Hydrologic Cycle

Hydrologic cycle is the journey the water takes as it circulates from the land to the sky and back again. This cycle begins when the water in the oceans, lakes and rivers heat up and begins to evaporate, so as the water in plants which is called transpiration. The water vapor then goes up in the air and changes into tiny droplets forming clouds in a process called condensation. When so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore, precipitation will occur. It may be in a form hail sleet, snow or rain which is a regular occurrence here in the Philippines. After precipitation, water returns to the land or sea. Some of it are absorbed by the ground and become ground water but most of it flows to low lying area and eventually returns to the bodies of waters where the cycle start all over again.

Water is essential for every living organism on the planet. Plants and animals may live without food for a time but never water. Humans are the same. We need clean water in order to survive; even the first civilizations were established near bodies of water as an indication. But if water is really important to us why do we keep on disrupting the hydrologic cycle with our unwise and careless actions?

Even if earth’s surface is 71% water, 97% of that water is in the ocean the remaining fresh water is frozen as ice caps (little more than 2%). The remaining freshwater are either groundwater or readily accessible through rivers and lakes. With this we can conclude that less than 1% of the water supply can be used as drinking water.

                 

Continuously interrupting the hydrologic cycle may cause water shortage. It means that the less than 1% of potable water won’t be enough to sustain the population. This may be the result of drought, deforestation and too much use of water that it doesn’t have time to replenish. But it may also be the result of the disturbance by us, humans, in the water cycle. Improper waste disposal and blocking or diverting the natural path of the water ways are some of our mistakes that needs to be corrected immediately.