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  • Hi, welcome to www.engvid.com , I'm Adam. In today's video, we're going to talk about

  • water, H2O, okay? Why are we going to talk about water? Well, honestly, water is life.

  • It is the most valuable resource we have, more valuable than oil or gold or anything

  • like that, because this is what keeps us alive. It covers 71% of the earth's surface, and

  • it makes up 60% of our bodies on average. So, it's very important that people start

  • thinking about water, start having conversations about water, and start talking water seriously,

  • because if we don't, we're all going to be in very big trouble. So, having said that,

  • let's think of some vocabulary about water. We're going to look at types. We're going

  • to look at water that you actually drink, and then we're going to look at some words

  • that we need to know in terms of managing our water and our water sources.

  • So, if we're talking about types of water. We have saltwater, which is the most common

  • water in the world; all the seas and oceans. Notice that saltwater is one word, when we

  • talk about saltwater. But when we talk about fresh water, it's two words, okay? So, I don't

  • know why that is, but saltwater - one word, fresh water - two words. Fresh water, lakes

  • and rivers. You can just go ahead and drink it straight if it's clean enough. Okay. And

  • then we have well water. Well water is - a well is a hole in the ground that people dig.

  • And if you dig deep enough, you'll reach water and then you can pull that water up and - well,

  • maybe not drink it right away, but you can work with it and do stuff with it.

  • We have spring water, so these are natural springs. It's basically like a naturally made

  • well. The water kind of gushes up and comes out on the surface and we can drink it. Mineral

  • water is basically tap water, regular water that we add minerals to, to make it a little

  • bit more potable, a little bit more healthy to drink. Minerals, for example, iron, calcium,

  • zinc, etc. Ozonated water, like, this is not as common, but some people like to drink ozonated

  • water. Which means they just add extra molecules, I think, of oxygen. Oh, by the way, H2O, hydrogen,

  • oxygen molecules that make up water. Now, potable water. This is a very important word

  • to know, potable, because potable basically means drinkable. Potable water, you can drink.

  • Unpotable means you can't drink it. You can use it to, for example, wash things or to

  • do whatever you need to do with water except drink it. So, sometimes, you'll go to places

  • that have a potable water alert. It means don't drink it, drink only bottled water,

  • okay? So, it's very important to know this word. And then, of course, there's glacier

  • water, which is probably the cleanest and tastiest water you can have. A glacier is

  • a huge iceberg the size of cities, right? And they're up in the north and sometimes

  • they flow south.

  • Now, keep in mind that the salt in salt water, in the seas and oceans, is actually called

  • brine, okay? Brine basically means salt, but it's saturated salt, so you have to take it

  • out, let it dry out, process it into salt.

  • Now, when you go to a restaurant or even at home, there are different types of water you

  • can drink. Still water, this is regular flat water. No bubbles. If you want bubbles, there

  • are three ways to say it. And if you go to a restaurant, they will ask you, "Would you

  • like some water?", and you say "Yes, please". And they'll say "Okay, would you like still

  • or carbonated?", or still or sparkling. So basically, carbonated means there's carbon

  • in it and it makes bubbles. And sparking basically means the bubbles, but sparking is a little

  • bit fancier so they can charge you more money, okay?

  • Now, soda. If you go to the US, soda basically means like pop, like Coke or orange soda or

  • whatever. In Canada and other places, soda means soda water. It just basically means

  • carbonated water. Clear, no taste, but bubbles. Okay? Filtered water, you can put water through

  • a filter, usually like a charcoal filter. And it takes out the little particles and

  • makes it a little bit more clean so you can drink it. Tap water, this is what you have

  • at home. You turn on the tap, water comes out the pipe, you drink it, it's fine. Depends

  • where you live. In Canada, you can drink tap water pretty much anywhere. And, of course,

  • you can put an ice cube. This is frozen water. You - little cube, different shapes, but we

  • call them all ice cubes.

  • So, we know the types. We know what we can drink. More importantly, let's look at how

  • we can manage our water resources.

  • Okay, so now we're going to talk about some words that you're going to start hearing more

  • and more about, because this is part of the climate change, part of the changing world

  • we live in. And these are the things we're going to be discussing in the next little

  • while. So, we're going to talk about - let's start with body of water. So, any - basically

  • anything that is full of water. Like a sea, a lake, an ocean, a river, a pond. Anything

  • that has a substantial amount of water we call a body of water, right? So, that's one

  • thing we need to keep in mind.

  • In the ground, we have to think about aquifer. This is a q, "a kwi fer". An aquifer is the

  • level underground where there's rock, but the rock is soft enough that water can basically

  • pass though it, okay? This is what keeps the water in place, and eventually it'll come

  • up or we can go down and dig it up. Similarly, the water table is the ground - underneath

  • the ground, the level at which the water is saturated. It means there's enough water that

  • it just sort of sits there under the surface and we can dig down and create a well and

  • get water for drinking people. Now again, depends where you're living in the world.

