(Options) Freshwater Case Studies

Question 1

Sediment Budgets / Sediment and Channel Changes 1

Answer 1

Huang He / Yellow River, China

• High sediment load (average sediment concentration 37kg/m3, peak flows may reach 900kg/m3) due to flowing through Loess Plateau of Central China (easily eroded by water)
• large load = problems for dam/reservoir management downstream and people living in floodplain area where flooding common
• 24% sediment reaches sea, 33% deposited floodplain, 43% deposited delta area
• Sanmexia dam (1960) reservoir capacity reduced over 1/3 by 1964 due to sediment rich river water

Question 2

Sediment Budgets / Sediment and Channel Changes 2

Answer 2

River Nile, (Egypt primarily but many countries)

• Average sediment load 1.4kg/m3 (doesn’t flow through areas of such easily eroded material)
• Before dam = 130mn tonnes silt carried in Nile - 10% deposited floodplain, 90% delta area/ flowed into Mediterranean sea - now silt collects behind Aswan Dam (built 1968) and amount carried by Nile is reduced
• Aswan Dam = floodplains no longer receive annual input of nutrients = many farmers now have to buy artificial fertilisers to maintain crop yields
• Aswan Dam = loss of fertile agricultural land in its delta region
• Sardine catches in Mediterranean Sea reduced as many nutrients formerly available to the fish are retained within the sediment behind the dam

Question 3

Deltas affected by reduction in sediment supply Examples

Answer 3

Ganges Delta (Bangladesh)
Mississippi Delta (USA)

Question 4

Flood Alleviation Hard Engineering

Answer 4

Malton

• River Derwent
• 1999 floods 140 homes and 40 businesses flooded
• 2004 £9mn flood defence scheme (special status) - design £1.5mn, construction £7.5mn
• protect against 1 in 50yr event (2% chance yr)
• Flood walls + artificial levees - embankments made of clay from local wetlands (special embankment where railway / river close)
• water-level pressure probes / monitors alert EA staff / automatic systems close valves

Question 5

Flood Alleviation Soft Engineering

Answer 5

Pickering

• River Derwent - Pickering Beck
• topography = flashy response (flat moorland w/ large precipitation, steep valley sides)
• 2007 = 85 properties and main A170 flooded
• 2010 ‘slowing the flow’ (land management and reduction peak flow)
• DEFRA fund 1/3 £750,000 budget
• 1/3 land public ownership = easy instigate
• pop. 7,270
• Durham uni computer model work out where intervene
• plant 50ha native woodland
• woody debris dams (force water onto floodplain until flow slow) - 100 dams planned
• education (farmers/landowners manage land) - drop in sessions locals
• no-burn buffer zones
• monitoring stations and gauges
• 1-2m embankments force water onto upstream unused floodplain

Question 6

Flood Defences

Answer 6

R. Medway, Tonbridge

• flood 1968 97mm rain 16hrs = £1.5mn damage
• prone to flooding clay geology, urbanised
• flood wall 1m town - promenade
• Gabion boxes, revetments
• land use zoning - not built up by river
• flood proof buildings (ground floor = car park)
• Park = washlands / floodplain
• Leigh flood barrier 1970 £3.6mn, store 5.5mn m3 + water

Question 7

Flooding

Answer 7

Bangladesh

• vulnerable to climate change - sea level rise and extreme weather
• poor
• rapid pop. growth 2.7% per annum
• monsoonal (75% annual rainfall June-Sept), snow/glacier melt Himalayas, steep slopes (high runoff meghalaya hills), overpopulated floodplain, deforestation, storm surge (coastal floods), urbanisation
• high pop. density = over 1,000 ppl per km2
• high peak discharge rivers = 100,000 cumbers Brahmaputra (June/July flooding and agricultural land destroyed)
• large quantities sediment
• building embankments = back-flooding (humans worsen) and deposition increase
• few metres asl
• up to 80% country on delta
• monsoon = 30-50% country flooded - flooding = fish (75% dietary protein and over 10% annual export earning)
• 1998 flood: over 2/3 country flooded, 4750 died, 23mn homeless, 130,000 cattle died, 660,000 hectares crop destroyed, 400 factories closed, 11,000km roads damaged, 1,000 schools damaged / destroyed

Question 8

Dam 1

Answer 8

Three Gorges Dam, China

• Yangtze River: source = Himalayas, severe flooding every 10yrs, last 1998 (area size NZ flooded + $30bn damage), C20th over 300,000 died by floods
• Advantages: Control flooding downstream = protects large settlements, water for irrigation and urban areas (reservoir stores up to 5mn gallons), 84 terawatt-hours annually, HEP meets 15% china’s energy demand / 60mn Chinese = less reliance coal, construction jobs, boat navigation better (bring vessels inland to Chongqing), tourist attraction (tertiary jobs)
• Disadvantages: towns flooded upstream (Wanxian pop. 140,000), drowned 4 cities, 8 towns, 356 villages + sacred temples, ecosystems disrupted, 1.3mn + relocated, resettlement land 800m+ asl = farming lack, 156,000 acres flooded, downstream deprived fertile sediment (30-60% sediment trapped behind dam), pressure held back water = earthquakes (engineered to withstand 7.0), 86% decrease primary productivity, waste not washed away = pollution, expensive $10.4bn build, chinese river dolphin endangered, 32 generates $5mn each,

