Student: Vu Hai Nam

School of material science and Engineering

Introduction to Environmental Engineering
Assignment 1: Sketch and explain the hydrologic cycle? Give two example of methods to
minimize water use?
1. Hydrologic cycle

precipitation

surface run-
condensation
off

transpiration evaporation

The hydrolic cycle is one of the main processes in the Earth. It has played an important
role in the movement of water around the Earth. The water can move from one
reservoir to another reservoir by physical processes such as evaporation, transpiration,
condensation, precipitation, surface run-off. These five processes are the main parts in
the Hydrologic cycle.
Evaporation is the process in which water is changed from liquid to gas. By the energy
from sun, atmosphere, wind or human activities, the water in the water body will be
transfer into gas or water vapor. This process can occur at any geographic area like seas,
lakes, oceans, soils, rocks…
Like evaporation, transpiration is also the change in state of water from liquid into the
gas phase. But the difference between the two processes is that while evaporation

Thursday, January 10, 2019

occurs in the water body, transpiration only takes place from plants through stomata.
Water inside of plants is transferred to the atmosphere as water vapor. This process is
mostly depended on the humidity of the atmosphere and the soil moisture.
The next process is condensation. Water vapor from the two above process is lifted up.
Then, the water vapor is cooled and as a result, It’s condensed to form clouds, dew or
fog. Foggy conditions often occur when the air temperature and the dew point are
equal. Dew point is the temperature where dew can be formed. After the air becomes
saturated, it can be returned to the surface by precipitation.
Precipitation is the process that occurs when all forms of water particles fall from the
atmosphere and reach the ground. The major forms of precipitation can be rain, hail,
snow, sleet… In addition, precipitation is the primary way we can receive fresh water.
Run-off takes place when the precipitation is excessive and the ground is saturated. The
water can move across the land that results in the appearance of lakes and rivers. Water
in the river can be moved to the ocean which is the largest storage of water in the Earth.
Water from water bodies like oceans, lakes, rivers will be evaporated by solar, wind, the
atmosphere begins the hydrologic cycle over again.
2. Example of methods to minimize water use.
Example 1: Decrease your shower time.
Everyone has a demand for taking a shower on their daily life. According to the scientist,
if you spend at least 15 minutes for shower per day, you will consume 95 Liters of water
daily. Thus, by cutting down your shower time to 6-8 minutes, you can save
approximately 45-50 liters each day.
Example 2: Watch you foodprint
Notice that, producing 1 kilogram of beef require 15,562 liters of water, or chicken is
about one-third of that at 5,187 liters per kilogram. However, vegetables are only 328
liters per kilogram. Therefore, be mindful of your footprint and please eat less, better
quality of meat by being vegetarians just one day a week, you can reduce your personal
water foodprint.