Wednesday, July 22, 2009

[Science Form 2] Protecting Our Water Resources

Conservation is the sustainable use and management of natural resources, including wildlife, water, air, and earth deposits. Natural resources may be renewable or non-renewable.

The conservation of water involves ensuring that is not consumed faster than it can be replaced and ensuring that sufficient quantities are maintained for future generations to utilise.

Preservation, in contrast to conservation, attempts to maintain natural resources in their present condition. This is due to the concern that mankind is encroaching onto the environment through farming, industry, housing, tourism and other human developments, and that we are losing too much of what is 'natural'.

Our water resources are part of a fragile system, which is potentially at risk. Generally, conservation and preservation of water quality takes place in two arenas: surface water quality - lakes, streams, rivers and ponds - and groundwater quality.

A combination of poor soils unsuitable for septic systems, a high water table, and an increasing amount of rural development may begin to threaten the quality of an area's water supply.

Specific regulations, such as those pertaining to soil erosion and sedimentation control practices, protection of wetland areas, increased water body set backs, the use of greenbelts or buffers, and density reductions are among the techniques that can assist in protecting water quality.

In the long run, it is cheaper to protect our water resources than it is to try to restore them.

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