Water Quality

The earth is covered with water, but the quantity available for use by earth’s living inhabitants is limited. Natural and human impacts restrict our access to clean water. This course explores the factors that affect our water supply and solutions that may maintain it. Week one reviews the basic chemistry of water on earth, relating the effects of temperature, salinity, and climate to the availability of fresh water. Week two explores the sources of fresh water used by humans for their personal use, for industry, and for agriculture. In week three, the “water cycle” is examined, and human impacts are traced that can change the distribution and availability of water. Humans affect the quality of the water as well, and those effects are examined in week four. Week five investigates potential solutions that can preserve both the quantity and the quality of the fresh water on the planet for generations to come.