Case Studies

Question 1

Abstraction & Water Storage

High Plains of Texas

Question 2

Impact of the Aswan Dam

Answer 2

Environmental Impacts

• Water losses – the dam provides less than ½ the amount of water expected due to increased evaporation of Lake Nasser.
• Salinisation – crop yields have reduced due to salinisation on up to ⅓ of the area irrigated by water from the dam.
• Loss of nutrients – the reduced sediment load → estimated $100 million needed to buy commercial fertilisers to compensate for the lack of nutrients.

Human Impacts

• Displacement of population – up to 100,000 Nubian people were removed from their ancestral homes when the dam was constructed.
• Erosion of the Nile Delta – taking place at a rate of 2.5cm each year bcs of the reduced sediment load in the river.
• Decreased fish catches – the loss of nutrients → sardine yields have decreased by 95% → 3000 jobs in Egyptian fisheries have been lost.