synthesis, polymer chemistry, and, again, this industry is represented in Russia by both industrial enterprises and research teams capable of bringing it to a high level of efficiency. An essential circumstance is the fact that the products of this industry are used in the production of technologies for intensive water use (polymer pipes, filters, etc.). This can become a launching pad for a breakthrough into the high-tech market of this profile. Another water-intensive industry - pulp and paper, which is traditional for our economy, is well supplied in Russia not only with water, but also with its main raw material - wood.

   In studies of water scarcity, however, attention is usually focused on products not from industry, but Agriculture... At first glance, there are no particularly bright prospects for Russia here. The cold climate, the flight of young people from the countryside, depopulated villages, massive alcoholism among the remnants of not only the male, but also the female rural population, the loss of farming traditions - all these are well-known and very negative internal circumstances. Added to them is such a very significant external factor as understated prices for agricultural products on the world market. Nevertheless, the severity of the inevitable global water crisis forces us to carefully consider this direction as well.

   Lowered world food prices are the result of well-planned and implemented policies of developed countries. At the moment, such prices are still profitable for them, just as the lowered oil prices in the 1950s and 1960s were profitable. This will not always be the case. As soon as food shortages begin to be felt on a global scale (precisely on a global scale, and not in individual countries due to crop failures or other relatively random circumstances), and this becomes a factor of international instability, the reason for the intensification of terrorism, etc., prices for agricultural products will begin grow. The harsh climate is often overestimated. Of course, even in the context of global warming, Russia should not hope to become an exporter, for example, of cotton. However, once our country was the main exporter of grain in the world, and this is the best proof that, due to natural conditions, it can play an important role in the food market today. This is not about sowing wheat in the Yana or Indigirka basins. We need to use that huge (for example, on a Western European scale) territory where we have quite acceptable conditions for agriculture. Most likely, we will not have such yields and yields as in France or the Netherlands, but in terms of the cost of production and delivery to an external buyer, our oil is also about eight times more expensive than in Kuwait. Finally, social and demographic factors in the Russian countryside are problems that need to be addressed regardless of what we are going to do on the foreign market. It is possible that migration policy should become one of the decisive moments here. One way or another, but without the revival of agriculture, Russia has no future.

   At present, the basis of the economy of the Russian Federation is the fuel industry, the basis for its development is the very significant reserves of mineral raw materials available in the country. However, these reserves are an irreplaceable resource, and over time they will inevitably run out. The depletion of oil reserves, which is the main item of Russian export and determines the main sources of budget revenue, is predicted in 25-30 years. However, since the 1990s, geological exploration has not fully compensated for the development of exploited deposits by newly discovered ones. Taking this into account, some analysts (as well as the Minister of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, Y. P. Trutnev) predict the depletion of Russian oil reserves in about 15 years. In any case, it is precisely this period that is indicated when they are trying to substantiate the need for a significant improvement in the work of geological exploration and a corresponding increase in allocations for it.

   Natural gas reserves will be depleted later, but it is hardly worth counting on the fact that with the help of this type of hydrocarbon raw material it will be possible to close all the gaps in the economy that will arise due to the depletion of oil reserves. It is obvious that the expansion of gas production will inevitably accelerate the drying up of this source too.

   However, even if the depletion of oil and natural gas reserves in Russia occurs much later, our economy still needs to overcome excessive dependence on the energy market, diversify export production by developing processing industries.

   In discussions about the future of the Russian economy, one usually hears calls for a breakthrough into the post-industrial world, for a transition from a raw material economy to a high-tech one. There are important prerequisites for such a transition, but very serious obstacles cannot be ignored. In terms of specific economic indicators, our country lags significantly behind developed countries. We have an unfavorable demographic situation, its radical change takes a long time. The situation is aggravated by the loss of intellectual resources due to the "brain drain", and although in recent years it has noticeably slowed down, the losses already incurred are quite significant. The lack of funding for Russian science for more than a decade and a half has reduced both its effectiveness and potential. These long-term factors will sharply affect precisely the period that will be key for the transition to high technologies. Therefore, it is unlikely that Russia will be able to overcome the scientific and technical lag behind developed countries in the entire spectrum of high-tech products within two to three decades. Therefore, it is necessary to choose the priority areas of economic development, based on the objective advantages that the country has. It seems that the main advantage of Russia in the "post-oil" period is water resources.