  • Some of this stuff is very important because if your aquifers dry up, or if the water tables

  • get lower and lower, it becomes even more and more difficult to find potable water,

  • water that you can drink, right? And this is becoming more and more of an issue in more

  • parts of the world, okay?

  • Now, in Canada, for example, we have something called a reservoir. I mean, it's in lots of

  • places in the world, but a reservoir is basically like a big tank where we store water to use

  • for our taps. And basically, it just collects rainwater, okay? So, it rains, there's a big

  • - basically a big - I guess it's manmade lake, you could call it. It's small, obviously,

  • but it's concrete, and it stores all the water. The water goes from there into a treatment

  • facility, where it gets cleaned and chemicals are put in to make sure that it's clean. And

  • then it gets pumped out through all the pipes all over the city, etc.

  • Now, the place where the water treatment is and all the pipes and all the pumps, etc.

  • This is called the waterworks. This is the system of transferring the water to the different

  • places. So, these have to be kept up in good shape.

  • Now, these days, you're hearing a lot about droughts and floods. A drought is a situation

  • where, for a very long time, there is no rain. It means that everything becomes dry. Vegetables

  • dry up, animals don't have anything to eat. Everything becomes very dangerous, and food

  • prices go up, and this is a big problem. This also generally leads to famine. So, if a region

  • is suffering from a drought for a long time, and eventually all the vegetables die and

  • all the grass and all the plants die, then all the animals die. Eventually, humans start

  • to die off, because they have nothing to eat and nothing to drink, of course.

  • The opposite is a flood, where it just rains and rains and rains and rains and there's

  • so much water and the ground can't soak it up, so all the water comes and sits on the

  • surface. Sometimes it covers entire cities.

  • Then we have to think about desalination, and desalination plants. So, we spoke about

  • salt water, like in the sea and the ocean. So, we called it - I called it before, "brine",

  • but another word for the salt is saline, okay? What we're - what desalination means, to take

  • the saline, to take the salt out of the salt water and make the water potable, okay? So,

  • desalination plants do this. They take water in from the ocean or from the sea, depending

  • where they're located. They take the salt out, they treat them, they send them out into

  • the pipes to make - let the people in the cities and countries drink. These are becoming

  • more and more common as more and more countries need to start taking water from the large

  • bodies of water around them, okay? Again, in Canada, we have lots of lakes, lots of

  • fresh water lakes, and we have lots of reservoirs to collect the rain. It's not really much

  • of an issue. We don't really use desalination planets. But if you're thinking about somewhere

  • in the Middle East, for example, where it's mostly desert and very dry, more and more

  • desalination plants are being built to help the people be able to drink.

  • Now, all of this is very serious. We have to take this issue very seriously and make

  • sure that we protect our water resource and start sharing water around the world as much

  • as we can. But I know that it's a little bit too serious. I also brought you a little bit

  • of a fun aspect to water, okay? I got you a couple of idioms, actually three idioms

  • here. A fish out of water, okay. Just because we're talking about water. So, a fish is - its

  • natural habitat is in the water. So, if you wake it out, what does it do? It just, you

  • know, it flops around. It's very confused, it doesn't know what's going on. It's not

  • in its natural habitat. So, we could say this about any person who is not in their normal

  • or comfortable place, okay? So, if you get a new job, but you're not really qualified

  • for it, people will very clearly see it and they'll know that you're a fish out of water.

  • You don't belong here, you're not comfortable, you don't know what's going on. It's confusing

  • for you.

  • And water under the bridge. So, if you're standing on a bridge. Let's say there's a

  • river and there's a bridge over it and you're standing on it, the water passes and goes.

  • So, when you say "water under the bridge" it means let it go. We had a - me and my friend

  • had a fight and then we stayed away from each other for a few days. We didn't speak. And

  • then we got back together and we said, "You know what? Water under the bridge. Let's move

  • on, let's get back to being friends." So, just let it pass, let it go away.

  • Now, sometimes you'll hear about the - somebody's waterworks are coming on, right? So, turn

  • on the waterworks. Waterworks means tears. So, if someone's waterworks are turned on,

  • it means they start crying, okay? So, kind of fun idioms to know about water.

  • So, that's basically it. If you have any questions about this, please go to www.engvid.com and

  • ask in the comment section. There's also a quiz you can test your knowledge of the vocabulary

  • here that we're using to talk about water. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel

  • if you like this video. And come back and we'll have some more good vocabulary lessons

  • for you, so we can have the discussion going and make our earth a better place to live,

  • okay? Until then, have a lovely day. See you.

Hi, welcome to www.engvid.com , I'm Adam. In today's video, we're going to talk about

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