WATER_POLLUTION_II_SLOVENIA

Author: Nuša Hudoklin Mentors: Tina Šenica, Darja Kavšek

March 2011 Slovenia

• • • • • • • • •

Water Water cycle The importance of water for all living beings Endangered water Water in Slovenia Desalination of water Water for processing The Ljubljana Moor Recommendations

Water Water is much more than just a chemical compound. Water is necessary for life. Solid state of water is known as ice. The gas condition is called water vapour.

High quantity of water could mean the ocean, lake, river, stream, canal, or pond.

Around 70% of the Earth’s surface is represented by water and 97% of it is salty water. A very small amount is appropriate for our needs (drinking, washing, cooking,) Depending on the age, two thirds to three quarters of the human body consist of water.

An adult, 70 kg, has a body of water allocated as follows: 35 litres in cells, 3 litres in blood and lymph, 11 litres in the intercellular spaces. The greatest amount of water is in the blood (from 75 to 82 per cent), a little in the bones (25 per cent), and the least in the teeth (4 to 12 per cent).

A baby has more water in its tissue than an old man.

Water cycle

Tap water starts as rain, flowing into streams and pouring into rivers. Water may sometimes still look clean, but in reality it is almost impossible to find drinkable water. From the moment it changes to rain until the time it ends up in the sea, it is being polluted by humans.

After the water is properly treated, it is forwarded to users. The amount of water used for drinking and food preparation is negligible to what we need for other purposes at home or in factories. Almost every litre of water that we’ve used is contaminated. When water is used and dirty, we just throw it away. It is easy to draw out the plug or to flush the toilet, but getting rid of the waste we’ve produced, proves itself to be much harder. An alarming number of potentially dangerous substances returns to earth by the time the waste water reaches the sea.

The importance of water for all living beings Water is of vital importance for all living beings, since in does the same tasks for the organisms as the sea does for Earth. Its tasks are to maintain a constant body temperature, to carry information throughout the body, and to enhance the body's defence against toxic substances. It also maintains the moisture of mucous membranes and prevents friction between the tissue surface. It also allows all processes related to eating (regulates digestion and absorption). Reduction of water volume in the human body by 10-15% can be fatal. The amount of water that the person must absorb depends on the individual. Lack of water can destabilize the circulation of water in the body, resulting in accumulation of metabolites, which can lead to poisoning or even death.

Water consumption per day in an adult: PURPOSE Drinking and cooking Body Care Bathing and showering Laundry Dishwashing Flushing toilets Cleaning flats Other (garden, car) Total

AMOUNT OF WATER in litres 4 10 55 25 8 32 7 9 150

Water consumption per day in an animal: Animal Horse Cow Pig Sheep Hen

AMOUNT OF WATER in litres 50 40 12 8 0,3

Endangered water Water is threatened by: • The discharge of oil, • Fertilization (pollution of groundwater) • Global warming, • Inappropriate things in the water (throwing bottles, cars, shopping carts ...)

• Transport, • Big population, • Illegal land development, • Negligent behaviour of individuals, • Incorrect use of funds for weed control, • Industrial, trade and service activity, • Agricultural activity,…

Waters in Slovenia In Slovenia, there are around 1300 standing waters. These are natural permanent lakes, periodic lakes, wetlands, artificial reservoirs, small lakes and ponds, etc.

Slovenia has almost 27 thousand kilometres of river beds.

A third of the waters are swifts, only a fifth (46) of the rivers are longer than 25 km. Only Sava, Drava, Kupa and Savinja are more than 100 km long.

The largest lakes in Slovenia are Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled. The first contains 120 million m3 of water and the second has just less than 32 million m3 of water. However, in my opinion, the most beautiful Slovenian lakes are mountain lakes: Krn, Triglav, Kriška and Pohorje Lake.

Desalination of water Groundwater is too salty to drink.

97.5% salt water 2.5% fresh water (2/3 in glaciers, 1/3 of surface water, groundwater),

"Desalination is very expensive, but it will soon be the only way to get to the water!"

Water for processing For processing/making: 1 kg beef we need: 1 sausage 1 pair of jeans Processed cheese Figs Short-sleeved cotton T-shirt

15,497 11, 535 11,000 4,914 3,160 2,900

gallons of water.

The Ljubljana Moor (one of the endangered waters in Slovenia) It belongs to the Alpine-Dinaric part and it extends over 163 km ².

It is a geographical name for the area which lies between Ljubljana, Vrhnika, Krim and Ĺ kofljica.

Since 2008, it is preserved as a National Park.

Water is an essential element of the origin of the moor.

The first is a dirty-red, stationary and trickling from the land. Mire water. Another is a lively, clear water of karst origin, flowing from a number of karst springs underneath Krim into streams and rivers whose last marshy stop is River Ljubljanica. We also call it a river of seven names, because in its course it disappears several times and then re-appears again.

Wet meadows in the Ljubljana moor are inhabited by large numbers of colourful butterflies eighty-nine species to be exact.

In the meadows, the hedges and low shrubs the most typical marshland birds can be seen or heard: corncrake, curlew, quail, a large owl, locustella and hen harrier.

The most endangered bird species in the moor is the corncrake which also belongs among the world's most endangered species.

There are a lot of illegal dumping sites in the moor.

Rich wetland meadows are disappearing, and with them also some plant and animal species.

More about the moor (also in English):

http://www.ljubljanskobarje.si/

Recommendations 'Protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water refers to measures and activities to prevent the introduction of pollutants, cleaning of the soil and water bodies and the protection of the soil from erosion and other physical degradation as well from the salination.'

• Reduced water consumption (turning off the tap while brushing your teeth, ...)

• STOP illegal dumping sites • Prevent discharge of oil into the water, • Do not throw anything into the water • Cleaning of the soil and water bodies • Protection of land against erosion and other natural degradations • Prevention and remediation of soil salinity • Measurement, control, laboratories, etc.

Turn off the water, use a cup!

We don’t want to drink dirty water – so let’s stop pollution.