Human Impacts on the Sustainability of Groundwater Argumentative

Time Period
Impact to Forest
Groundwater Levels
Saltwater Intrusion
Farming
Industrial Development
Population
1800s
Large amounts of forest existed.
Large amounts of Groundwater existed.
No saltwater intrusions.
Not a lot small farms.
No large cities existed.
Limited populations/housing.
1900s
Decreased by 50%.
Decreased by 50%.
Oceans moved into groundwater.
Farms began to grow larger.
Expand with the existence of expanding cities.
Substantial increase in population growth and housing.
2000s
Decreased by 90%.
Decreased by 90%.
Greater ocean movements into groundwater.
Farming remained at the same, but size decreased by 20%.
Decreased by 10-15%.
Housing development decreased by 10-15%.

Part II:
Purpose
The purpose of this particular lab is to observe and document the levels of groundwater and to find the sustainability of groundwater if human development doesn’t change.

Introduction
What is currently known is that the sustainability of groundwater will not last. Ponce (2006) states “ The unsustainable use of groundwater stands to significantly impact a host of hydrological, ecological and other natural resources and services, including freshwater bodies, and aquatic, riparian, transitional, and ecosystems.” There are certain places in the world that contains groundwater that should not be industrialized. It is vital and with the most urgency that this natural resource is taken care of and maintained responsibly because planet earth depends on freshwater to survive and if our natural resources aren’t reasonably maintained and allowed to be depleted so will life on earth as we currently know it will be depleted as well. Hypothesis/Predicted Outcome

If humans continue to disregard our groundwater natural resources, our groundwater sustainability will be greatly affected and possibly depleted impacting earth tremendously for generations to come. Methods

See chart above; there were six categories observed for impact to (forest, groundwater levels, saltwater intrusion, farming, industrial development, and population for the time periods of (1800s, 1900s, and 2000s). Results/Outcome

In the 1800s, there were large amounts of forests, large amounts of groundwater available, no saltwater intrusion, small farms, limited housing with no cities. In the 1900s, the forests and available groundwater levels both decreased by 50%, oceans moved into groundwater areas, larger farms developed, but there were limited industrial development with the birth of cities that caused a substantial increase in housing.

In the 2000s, forests and available groundwater levels both decreased by 90% with greater ocean movements into groundwater areas, farming size levels decreased by 20%, industrial and housing development both decreased by 10-15%. Discussion/Analysis

As mentioned in the above data, the expected hypothesis was obtained as evident in the 1800s with there being large amounts of available sustainability groundwater and over time with humans becoming more wasteful with natural resources the groundwater sustainability levels are being depleted with a 50% decrease in the 1900s to over 90% decrease in the 2000s.

References
M.U.S.E.(2014). Human Impacts on the Sustainability of Groundwater. Retrieved on October 10, 2014, from https://campus.ctuonline.edu/courses/SCI203/p1/hub1/hub.html Ponce, V. (2006). Groundwater Utilization and Sustainability. Retrieved on October 10, 2014, from http://groundwater.sdsu.edu/