Groundwater and fresh water supplies

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   What is the water table, by Ari's reading (USGS)?

   • An underground lake under each town
   • The bottom of a well
   • The top of the zone where the ground is saturated
   • The ocean's surface, far inland
2. 2.

   How is groundwater stored in an aquifer, by Bo's reading (USGS)?

   • In giant open caverns under each place
   • In pores and cracks between rock grains
   • In wide underground rivers
   • Above the water table
3. 3.

   Where must a well reach to supply water, by Kira's reading (USGS)?

   • Below the water table
   • Just into the unsaturated zone
   • Into an underground river
   • Down to the first layer of soil
5. 4.

   What is permeability, by Luz's reading (USGS)?

   • The total amount of open space in the rock or soil
   • The color of the rock
   • The temperature of the water
   • How easily water moves through the spaces
6. 5.

   USGS: groundwater moves very slowly through clay and shale. What does that show about them, by Milo's reading?

   Use the picture in question 4.

   • They lie above the water table
   • They have high permeability
   • They hold zero water
   • They have low permeability

7. Read this first

   A storage bar

   Recharge in, pumping out.

8. 6.

   Where does an aquifer's new water (recharge) come from, by Noah's reading (USGS)?

   • Precipitation soaking into the ground
   • Water made deep in the mantle
   • Ocean water pushed inland
   • Underground rivers that carry water from the poles
9. 7.

   What happens if water is pumped out faster than it is recharged, by Pia's reading (USGS)?

   • The water table rises
   • The water table drops
   • The aquifer refills at once
   • Nothing changes
10. 8.

    USGS compares stored groundwater to a supply that is added to and drawn from. Which draws it down, by Ren's reading?

    • Water filling the pores
    • Pumping water out
    • Rain soaking in
    • Snowmelt seeping into the soil

11. 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%.

12. 9.

    About what share of Earth's water is fresh, by Tala's reading (USGS)?

    • About 50%
    • About 2.5%
    • About 96.5%
    • About 30%
13. 10.

    Where is most of Earth's fresh water, by Zee's reading (USGS)?

    • In ice caps, glaciers and permanent snow
    • In the air as vapor
    • In groundwater
    • In rivers and lakes