Rivers - Case Studies

Question 1

What are some facts about the Ganges delta?

Answer 1

25% is less than 1m above sea level
100 000km2 
Most people are subsistence farmers
Densely populated (over 1million)
Floods every year in the summer 
Formed by Ganges Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers

Question 2

What are the advantages of living on the Ganges delta?

Answer 2

Flat floodplains are very fertile - rice and jute grown
Shrimp farming brings extra income
Lots of water for drinking and irrigation
Good transport and trade links
Tourism

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of living in the Ganges delta?

Answer 3

Poor communications (no phone or TV) 
Hard to broadcast flood warnings
Low lying and vulnerable 
Expensive to build flood defences
Cost of bridges limits development
Rising sea levels causes floods
Water dirty and polluted from further upstream
Mosquitos - dengue fever and malaria

Question 4

When was Tewkesbury flooded?

Answer 4

2007

Question 5

What were the causes of the flooding in Tewkesbury?

Answer 5

20th July 2 months rain fell in 2 hours on already saturated soil
July - 541% average rainfall
Highest ever daily rainfall (19th-20th)

Question 6

What were some of the problems caused by the flooding in Tewkesbury?

Answer 6

Water treatment forced to close -350 000 people without water
10 000 motorists stranded on M5
Evesham and Stratford upon Avon underwater
Gridlock
75 000 Tewkesbury residents cut off

Question 7

How did the military help in the Tewkesbury flood?

Answer 7

Largest deployment of helicopters
Biggest peace time emergency
Constructed 1km embankment around electricity sub power station threatened by the water

Question 8

What was the aftermath left by the Tewkesbury flood?

Answer 8

Cost over 2 billion to clean up
Gloucester had no water for 2 weeks
Evacuated people had to wait over a year before they could return

Question 9

When was the Bangladesh flood?

Answer 9

July 1998

Question 10

What were the causes of the Bangladesh flood?

Answer 10

Very flat land
Heavy rainfall in July (30% underwater)
By September 68% of the country was underwater

Question 11

Why is flooding needed in Bangladesh?

Answer 11

Less then 20% flooded causes mass food shortages
Brings water needed to grow rice and jute
Deposits silt fertilising the flood plains

Question 12

Where is the Ganges delta?

Answer 12

Bangladesh

Question 13

What were the economic effects of the Bangladesh flood in July 1998?

Answer 13

Without electricity for weeks
More than 70% crops destroyed
Little food for the country to sell
Parts of Dhaka 2m underwater including the international airport

Question 14

What were the social effects of the Bangladesh flood in July 1998?

Answer 14

25 million people homeless
7 million homes destroyed
Outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera
Some places flooded for more than 70 days

Question 15

What countries does the River Rhine run through?

Answer 15

Switzerland
France
Germany
Netherlands

Question 16

What are the problems with the River Rhine?

Answer 16

Polluted 
Alarming levels of phosphates
By 1970 the river almost biologically dead
Declining fish population
Hard to get drinking water

Question 17

Why is the River Rhine so polluted?

Answer 17

19th and 20th C it’s a waste disposal for the Rhineland (highly industrialised)
-mines, steel works and chemical factories
November 1986 Sandoz Company had a fire - 1300 tonnes of waste in Rhine (200kg Mercury)
- 500 000 dead fish

Question 18

When was the Rhine Action Plan?

Answer 18

1987

Question 19

What was the Rhine Action Plan?

Answer 19

Forced companies to treat waste before dumping
Brought in strict laws to reduce pollution and waste dumping
Salmon ladders over dams - regenerates ecosystem

Question 20

What does ICPR stand for?

Answer 20

International Committee for the Protection of the Rhine

Question 21

Why does the ICPR do?

Answer 21

Public relations campaign advising companies on pollution
Environmental awareness
Courts can close down pollution offenders

Question 22

What two companies developed their own environmental schemes to help with the pollution of the River Rhine?

Answer 22

BASF

Sandoz

Question 23

What is the case study for river management?

Answer 23

River Nene in Northhampton

Question 24

What did they do in 2002 to manage the river nene?

Answer 24

Flood embankment built at Weedon
Raised land level by 10m
In times of flood water can be stored behind the bank

Question 25

What did they do at Upton to manage the River Nene?

Answer 25

River channel capacity increased by building earth embankments 10m back from the river

Question 26

What did they do in 2007 to manage the River Nene?

Answer 26

Defences in Upton - £8 million
Aim is to create a washland where 1.2 million cubic metres of water can be stored during flood
Upton Way 6m high above river

Question 27

What have they done at Foot Meadow to manage the River Nene?

Answer 27

4m high flood walls - created an open area of land where the river can flood

Question 28

What’s the flood warning system for the River Nene?

Answer 28

Environment agency’s flood warning service - aims to give 2 hours notice of flood
Upgraded in 2003