4: Chemistry of Water
- Page ID
- 466592
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- 4.1: Water Cycle Part 1
- Water is simply two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen bonded together. Despite its simplicity, water has remarkable properties. Water expands when it freezes, has high surface tension (because of the polar nature of the molecules, they tend to stick together), and others. Without water, life might not be able to exist on Earth and it certainly would not have the tremendous complexity and diversity that we see.
- 4.2: Water Cycle Part 2
- In this section, you will explore the fluxes and pools of the water cycle as well as how humans have altered the flow of water through the hydrologic cycle.
- 4.3: EPA's Primary and Secondary Drinking Water Standards
- The United States's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates water, air, and soil. In order to provide clean and safe drinking water, the EPA enacted the Safe Water Drinking Act of 1974. Since then, this act has been expanded to include monitoring more contaminants, providing information to consumers, and assisting smaller water distributors with money to work toward future compliance.
- 4.4: Acid Rain and Water Hardness
- The US Safe Drinking Water Act defines the term "contaminant" as meaning any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water. Therefore, the "contaminant" definition very broadly applies as being anything other than water molecules. Drinking water may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants.
- 4.5: Sanitation of Drinking Water
- Water treatment is a process of making water suitable for its application or returning its natural state. Water treatment involves science, engineering, business, and art. The treatment may include mechanical, physical, biological, and chemical methods. As with any technology, science is the foundation, and engineering makes sure that the technology works as designed. The appearance and application of water is an art.
- 4.6: Flint Water Crisis
- The Flint Water Crisis occurred when the city of Flint, Michigan changed its municipal water supply from Detroit-supplied Lake Huron water to the Flint River. This switch caused pipes to leach lead and other contaminants to enter the water supply, endangering the Flint residents. In this section, you will explore this example of environmental injustice.