Question 9

Dam 2

Answer 9

Aswan Dam, River Nile, Egypt

• Advantages: flood/drought control (allow crops in dry yrs e.g. 72/3), irrigation (60% water from dam for this - 4,000km desert irrigated), HEP (7,000mn KW hours yr), improved navigation, recreation/tourism, $500mn yr to Egyptian economy
• Disadvantages: dam provide less than half water expected, crop yields reduced on 1/3 area irrigated by dam (salinisation), seepage = increased groundwater levels = secondary salinisation, up to 100,000 Nubian ppl removed from ancestral homes, archaeological sites (Rameses II / Nefertari) moved to safe locations as drowned (now impact by weathering), earthquake 1981 thought caused by dam, infilling 100mn tonnes yr, erosion lowering channel 25mm 18yrs, 2.5cm erosion yr Nile delta, $100mn buy fertilisers yr to make up for nutrient loss, sardine yields down 95%, 3,000 jobs fisheries lost, stagnant water = disease e.g. bilharzia

Question 10

Artesian Basin Example

Answer 10

• Great Artesian Basin, Australia

Question 11

(Groundwater Management) Subsidence

Answer 11

• Mexico City sunk 8m+

- London 8cm 1865-1931 (over-use)

Question 12

(Groundwater Management) Country / Basin

Answer 12

UK / Thames Basin

• London Basin artificial abstraction
• Chalk aquifer SE England up to 200km3 water - London GW up to 18,000yrs old
• post-industrial city - when industrial subsidence and saline intrusion (London water table decreased 30m+), now closed heavy industry = water table rise 2m year
• London 46% reduction GW abstraction = water table risen 20m = increase flows, flooding, pollution, swell clays, foundations concern
• Hundreds boreholes/springs Thames Basin daily use (GW abstraction = 2,305mn+ litres day)
• 300+ public supply sources from GW
• 2/3 catchment permeable = direct recharge from rainfall - potential pollution infiltrate
• rainfall 850-650mm year; recharge 124-524mm
• River flows depleted, saline intrusion, rising nitrate concentrations, chemical pollution

Question 13

Salt- Water Intrusion 1

Answer 13

Manila, Philippines

• GW use = water table falling 50-80m
• water heavy concentrations salt and minerals from surrounding rocks
• water must be pumped as fallen below piezometric surface
• salt water into Guadalupe aquifer - reached 5km inland

Question 14

Pollution 1

Answer 14

Merida, Mexico

• pop 535,000
• water supply 240mn litres day all from limestone aquifer
• no sewage system / storm water drainage
• high water consumption per head = 460 litres day (greater than urban recharge 600mn annum)
• shallow aquifer contaminated

Question 15

Salt- Water Intrusion 2

Answer 15

Maldives

• huge problem small ocean islands
• GW only source freshwater

Question 16

Pollution 2

Answer 16

Texas

• human activity reduced viability irrigated agriculture in High Plains: GW stable, now used rapid rate to supply centre-pivot irrigation schemes
• Under 50yrs water level declined 30-50m N of Lubbock - aquifer narrowed 50%+ large parts
• Permeable soil - agriculture cause of pollution - nitrate level soil + intensive methods cultivation problem

Question 17

River Basin

Answer 17

Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

• 10yrs drought, yrs overexploitation, pollution
• El Nino weather pattern = flow Darling varies 0.04-911% - area accounts 40% agriculture + 85% irrigation
• By 1994 human activity consuming 77% river’s annual flow (average)
• Reduced flow + increased runoff from saline soils = salty water
• tap water Adelaide (40% supplies from River / 90% other resources dry) tastes saline
• indigenous fish no falling w/o floods / toxic algae flourished
• New South Wales, Victoria + South Australia agreed to cap amount water took from river - agreed no more irrigation subsidies, farmers responsible channel/dam maintenance, scientists calc tributaries max water allocations - ensure not exceed extraction
• by 1999 average salinity fallen 20%+
• release extra water for fish
• BUT famers can still drill wells, tree plantations absorb rainwater, small dams prevent water reaching rivers

Question 18

Eutrophication

Answer 18

Kunming City, China

• Dianchi Lake algae killed 90%+ native water weed, fish + molluscs + destroyed fish culture industry
• Water from lake used since 1992 supply Kunming’s growing pop 1.2mn
• First sewage treatment plate city 1993 - copes w/ 10% city’s sewage

