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    Water Storage - Energy Education

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    Blogsbyamir Ayoub
    Natural water storage occurs throughout the hydrologic cycle in areas like the atmosphere, oceans, glaciers, groundwater, lakes, and soil. Collectively, these natural reservoirs make up the hydrosphere. The majority of Earth's water is stored in oceans, with smaller amounts in glaciers and groundwater. Water cycles between reservoirs through evaporation, condensation, and flows. Artificial water storage ranges in size from household tanks to large dams and reservoirs. Smaller artificial storage includes rain barrels and tanks, while larger commercial storage includes ponds and dam reservoirs used for industries like mining, agriculture, and hydroelectricity. Dams create reservoirs that store potential energy, with the height of the stored water determining how much

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    Water Storage - Energy Education

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    Blogsbyamir Ayoub
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    Natural water storage occurs throughout the hydrologic cycle in areas like the atmosphere, oceans, glaciers, groundwater, lakes, and soil. Collectively, these natural reservoirs make up the hydrosphere. The majority of Earth's water is stored in oceans, with smaller amounts in glaciers and groundwater. Water cycles between reservoirs through evaporation, condensation, and flows. Artificial water storage ranges in size from household tanks to large dams and reservoirs. Smaller artificial storage includes rain barrels and tanks, while larger commercial storage includes ponds and dam reservoirs used for industries like mining, agriculture, and hydroelectricity. Dams create reservoirs that store potential energy, with the height of the stored water determining how much

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    Natural water storage occurs throughout the hydrologic cycle in areas like the atmosphere, oceans, glaciers, groundwater, lakes, and soil. Collectively, these natural reservoirs make up the hydrosphere. The majority of Earth's water is stored in oceans, with smaller amounts in glaciers and groundwater. Water cycles between reservoirs through evaporation, condensation, and flows. Artificial water storage ranges in size from household tanks to large dams and reservoirs. Smaller artificial storage includes rain barrels and tanks, while larger commercial storage includes ponds and dam reservoirs used for industries like mining, agriculture, and hydroelectricity. Dams create reservoirs that store potential energy, with the height of the stored water determining how much

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    23 views3 pages

    Water Storage - Energy Education

    Uploaded by

    Blogsbyamir Ayoub
    Natural water storage occurs throughout the hydrologic cycle in areas like the atmosphere, oceans, glaciers, groundwater, lakes, and soil. Collectively, these natural reservoirs make up the hydrosphere. The majority of Earth's water is stored in oceans, with smaller amounts in glaciers and groundwater. Water cycles between reservoirs through evaporation, condensation, and flows. Artificial water storage ranges in size from household tanks to large dams and reservoirs. Smaller artificial storage includes rain barrels and tanks, while larger commercial storage includes ponds and dam reservoirs used for industries like mining, agriculture, and hydroelectricity. Dams create reservoirs that store potential energy, with the height of the stored water determining how much

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    Download as pdf or txt
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    Water storage
    Water storage refers to holding water in a contained area for a period of time. Water storage can be
    natural or artificial. Natural water storage occurs in all parts of the hydrologic cycle in which water is
    stored in the atmosphere, on the surface of the Earth, and below ground. Artificial water storage is done
    for a variety of reasons and is done on small and large scales. Water storage locations are commonly
    referred to as reservoirs.[1]

    Natural Water Storage and the Hydrologic Cycle


    main article

    Each stage of the hydrologic cycle involves the storage of water (Figure 1). Water can be stored in the
    atmosphere, on the surface of the Earth, or underground.[2] These water storage areas are most
    commonly known as reservoirs. Natural reservoirs include oceans, glaciers and ice sheets, groundwater,
    lakes, soil moisture, wetlands, living organisms, the atmosphere, and rivers.[1]
    Collectively, all water storage areas make up the hydrosphere. Most water on earth is found in the oceans
    and seas, followed by glaciers and groundwater. Approximately 97% of the world's water is stored in the
    oceans as saltwater. Water from the ocean evaporates into the atmosphere, then falls back to Earth's
    surface as precipitation. Most precipitation falls back into the ocean but some precipitation falls onto
    land.[1]

    Figure 1. Water distribution on Earth.[3]

    Water moves from reservoir to reservoir through different hydrologic fluxes such as evaporation,
    condensation, the flow of rivers, precipitation, and anthropogenic diversion. Oceans, rivers, ice caps, the
    atmosphere, aquifers, and lakes are all examples of reservoirs with varying residence times. The
    residence time describes how long the water stays in a reservoir before leaving. Water in the atmosphere
    stays there for an average of 15 days, while soil moisture lasts a couple of months. Lakes replenish their
    water every 50 to 100 years, and groundwater can reside in the reservoir for 100 to 10 000 years. Ice caps
    have the longest residence times, with residence times of up to 400 000 years recorded in an ice core from
    Vostok, Antarctica[4]. Water below ground may be stored in the unconsolidated sediments near the
    surface or can be stored in porous rocks such as limestone and sandstone. Rocks that can easily store
    water below ground surface are known as aquifers.

    Artificial Water Storage


    Artificial water reservoirs range in size from rain barrels and household water tanks to urban
    infrastructure and industrial reservoirs. Some of the smaller types of artificial storage include water
    towers, tanks, and rain barrels for use by people in times of drought or in areas that do not have easy
    access to water sources. Commercial uses for artificial water storage tend to be larger in scale, such as
    holding ponds and dam reservoirs. Some examples of industries that use water storage include mining,
    agriculture (for irrigation and livestock), and energy generation.[5]
    An important use of artificial water storage is in hydroelectricity. A reservoir of water is built up behind a
    hydroelectric dam. The water in the reservoir is at a higher elevation than the water on the other side of
    the dam and a penstock is used to convert the potential energy of the water into mechanical energy. The
    flowing water is used to push turbine blades and produce electricity. The height that the water sits at
    behind the dam is known as the hydraulic head, and is one of the major factors in determining how much
    electricity can be generated. [6]

    For Further Reading


    Water
    Hydroelectricity
    Reservoir
    Hydrologic cycle
    Dam
    Or explore a random page

    References
    1. Stephen Marshak. Earth: Portrait of a Planet, 3rd ed. New York, NY, U.S.A: W.W. Norton & Company,
    2008
    2. NOAA. (September 1, 2015). Description of the Hydrologic Cycle [Online]. Available:
    http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/info/water_cycle/hydrology.cgi
    3. Wikimedia Commons. (September 1, 2015). Earth's Water Distribution [Online]. Available:
    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Earth's_water_distribution.svg/2000px-
    Earth's_water_distribution.svg.png
    4. Penn State University (May 27 2020). "The Vostok Ice Core" [Online]. Accessible: https://www.e-
    education.psu.edu/earth104/node/1267
    5. OAS. (Nov.27, 2018). "1.5 Runoff collection using surface and underground structures" [Online].
    Available: https://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/unit/oea59e/ch14.htm
    6. Quebec Hydro. (September 1, 2015). Reservoirs [Online]. Available:
    http://www.hydroquebec.com/learning/hydroelectricite/gestion-eau.html
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