Case Study Sharing the Chattahooc h e e Beginning from a small spring in north ern Georgia s Blue Ridg e M ountain s the Chattahoochee River provides drinking wa ler irrigation hydropo wer wildlife habitat and recreation ior millions o f people As It tumbles down from the mountains the Chattahoochee is a clean cool swift flowing stream a popular destination for fish ing swimming and boating Far downstream EOF IA the Chattahoochee joins the Flint to form the withdrawn each year in Georgia is needed Apalachicola River which flows acro ss downstream for homes industries and farms tile Florid Panh andle into Apalachico la Low river flows and contam inated water also Bay In he GUlf o f Mexico Together Ihe threaten wildlife shipp ing and recreation The Apalachicola Chal1ahoochee and Rint ACF Apalachicola Bay is particularly endangered watershedsupports rich and diverse ecosys Pollution reduced river flow and increasing tems includ ing valuable marine fisheries for salinity in the estuary jeopardize the bay s oysters shrimp and finfish multimillion dollar per year fishing and ourism But between the mountains and the sea industries Atlanta recognized the looming prob e Cnattahoocnee River passe s through Atlanta where it und rgoes dramatic changes lem o f wa ter supp lies in the 1970s and the M anta IS one of America s fastest grow ing city has been wo rking w ith the Army Corps RiSing in the moun tains of northern Geo rgia the cities Expanding subu rbs and industries of Engi neers to develop addi tional wa ter Chattahoochee flows south through Atlanta before crowd the Chattahoochee s banks produc jOining the Rin t to form the Apalachico la River supplies In 2004 Georgia began working Ing runoff of silt salts and yard fertilizers that on a com preh ensive state water plan which is scheduled to be completed in four yea s Ecologists worry that washInto he river Growing numbers of households and industries with w ild life and biodiversity won t be adequa tely represented in this plan draw water from the river Wllich beco mes lovller slower and warmer Additional contam inants mix with remaining water oils metals and ning Meanw hile hydrologists poi nt out that c limate change cou ld dust from city streets and storm sewers as well as cbtorine and other result in more erratic less dependable rainfall in the fut ure chap ter 9 contaminants from sewage treatm ent plants The warm shallow turbid If river flows become more unpredictable as a result water manage water holds less oxygen and supports fewer of the river s native plants ment could become an even more urgent and difficul concern and animals The Environmen tal Protec tion Agency has nam ed the In the United States water sho rtages have long been a weste rn 100 kill of the Chattahooc hee south of Atlanta one of the five mo st p ol problem viti growi ng cities in California and o ther western states strug gling to acq uire enough water without destroymq river ecosys lutedriver segme nts in the United States In an effort to force action the EPA has levied m illions of doll ars in tems But like Atlanta many growi 19 metropclitan areas in other regions ilnes on Atlanta for po lluting the river Atlanta dilutes 118 con tam inated are increasingly com peting w ith other users for water Around the waters by releasing more clean water from reservoirs upstream bu t world cities are experiencing water shortages while pollution makes the city govemment says lilli e can be done to prevent widespread the water we do have less useful TIl e United Nations warns that wa ter runoff from the large and gro wing city These diffuse source s of po llu supplies are likely to become one of the most p essing environment a issues of til e twe nty first cent ury By 20 25 we thirds of all huma ns tants runn ing off o f roads yards and parking lots can be much co liel be living in countries where water resources are Inadeq uate In harder to co ntrol than local ized sources such as fac tory pipe ou tlets this cha pter we ll 1001 at wh ere our fresh water co mes from what we MeanWhile Alabama and Florida complain that Georgia is teking too much water They say the 2 3 billion liters 600 m illion gal of water do v lith it and how we can protect its quality and exten a its usefulness WATER RESOURCES Water is a marvelous su bstancc i flow ing swirling seeping con xtantly moving from sea to land and back again It shapes the earth s surfa e and moderate our climate Water is essential for life It is the medium in which all living processes occu r chap ter 2 Water dissolves nutrients and distributes them to cells reg ulates body temperature supports structures and removes waste products Abou t 60 percent or your body is water You could sur vive for weeks without rood but only a few days without water CHAPTER 10 lmer Resour c and I o llutio n Water also is needed for agriculture industr y transportalion and a host of other human uses In short clean freshwater is 0 11 e of our most vital natural resources The hydrologic cycle constan tly re distri bu tes water The water we lise cycles endlessly through the environment TIle total amount of water on our planet is immense i morc than 1040 1 million krn 370 billion billion gal table IIl I This water 233 TABLE 10 1 Units of Water Measurement One cubic ki lometer km equals 1 bi llio n c ubi c m et ers m 3 1 tri llio n liters or 264 bill io n ga l One acre fool is the am ou nt of w ate r req uired t o c over an acre of gro und 1 ft deep This is equivalent to 325 8 51 ga l or 1 2 mil lio n liters or 1 234 01 3 ap proxim ate ly the amount consumed annually by a fam ily of fo ur in the Un ited S ta le s On e cubic foot p er sec on d of river flow eq uals 28 3 liters per sec ond or 449 ga l per mi nu te evaporates from moist surfaces falls us rain or snow passes through livinr organisms and return s to the ocean in a process known as the hydrologic cycle sec liu 2 19 Every year about 500 000 knr or a layer 1 4 m thick evaporates from the oceans More than 90 percent of that moisture falls back on the ocean The 17 000 kill carried onshore joins SO Ill C 72 000 knr that evaporate from lakes rivers soil and plants 10 become our annual renewable freshwater supply Plants play a major role in the hydrologic cycle absorbing groundwater and pumping it into the atmosphere by transpiration transport plus evaporation In rropical forests as much as 7S …