Groundwater and fresh water supplies

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   Recharge in, pumping out. A student says pumping cannot lower the water table because rain refills it. Which reply fits USGS, by Jun's reading?

   • Correct; aquifers refill within days
   • No; pumping faster than recharge lowers it, sometimes for decades
   • Correct; recharge matches pumping in each place
   • No; pumping raises the water table
2. 2.

   A student says rock with lots of pore space must make a good aquifer. Which reply fits USGS, by Kira's reading?

   • Correct; porosity by itself decides
   • Not necessarily; the pores must connect so water can move
   • No; aquifers need zero pore space
   • Correct; permeability does not matter to an aquifer's yield

3. Read this first

   Use this

   Table, Where is Earth's water? (USGS), with columns Store, Percent of total water, Percent of freshwater: oceans, seas and bays, 96.54%, not fresh; ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow, 1.74%, 68.7%; fresh groundwater, 0.76%, 30.1%; fresh lakes, 0.007%, 0.26%; rivers, 0.0002%, 0.006%.

4. 3.

   Picture Earth's water as 1,000 L. About 2.5% is fresh, and 30.1% of that is groundwater (USGS). About how many liters are fresh groundwater, by Luz's math?

   • About 25 L
   • About 0.75 L
   • About 301 L
   • About 7.5 L
5. 4.

   Picture Earth's water as 1,000 L. Rivers hold about 0.0002% of all water (USGS). About how much is that, by Milo's math?

   • About 2 L
   • About 2 mL
   • About 200 mL
   • About 0.2 L
6. 5.

   Four evidence cards, labeled A to D. Which evidence best shows an aquifer is being drawn down too fast, by Pia's reading (USGS)?

   • Clay layers deep below
   • A spring that keeps flowing steadily through the dry months
   • Water levels in wells falling year after year
   • Wet ground after a rain
7. 6.

   USGS: pumping near Houston lowered water levels about 400 feet, and the land surface sank by up to 10 feet. What link do these data show, by Ren's reading?

   • Sinking land refills the aquifer
   • The two changes are unrelated
   • Pumping water out makes the land surface rise upward
   • Removing groundwater can let the land surface sink
8. 7.

   A town can drill into sand or into dense granite, each 30 m down (model data). Which is the better plan, by Tala's reading (USGS)?

   • Neither, since groundwater flows in rivers
   • The granite, since harder rock is able to hold more water
   • The sand, since dense granite yields little water
   • Either one, since depth decides the yield
9. 8.

   Which summary of groundwater fits USGS, by Zee's reading?

   • Water fills the zone above the water table
   • Water sits in sealed caverns that cannot refill
   • Water fills pores below the water table and flows to wells and springs
   • Water flows in wide underground rivers that run beneath the cities and towns

10. Use this

    Table, Where is Earth's water? (USGS), with columns Store, Percent of total water, Percent of freshwater: oceans, seas and bays, 96.54%, not fresh; ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow, 1.74%, 68.7%; fresh groundwater, 0.76%, 30.1%; fresh lakes, 0.007%, 0.26%; rivers, 0.0002%, 0.006%.

11. 9.

    Which summary of Earth's water fits USGS, by Ari's reading?

    • About 97% fresh; little of it in the oceans
    • About 2.5% fresh; most of it in lakes
    • About 2.5% fresh; of that, about 69% ice and 30% groundwater
    • About 25% fresh; most of it in rivers
12. 10.

    Recharge in, pumping out. Which summary of pumping fits USGS, by Bo's reading?

    • Pumping faster than recharge lowers the water table; wells can go dry
    • Recharge refills each aquifer at once
    • Pumping affects nothing beyond the well's own pipe
    • Pumping raises the water table over time