How We Use Water Vocabulary
Aquatic: Having to do with water; for example, aquatic ecosystem.
Atmosphere: The entire mass of air surrounding the Earth.
Condensation: The process of water vapor (gas) in the air turning into liquid water.
Cloud: A visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals in the atmosphere.
Conservation: Careful and efficient use of a natural resource.
Direct Water Use: Water that is used for drinking, cooking, cleaning, irrigating.
Evaporation: The process of liquid water becoming water vapor (gas). A change of state from
liquid to gas due to the escape of molecules from the surface; in the hydrologic cycle, the sun
heating the surface of the water causes evaporation of seawater.
Freshwater: Water with less than 500 ppm of dissolved salts.
Hydrologic Cycle (water cycle): The movement of water as a gas (water vapor), liquid, or
solid (snow) between the oceans, atmosphere, lakes, rivers, groundwater, plants, animals and
the Earth’s surface through various transfer processes including evaporation, transpiration,
condensation, precipitation.
Indirect Water Use: Human use of products that required water to grow or manufacture them.
Infiltration: Movement of water from the land surface into the soil or groundwater.
Photosynthesis: The process by which plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make
carbohydrates (sugars).
Precipitation: Any form of water, such as rain, sleet, snow or hail that falls to the earth’s
surface.
Saltwater: Water with 3,000 to 10,000 ppm of dissolved salts.
Sustainability: Using natural, human, and economic resources wisely and in a way that does
not compromise the ability of future generations to live healthy, productive lives.
Transpiration: Water evaporating from plants (plants lose water through stomata –
microscopic pores – concentrated on the underside of their leaves).
Water Use: Water that is used for a specific purpose such as for domestic use, irrigation, or
industrial processing by people.