Lecture 1

ID 5011
A Hybrid Course on Water Quality

– An Approach to People’s Water Data
Lecture 1: Water cycle: An introduction
1
Essential information
Teachers – Ram Fishman, Hadas Mamane, Ligy Philip, T. Pradeep (me), G. Velmurugan
Course contents, schedule and other details: https://elearn.nptel.ac.in/shop/iit-

workshops/ongoing/a-hybrid-course-on-water-quality-an-approach-to-peoples-water-
data/?v=c86ee0d9d7ed
Organisation of the course: Consult the above link
Attendance: 80% attendance is expected (IIT/TAU students) for credits (each institution
has specific guidelines, please check with the course coordinators)
Attendance: 80% for all other students taking hybrid or online for certification
Those taking the course from outside IITM/TAU must follow the IITM/TAU rules for credits
Short assignments every week and two 1 hour-long quizzes – all online
There will be a mid-term exam via online methods.
Practicals: Registration for online participants – to be informed by email
End semester: Physical and online – to be informed

Contact Dr. Ramya ([email protected]) and Suzan Kagan
([email protected]) for all related information 2
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”
Lord Kelvin – Sir William Thomson
Preface
Water is the most important molecule of relevance to the planet.
H2O - Life – Development - Sustainability
All of these are threatened by contamination. Removing contaminants is

expensive! Why?
Destruction is instantaneous; construction costs millennia.
This is a solution. Imagine ways of

separating the components.
SDGs are connected to water
3
https://www2.nau.edu/lrm22/lessons/water/water.html#:~:text=Polarity%3A%20A
lthough%20the%20net%20charge,other%20and%20other%20polar%20molecules.
Water cycle or hydrologic cycle or hydrological
cycle
It is a biogeochemical cycle that deals with the dynamic movement of water
above and below the surface of Earth.
Amount of water on the planet is roughly constant – ~4.6x1049 molecules
A lot of water, in different forms
This water is partitioned into ice, freshwater, saline water and atmospheric
water Ocean water: 97.2%
Glaciers and other ice: 2.15%
Groundwater,: 0.61%
Fresh water lakes: 0.009%
Total: 1,386,000,000 km3 Inland seas: 0.008%
Soil Moisture: 0.005%
Oceans: 1,338,000,000 km3 or about 97%. Atmosphere: 0.001%
Rivers: 0.0001%
Ice caps, glaciers, and permanent: 24,064,000 km3 ~1.7% USGS data
Usable freshwater – all forms put together ~0.3% - that too not there
Water cycle includes, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration,

surface runoff and surface flow.
4
Pictures from Wikipedia – article on Water Cycle
Several factors determine the water cycle
Advection – water flow through atmosphere over long distance – have
atmospheric rivers
Condensation – water vapour to droplets leading to clouds
Evaporation – movement from the condensed liquid phase to gas phase
Infiltration – surface to ground
Percolation – flow into Earth due to gravity
Precipitation – Falling down of condensed water to the surface of Earth in

various forms
Runoff – movement of water on the surface of Earth
Subsurface flow – underground water flow – aquifers or seep into oceans

or returning to land or retaining in the Earth
Transpiration – release into air from plants and soil 5

Water flow – larger water balance
505,000 km3 of water evaporates from Earth per year and that falls back as
rain.
Of this, 86% evaporates from the ocean (434,000 km3), but it receives only
398,000 km3 back as rain (91.7% of evaporation).
In other words, more water falls on land than the amount evaporates from it.
Numbers - 71,000 km3 evaporates from land and it receives 107,000 km3.
This difference in water water ~36,000 km3 runs though soil, nurtures it and
a portion ends in rivers and eventually returns to the ocean.
Globally, 380 km³ of wastewater is generated every year; (*)this figure is

projected to increase to 470 km³ by 2030 and 574 km³ by 2050.
There are additional details.
6
*https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000375751
Does water stay at a place?
Residence time is the average time a water molecule spends in that
reservoir.
It is a measure of the average age of the water in that reservoir.
Some water can large residence time, of over 10,000 years.
After evaporation, the residence time in the atmosphere is about 9 days

before it falls on Earth.
Residence time estimation:

1. Principle of conservation of mass, assuming the amount of water in a
given reservoir is roughly constant. Rate by which water either enters
or exits the reservoir is used to evaluate the residence time.
2. Dating groundwater, using isotopic techniques.
Everything has a residence time in the environment.
7
Residence time of water
Reservoir Average residence time

Antarctica 20,000 years
Oceans 3,200 years
Glaciers 20 to 100 years
Seasonal snow cover 2 to 6 months
Soil moisture 1 to 2 months
Groundwater: shallow 100 to 200 years
Groundwater: deep 10,000 years
Lakes 50 to 100 years
Rivers 2 to 6 months
Atmosphere 9 days
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle
8
Flow and contamination
Evaporation purifies water, flow through
land makes it impure
Seas became salty because of flow, also

because of the properties of water
Water dissolves almost everything
Universal solvent – High polarity,

hydrogen bonding, solvation – universal
solvent
We have made over 9 million molecules

since 1928!
From https://www.thermopedia.com/content/1254/
9
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Water_drop_animation.gif
Fate of contaminants
Source
It comes back to us
with consequences
Every water source is threatened
Sink
Ban of DDT, Creation of US EPA
On June 22, in 1969, the Cuyahoga River, in

Cleveland was in flames as sparks from a
passing train set fire to oil-soaked debris
floating on water. Photo by Time Magazine.
10
Additional reading
• Wikipedia article on Water Cycle:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cycle
• Human right to water and sanitation, milestones:
• https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/pdf/human_rig
ht_to_water_and_sanitation_milestones.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_right_to_water_a
nd_sanitation11
11

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ID 5011

A Hybrid Course on Water Quality

Lecture 1: Water cycle: An introduction

Course contents, schedule and other details: https://elearn.nptel.ac.in/shop/iit-

Organisation of the course: Consult the above link

Practicals: Registration for online participants – to be informed by email

End semester: Physical and online – to be informed

H2O - Life – Development - Sustainability

All of these are threatened by contamination. Removing contaminants is

Destruction is instantaneous; construction costs millennia.

This is a solution. Imagine ways of

Amount of water on the planet is roughly constant – ~4.6x1049 molecules

A lot of water, in different forms

Water cycle includes, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration,

Condensation – water vapour to droplets leading to clouds

Evaporation – movement from the condensed liquid phase to gas phase

Infiltration – surface to ground

Percolation – flow into Earth due to gravity

Precipitation – Falling down of condensed water to the surface of Earth in

Runoff – movement of water on the surface of Earth

Subsurface flow – underground water flow – aquifers or seep into oceans

Transpiration – release into air from plants and soil 5

Globally, 380 km³ of wastewater is generated every year; (*)this figure is

There are additional details.

It is a measure of the average age of the water in that reservoir.

Some water can large residence time, of over 10,000 years.

After evaporation, the residence time in the atmosphere is about 9 days

Residence time estimation:

Everything has a residence time in the environment.

Reservoir Average residence time

Seas became salty because of flow, also

Water dissolves almost everything

Universal solvent – High polarity,

We have made over 9 million molecules

Ban of DDT, Creation of US EPA

On June 22, in 1969, the Cuyahoga River, in

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