Stevens Point Water Department

watercosign.jpg (18073 bytes)

Keeping Water Clean & Safe

It is everyone's job to protect
water from unnecessary pollution.

Did You Know?

Farmers and Gardeners must be careful with the kinds of chemicals they use to help plants grow, because the chemicals can seep into the groundwater basin.

Water that runs down the street or parking lots goes into storm sewers that empty into natural sources like lakes or rivers. People should be careful about spilled oil, and the products we wash our cars with. When these pollutants get into natural water sources, they harm the plants and animals that live there.

Wastewater from homes is sent to wastewater treatment plants through large pipes called sewers. The dirty water is cleaned (treated) and sent out into natural sources to become part of the hydrologic cycle again.

Businesses and industries sometimes pollute water with chemicals that they dispose of improperly, but nature also pollutes water with animal waste , dead leaves, and other naturally occurring events. So all water that people use to drink must be cleaned in some way.

The Hydrologic Cycle

Water is all around us in one form or another,
constantly moving constantly changing.

Water vapor travels up into the atmosphere where it cools into clouds. This process is called

Condensation.

Transpiration

As plants grow, they give off water vapor too. This process is called transpiration.

Precipitation

When the clouds get heavy, the water forms into drops and falls back to earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. These forms are called precipitation.

Run off

Percolation

Rain and melted snow run off to fill surface water like lakes and streams.

Precipitation also can sink into the ground and collect in underground basins called aquifers. This is called percolation.

Evaporation

Water is always in the air as a vapor. It evaporates from surface water like oceans and lakes, and from soil.

Stevens Point Water Department
300 Bliss Avenue
P.O. Box 243
Stevens Point, WI 54481-0243