Question 19

Over-use of irrigation on agricultural land

Answer 19

The Aral Sea

• Border Kazakhstan / Uzbekistan
• shrinking / drying up - sea now divided in 2
• USSR era major cotton (“white gold”) growing region Fergana Valley = 6mn tonnes/yr produced
• Cotton grown in desert = need large amount water / irrigation - Dams / Canals on rivers diverted water to farms = less water reaching Aral sea (consequences ignored for profit)
• Declining water quality - sea saltier (evaporation / salt left in less water) - salinization - pollution from toxic chemicals (fertiliser etc.) - chemicals into rivers water back to sea
• wetlands deltas dried out = affects wildlife - fish/ birds declined - fishing industry collapsed/ factories closed
• large areas sea = barren lifeless salt pans
• wells dried out; water table dropped
• unemployment rose
• increased migration from area
• boats left “high + dry”
• decline local health from chemicals

Question 20

Wetlands Convention

Answer 20

Ramsar

• internationaal treaty for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands
• signed 1971; meet every 3yrs
• Aim prevent, stop + reverse losses/degradation wetlands

Question 21

Wetlands

Answer 21

The Norfolk Broads

• series shallow lakes
• Pollution: nitrates (land conversion pasture to arable) + phosphates (developed area = sewage leaching) = eutrophication
• Sewage works treat phosphates, reed beds filter phosphates out water + erosion buffer, some broads cut off, biomanipulation (water fleas introduced to eat algae), Dredging sediment, Grazing marsh conservation scheme (farmers paid return land pasture)
• Tourism: boats = wash = bank erosion (worse pollution kill reeds) - increased pollution
• boat speeds restricted, boat bans, hull design reduce wash, gabions river banks (£250,000/km, ugly), coir/coconut matting river banks
• man made, managed
• Broads Authority 1989 manage demands

Question 22

Physical Water Scarcity

Answer 22

Saudi Arabia

Question 23

Economic Water Scarcity

Answer 23

Mozambique

Question 24

International Scale Conflict over Water 1

Answer 24

Nile Basin

• Egypt desert = almost entirely reliant Nile - 95% water supplies from Nile
• most countries rising pop = need more food - industrialising / need electricity = water demand/conflict
• 10 nations share waters
• Countries (upstream) want water shared more equally
• GB + Egypt treaty 1929 = none countries tap water/ undertake water projects w/o permission - Egypt get 55.5bnm3 / 84bnm3 - sudan rest
• Tanzania building pipeline extract drinking water
• Ethiopia plan use water for irrigation
• Egypt said effort alter colonial treaty = act of war
• 86% Nile water from Ethiopia (Blue Nile) but use 2% Nile water
• Ethiopia famine 14mn hungry, 20mn in 20yrs - 50% children under 5 malnourished, 33.8% below poverty line (Egypt = 7.6%)
• Egypt water misuse irrigation
• Egypt + Sudan 90% river’s water treaty
• water matter national security Egypt - moved to Interior ministry
• Entebbe agreement - experts decide water share - egypt / sudan dismissed - feel need more water, less rainfall than upstream - climate change = upstream less rainfall = demand river (Rwanda 80% agriculture relies rain-fed irrigation)
• China over West now Africa = Egypt less influence - Beijing fund Ethiopian HEP dam - dam irrigate 350,000 acres, end famine, World Bank lent Ethiopia $45mn - dam cost $520mn build, 15,000MW capacity in 10yrs
• Egypt farmers plant less rice to conserve water - income drop 1/2 yr - cut 900,000 acres, farmer loss $4500 harvest - less profitable crops
• GDP per capita 2008 Egypt $1,800; Ethiopia $280
• over 80% ethiopians live w/o electricity

Question 25

International Scale Conflict over Water 2

Answer 25

Gaza Strip

• densely populated 3,889ppl/sq km
• Gaza Aquifer over-pumped (only natural water supply area)
• Desertification
• natural increase 5.2-6% yr
• water table fall, salinisation - seawater 1.5km inland
• main cash crop = citrus trees (salt-intolerant)
• fertiliser pollution
• aquifer close surface = prone pollution
• low qual infrastructure - sewage not dealt w/ properly - 80mn litres sewage pumped sea day
• rainfall reliant
• 2-year cycle climate = wet/dry winters - 61% rainfall lost evaporation, 2.5% surface runoff (117mnm3)
• water supply = lever political crisis - Palestinians ‘vs’ Israel
• Israel administration no water management
• Israel tapping aquifer from outside Gaza
• Water unequal - Israelis no restrictions + subsidy ($0.10/m3) ($1.20 Palestinians poorer, paying 20x)
• Israelis best agricultural land/aquifer use
• 30km+ water infrastructure damaged Israeli military action Dec 2007-Jan 2008: 11 wells, 6000+ tanks - repair works halted
• Daily consumption per capita Israelis 280litres 4xhigher (average 91)
• 10,000 Gazans no direct water access, access 6-8hrs 1-4days week
• border closed = no aid in
• need Israeli parts to fix infrastructure
• 2009 90-95% water contaminated
• primitive, new wastewater plant Rafah - 5yr temp
• desalinisation plant needed - need Israeli cooperation for aid
• new shallow wells temp