   Water is not the only reproducible resource, so the question arises: is the reasoning about water, albeit with some modifications, applicable to other reproducible resources? The first thing that is remembered in this regard is Forest... Russia is the richest state in the world with forests (as in the case of fresh water, it has almost a quarter of the world's reserves). Undoubtedly, in the future, the forestry and, especially, the timber processing industry should occupy a significantly more significant place in the Russian economy than it does now. However, unlike fresh water, there is no crisis situation with wood in the world and is not predicted. A crisis is undoubtedly taking place if we talk about the safety and biospheric functions of forest ecosystems (man has already cut down about 40% of the world's forests), but this is a completely different story, at least not involving an increase in logging. Further. wood is quite replaceable in most areas of its use with synthetic materials and / or metals, and its use as a source of energy brings forestry closer to agriculture, since it is based on the use of fast-growing species (such as North American pine) planted on forest plantations. In this case, we again return to water as a necessary factor of production. As for other "natural" biological resources, it is difficult to expect that in terms of their importance for the world economy, they will come close to water-intensive products. The exception is mariculture, but, firstly, this is, apparently, a more distant prospect (meaning mass production) than is considered here, and secondly, with a very long coastline, Russia is characterized by two factors that significantly complicate the development of this production: the first - the overwhelming part of our seas - the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean; second, these regions have almost no population.

   The restructuring of the world economy under the pressure of the threat of a global water crisis creates extremely favorable conditions for water-supplied countries, since an increase in demand and prices for water-intensive products is inevitable. Exporters of water-intensive products will find themselves in a position similar to that of today's oil exporters. It will be possible to take advantage of this chance only on condition of serious preparation for the development of export water-intensive industries.

   One of the strategic tasks of managing the development of the Russian economy is to determine which industries are most promising in this aspect, to create favorable conditions for their development, synchronized with the expected inevitable shifts in the world market. It is likely that it is the production of water-intensive products that will become the dominant direction for the Russian economy in the "post-oil" period. These industries should become “customers” for high technologies, specialists, infrastructure, etc. In this regard, the tasks of the country's water management complex (WCC) seem to be very responsible; it includes, on the one hand, the water economy as an infrastructure and resource-supplying industry, on the other, all the main water-user industries. The VHK will play one of the main roles in ensuring the sustainability of the country's economic development. In turn, the water industry will have to ensure, firstly, sustainable water use, and secondly, the inexhaustibility of the exploitation of water resources, their guaranteed reproduction, the preservation of natural mechanisms, and their adequate renewal.

   Nowadays, much attention is paid to the issues of energy security (in various aspects). In the context of the global water crisis, water security will come to the fore. The world community will interpret it as such a distribution of water and water-intensive products in which there is no threat to world stability due to water wars, water terrorism, etc. Accordingly, the world community will be interested in monitoring the efficiency and completeness of water resources use where they are available. Therefore, the interpretation of water security at the national level will imply, firstly, meeting the needs of the country's economy in water resources and, secondly, meeting the needs of the world community in the effective use of excess water resources for the national economy. There is no contradiction between the interests of the world community and national interests, since it is beneficial for the country to efficiently and sustainably use its resources, to sell water-intensive products on the world market at prices that provide at least normal profit. The real contradiction is different: between the interests of the country and the ability of its elite (economic, administrative, political) to ensure adequate observance of these interests.

   The problem of choosing a strategy for the development of the Russian economy in the "post-oil" period is not considered scientifically in either domestic or world literature. The role of water resources as a structure-forming factor for the real sector of the national economy of Russia has not been studied either. The tasks of water management were not set and analyzed for conditions when it turns out to be the central resource-supplying industry. The possibilities of developing the production of water-intensive products in Russia have practically not been studied in the general national economic setting, although work is known in individual industries (hydroelectric power, partly irrigated agriculture) in private settings. A systemic, large-scale, multi- and interdisciplinary scientific study of these problems cannot be postponed until the time when the global water crisis turns from a predictable into a real one, it must be started now.

   
   

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