CASE STUDY - Aswan Dam Flashcards
What is the location of the Aswan Dam?
Across the Nile River in Aswan, Southern Egypt.
What is the width of the Dam?
4km
What were the water security issues along the Nile which led to this scheme?
- Before dams were built, the Nile flooded each year during late summer - limited the availability of water for irrigation
- Widespread droughts caused famine to occur
Give 3 key facts relating to the Aswan Dam
- Around 100,000 Nubian people had to be resettled
- The Dam created a large fishing industry producing over 25,000 tonnes of fish per year
- HEP capacity is 10 billion KWH per year (10% of country’s electricity)
Describe the environmental cost - coastal erosion
- The erosion of the Mediterranean coastline has accelerated due top trapping of sediments behind the Dam, originally brought down to the Nile Delta by the River
- Coastal erosion is severe at the Rosetta and Damietta promotories
Describe the environmental cost - reservior sedimentation
- Sediment deposited in the reservior is lowering the water storage storage capacity (162km storage capacity)
- Efforts to dredge the reservior will mitigate the problem
Describe the environmental cost - marine ecosystem
- Marine productivity in the Meditteranean has decreased - nutrients that used to flow down the Nile are now trapped behind the Dam
- The sardine catch off the Egyptian Coast initially declined massively
Describe the social impact - Bilharzia (Health)
How does the recognition of virtual water (the water hidden in the products that we use and buy) reduce water consumption?
- Buying locally
- Choosing to become vegan
- Refusing to wear real leather
How does individual management reduce water consumption?
- Save bathwater (greywater) to irrigate a garden
- Washing up in the sink (6-8 litres) rather than a dishwater (15 litres)
- Aerators on taps
How does Green Urban Planning (sustainable urban drainage) reduce water consumption?
- Sponge cities involve moving from ‘grey’ to ‘green’ and increasing the amount of vegetation in city centres (e.g. green roofs, constructed wetlands) - this increases the volume of water percolating into the ground.
Example: Cash for grass in California
How does drought resistant landscaping reduce water consumption?
- Gravel paths allow infiltration
- Use of native plants in an area rather than planting annual, wild flowers.
How do grey water systems reduce water consumption?
- BEDZED case study
- In 2023, the Lanark and Galloway Hydro schemes used river water 7 times before sending it back to the river ecosystem
- Micro-irrigation - slowly dripping water
Give two examples of desalination.
- Reverse osmosis - filtering sea water at high pressure through a membrane to convert to potable water
- Distillation - water is boiled under pressure then the steam is condensed
Describe Chinese desalinisation processes.
In 2019, China started operations to develop a zero-waste seawater desalinisation plant, 100 of these are planned in China.
How does desalinisation benefit China?
- The desalinisation projects serve more than 200 islands with freshwater sources
- Reduces demand on the Yellow River and the Yangtze
- Reducing dependence on unreliable rainfall (supports water supply diversification)
