Multiple Perspectives

Explore the following resources to find information that will help you answer the “Generate Ideas” questions and increase your knowledge on the topic.

Articles/News Stories

P. Roger's article in Scientific American entitled Facing the Freshwater Crisis provides an overview of the rising demands that threaten global freshwater resources. Growing populations need even more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production, and industry. Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to contribute to droughts.
As part of Planet Under Pressure, a BBC News Online series looking at some of the biggest environmental problems facing humanity, reporter Alex Kirby explores fears of an impending global water crisis in the episode entitled Water scarcity: A looming crisis?

Animations/Lectures/Virtual Field Trips

The distribution of rainfall on Earth follows clear patterns due to factors that influence cloud formation, such as the amount of solar heating, surface temperatures, topography, and proximity to moisture. View NASA's Global rainfall animation to observe the monthly distribution of global rainfall from January 1998 to July 2015.
In this Environmental Science Institute Outreach lecture entitled Geologic Wonders of Central Texas, Dr. Leon Long explores central Texas and its geologic wonders, including the development of rivers.

Web Sites

See where Earth's water is located and in what forms it exists by viewing bar charts and tables provided by the U.S. Geological Survey on its Water Science for Schools, Where is Earth’s Water Located?
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Introduction to Climate provides an overview of the difference between weather and climate.
The Texas Water Development Board State Water Plan, Water for Texas, 2017, contains regional summaries of the water resources in Chapter 4; an overview of the climate of Texas in Chapter 5, Volume II; and an overview of the surface water supplies of the state in Chapter 5.

Now that you are more knowledgeable about the distribution of water, it is time to share your ideas with the class.