5.9 There Are Different Approaches To Managing Water Supply, Some More 'Sustainablr' Than Others Flashcards
What are the types of water management
Effective management essential to minimise Insecurity risk can involve..
Technological fixes - human innovations to increase supply
Actual fixes - people change behaviours through conservation strategies
Hard Engineering Stratergy 1 - Mega Dams
There are over 50 000 mega dams in the world, 60% of world rivers impeded by large dams.
Benefits:
Increased water storage capacity for irrigation.
Seasonal locations, water can be stored in wet seasons and released in dry.
Jobs
Tourist attraction
Costs:
Huge economic costs
Tension over downstream supplies
Displaces communities - floods large areas of land, can disrupt historic settlements
River ecology and fish migration disrupted
Mega Dans case study - Three gorges Dam China
Worlds largest hydropower complex construction finished 2012
Benefits:
HEP electricity saves 50m tonnes of coal a year
Water supply to region, quality abd quantity
Has already turned profits
Navigational benefits it trade/FDI
Costs:
Lost arable land (60 000 acres)
1.2m displaced
Heritage sites lost
Risk of Dam failure - eqs, terrorism, poor maintenence, overfilling signs of buckling
Hard Engineering Stratergy 2 - Water Transfer Schemes
Involves diversion of water from one drainage basin to another
Benefits:
Can balance supplies
Can boost irrigation and economic growth
Costs:
May be seen > robbing Water ST fix
Huge economic costs
Evaporation and leakages
Water sources can be polluted by industry
Water Transfer Scheme - Case Study
1/2 Chinas population in N, 80% of water in South
South to North Transfer Scheme, 3 canals running 1500km linking major rivers.
Benefits:
Balance
Transfers 45bn m^3 yearly
Reduced Scarcity, boosted irrigation and economic growth
Costs:
$80bn
Displaced 30 000 in Central route
Water sources polluted by industrial quantity not quality
Hard Engineering Stratergy 3 - Desalination Plants
Removal of excess salts and minerals from water, 16 000 desalination plants worldwide. Supplies 300m daily
Benefits:
97% of water, saltwater, boosts freshwater avaliability
Oceans won’t dry out
Reduces tensions or conflicts over Insecurity
Costs:
Only avaliable to coastal states
Cost if building and running, most costly water supply
Bi- Source, brine, often dumped back into oceans and kills ecosystems.
Uses fossil fuels, adds to CC
Desalination in Saudi Arabia - Case Study
Gives 70% of its water supply
The largest plant in the world produces 700m l a day
Could be capable of providing 3.5 bn
Cost $7.2 bn
Difference between Desalination and Desalinisation
Desalination - reverse osmosis
Desalinisation - boiling
Sustainable water management schemes
Usually less controversial to social, economic, and environmental aspects. Balances out needs by local people developing soft engineering processes.
Water Conservation - one of the main thrusts of sustainable water usage, manages demands. Done in numerous ways by industry, domestic and agricultural means.
