Water School

Every year since 1999, the U.S. Drought Monitor has created maps that include levels of dryness and drought severity. These maps note different classes of drought severity by colors.The drought levels include: Yellow - D0, abnormally dry Impacts going into drought - short-term dryness slowing planting, growth of crops or pastures Impacts of coming out of drought - some lingering water deficits and pastures or crops not fully recovering   Light Orange – D1, moderate drought Im...

The water cycle is the continuous process of water moving from Earth's oceans, atmosphere and land. This cycle does not move in a particular order but in many different variations because different variables impact it like, topography, temperature and location.      Through precipitation, water condenses, forming a liquid and falling to the Earth as rain, snow, hail or fog. Once on the ground, water either remains in its liquid state, freezes, becoming ice or evaporates, or be...

The rate of the river flow is measured in cubic feet per second (cfs), which is the measure of the volume of water passing any given point in a river in one second. One cubic foot of water is about the size of a beachball. These levels are measured by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) along the course of the waterflow at different points, or subsections, along a marked line. A river will typically be measured approximately 25 to 30 times at regularly spaced locations. USGS gage loc...

The level of water in all lakes fluctuates, raising during years of higher amounts of rainfall and snowmelt and falling during periods of drought. The Environmental Protection Agency has been measuring the fluctuations of the Great Lakes, the largest natural lakes in the United States, since the 1860s. Similarly, water levels in reservoirs, human-made lakes, fluctuate because of evaporation, a lack of rainfall, water supply use, and water flow requirements. Levels tend to be relatively lower in ...

No water is completely pure. Contaminates, both naturally occurring and manmade, occur at differing levels depending on your location throughout the world. In the United States, federal and state regulations set standards for the maximum amount of contaminants allowed for water to be considered safe for drinking. Regulated contaminants include a variety of microbes and substances that at certain levels could cause adverse health effects.Though most treated drinking water is safe for consumption,...

An acre-foot is commonly used to measure water volume. It is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) with one foot of water. One acre-foot is equal to 325,851 gallons of water, enough to cover a football field with a foot of water.Measuring acre footage is an important way to calculate the volume of large water resources, like irrigation sources, reservoirs, sewers, canals, and human-made lakes, such as Possum Kingdom Lake, which is located in Palo Pinto, Jack, Young, ...