TPO 54. The Salton Sea in California is actually a salty inland lake. The level of salt in the lake's water—what scientists call its salinity—has been increasing steadily for years because the lake's water is evaporating faster than it is being replaced by rainfall or rivers. If the trend continues, the lake's water will soon become so salty that the lake will be unable to support fish and bird populations. The lake would then become essentially a dead zone. Fortunately, there are several ways to reverse the trend that is threatening the lake's health.
One option is direct removal of salt from the lake's water in special desalination facilities. Water from the lake would be pumped into the facilities and heated. This would cause the water to evaporate into steam, while salt and other materials dissolved in the water would be left behind. The steam would then be cooled down and returned to the lake as salt-free water. Gradually, the high salt levels would be reduced and the lake’s overall health would be restored.
Another possible solution is to dilute the salt level in the lake with water from the ocean. Since water in the Pacific Ocean is 20 percent less salty than water in the lake, bringing ocean water into the lake would decrease the lake’s salinity. The ocean water could be delivered through pipelines or canals.
Yet another solution would be to control the lake's salinity by constructing walls to divide the lake into several sections. In the smaller sections, salinity would be allowed to increase. However, in the main and largest section, salinity would be reduced and controlled by, among other things, directing all the freshwater from small rivers in the area to flow into that main section of the lake.
play
Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
It would be great if we could stop the lake salt level from increasing and save its fish and bird populations. But the solutions you just read about aren't realistic or practical.
First, sure, taking salt out of the lake by desalination would reduce salinity, but it would present some serious problems as well. For example, as you've read, water pumped into desalination facilities evaporates and leaves behind solid materials that would dissolve in the water. Well, the solid materials that desalination facilities leave behind would pose a health risk. The materials will be mostly salt, but they would also include other types of chemicals. Some of the chemicals would be toxic, like selenium. If the wind spread selenium and other chemicals into the air and people breathe them in, that would be very dangerous to people's health.
Second, the idea of bringing ocean water into the lake, again, this would reduce salinity. But as you've read, it would require constructing pipelines or canals. The problem is that the local government may not have enough resources to pay for such major construction. The nearest shoreline of the Pacific Ocean is 100 kilometers away. Pipelines and canals are very expensive to build over such long distances.
As for the third solution, dividing the lake into sections by building a system of walls. Well, that's unlikely to work for very long. That's because the Salton Seas is located in a region that experiences frequent and sometimes intense geological activity, like earthquakes. That activity would almost certainly destroy the walls separating the different sections. So while this solution might work for a short while, the walls would likely collapse the first time there is a major earthquake. And water from the special sections with high salinity would mix back in with the low-salinity salinity from the main section.
In the passage, the author mentions rapid increase in the level of salt in the Salton Sea in California and brings up three possible solutions to reverse the trend that is threatening the lake's health. However, the professor contends that the solutions are not realistic or practical, and refutes each of them.
At first, the passage holds the view that one option is removal of salt from the lake's water in special desalination facilities, which cause water to evaporate and salt and other materials would be left behind. The professor, on the other hand, believes that this actions could present serious problems. When the water evaporates, remaining solid materials can pose health risks, since there are some chemicals, other that salt, that are toxic, such as selenium. Consequently, if they mix with the air, breathing can be dangerous for health.
Aditionally, the writer claims that another possible solution is to dilute the salt level in the lake with water from the ocean, which can be done by using pipelines or canals. Nevertheless, the lecturer states that this activity requires some constructions. Pipelines and canals should be constructed in long distances, which can be very expensive, and accordingly some governments don't have enough sources to support these expenses.
Finally, the author suggests that they could control the lake's salinity by constructing walls to divide the lake into several sections. Therefore, in the main and largest sections, salinity would be controled and reduced. On the contrary, the woman points out that these wall would not last long. This is due to the fact that the lake is located in a location which has frequent geologic activities and earthquakes. This can seperate walls and even cause collapse. As a result, water in the high salinity sections would mix with the main sections that contain low salinity water.
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? All university students should be required to take history courses no matter what their field of study is. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 66
- TPO47 70
- Some people suggest that it is wrong to give money to beggars asking for money on the street, while others think that it is the right thing to do. Which point of view do you think is correct, and why? 73
- TPO 53 Writing IntegratedMany countries require cigarette smokers to pay particularly high taxes on their purchases of cigarettes; similar taxes are being considered for unhealthy foods. The policy of imposing high taxes on cigarettes and other unhealthy 80
- TPO48 80
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 189, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'lakes'' or 'lake's'?
Suggestion: lakes'; lake's
...verse the trend that is threatening the lakes health. However, the professor contends...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 260, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'these'?
Suggestion: these
...essor, on the other hand, believes that this actions could present serious problems....
^^^^
Line 9, column 384, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...nsive, and accordingly some governments dont have enough sources to support these ex...
^^^^
Line 13, column 58, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'lakes'' or 'lake's'?
Suggestion: lakes'; lake's
...or suggests that they could control the lakes salinity by constructing walls to divid...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
accordingly, consequently, finally, first, however, if, nevertheless, so, therefore, such as, as a result, on the contrary, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 10.4613686534 134% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 5.04856512141 238% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 12.0 7.30242825607 164% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 12.0772626932 141% => OK
Pronoun: 21.0 22.412803532 94% => OK
Preposition: 34.0 30.3222958057 112% => OK
Nominalization: 3.0 5.01324503311 60% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1582.0 1373.03311258 115% => OK
No of words: 304.0 270.72406181 112% => OK
Chars per words: 5.20394736842 5.08290768461 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.17559525986 4.04702891845 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.6616375419 2.5805825403 103% => OK
Unique words: 173.0 145.348785872 119% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.569078947368 0.540411800872 105% => OK
syllable_count: 477.0 419.366225166 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.23620309051 97% => OK
Subordination: 4.0 1.25165562914 320% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.51434878587 132% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 2.5761589404 233% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 13.0662251656 115% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 21.2450331126 94% => OK
Sentence length SD: 48.3609576231 49.2860985944 98% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.466666667 110.228320801 96% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.2666666667 21.698381199 93% => OK
Discourse Markers: 9.4 7.06452816374 133% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 4.0 4.19205298013 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 4.33554083885 115% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 4.45695364238 112% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.27373068433 117% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.246863925053 0.272083759551 91% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0723458136625 0.0996497079465 73% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0700813576436 0.0662205650399 106% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.144513231179 0.162205337803 89% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0186041337036 0.0443174109184 42% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.2 13.3589403974 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 53.8541721854 95% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 11.0289183223 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.88 12.2367328918 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.1 8.42419426049 108% => OK
difficult_words: 86.0 63.6247240618 135% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 10.7273730684 126% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 10.498013245 95% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.2008830022 89% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 85.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 25.5 Out of 30
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.