Questions and Answers | Latest
Version | 2025/2026 | Correct & Verified
What is the main component of the Earth’s crust where most groundwater is stored?
✔✔Rocks and soils with pores and fractures.
What is an aquifer?
✔✔A water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel that can store and transmit groundwater.
What is the zone of saturation?
✔✔The underground area where all spaces and pores are completely filled with water.
What is the water table?
✔✔The upper surface of the zone of saturation.
Why is the water cycle important to wastewater management?
✔✔It continually moves and purifies water through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
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,What is infiltration in the water cycle?
✔✔The process of water soaking into the ground.
What is runoff?
✔✔Water that flows across the land surface into streams, rivers, and lakes.
Why can surface water sources be more vulnerable to pollution than groundwater sources?
✔✔They are exposed directly to human activity and surface contaminants.
What is erosion?
✔✔The wearing away of soil and rock by water, wind, or ice.
How does erosion affect wastewater systems?
✔✔It increases sediment in surface waters, which can complicate treatment.
What is sedimentation in earth science?
✔✔The process of particles settling out of water or air.
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,How do sediments impact surface water quality?
✔✔They increase turbidity and can carry pollutants.
What is groundwater recharge?
✔✔The process by which water enters and replenishes an aquifer.
Why is groundwater recharge important?
✔✔It sustains wells and provides a long-term water supply.
What is porosity?
✔✔The percentage of pore space in soil or rock.
What is permeability?
✔✔The ability of soil or rock to transmit water through its pores.
Which type of rock is usually most porous?
✔✔Sandstone.
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, Which type of rock is usually least permeable?
✔✔Clay.
What is a watershed?
✔✔An area of land where all runoff drains into the same body of water.
Why are watersheds important for wastewater operators?
✔✔They determine where pollution flows and how water quality is impacted.
What is evaporation?
✔✔The process of liquid water changing into vapor and rising into the atmosphere.
What is transpiration?
✔✔The release of water vapor from plants into the atmosphere.
What is precipitation?
✔✔Water that falls from the atmosphere to the Earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
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