Water Conservation Flashcards
(28 cards)
What are some of the goals of soil conservation practices?
Control soil erosion, enhance crop productivity, improve soil health, improve water quality, increase biodiversity, and reduce dust emissions
What is the objective of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Science agency and why was it created?
Deliver conservation solutions so agricultural producers can protect natural resources and feed a growing world; created because of Dust Bowl
What are the four main principles for managing for soil health?
Minimize disturbance, maximize biodiversity, maximize living roots, and maximize soil cover
What are good agronomic practices for soil health?
Crop rotation, cover cropping, conservation tillage, contour farming, and strip cropping
What is crop rotation?
Planting different crops in a planned sequence on the same piece of land over time
How does crop rotation benefit legumes?
Replenish nitrogen in soil
What is cover cropping, and what plants are used for it?
Specific plants grown to benefit the soil and the overall farming ecosystem, rather than for harvest
What are the benefit of conservation tillage?
Reduces soil erosion, increases carbon sequestration, increases water filtration, and reduced labor/time costs
What is contour farming?
Involved planting crops horizontally along a hillside, following the natural contour lines of the land.
What is strip cropping?
Involves planting different crops in alternating strips across a field, to reduce erosion by water and wind
What is desertification, and on what scale does it effect?
Land degradation in dryland areas resulting from various factors; global concern
What are the causes of desertification?
Land mismanagement activities: deforestation, overgrazing of livestock, and overcultivation of crops.
Climate change: greenhouse gas emissions and natural climate fluctuations
What proportion of our plant’s water is freshwater?
2.5%
How much of the worlds water is locked in glaciers?
68.9%
How much of the worlds water is groundwater?
30.8%
How much of the worlds water is in lakes and rivers?
0.3%
List examples of water pollution
Organic/microbiological, sediment, nutrient, salt, thermal, heavy metals, toxic chemicals e.g. PFAS, toxic algae
When was federal water pollution control act passed?
1948
What happened in the Santa Barbra oil spill in 1969?
It was the 3rd largest oil spill in US history
What was the 1972 Clean Water Act?
Established national goals for water pollution control, made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, created the national pollution discharge elimination system (NPDES) to regulate point sources of pollution like municipal & industrial facilities and selected agricultural facilities like animal feedlots. All municipal wastewater treatment facilities must receive a NPDES permit to discharge effluent to environment.
What are some common pathogens of concern in wastewater?
Hepatitis A, Norovirus, Rotavirus, Salmonella
What are the names of the stages of wastewater treatment?
Preliminary, primary, secondary, disinfection, and sludge treatment.
What is the input and outputs of wastewater treatment?
Raw sewage; effluent, biosolids, biogas
What is the role of the preliminary stage of wastewater treatment?
Removes large items, grit
