Rivers - Case Studies Flashcards
What are some facts about the Ganges delta?
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
What are the advantages of living on the Ganges delta?
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
What are the disadvantages of living in the Ganges delta?
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
When was Tewkesbury flooded?
2007
What were the causes of the flooding in Tewkesbury?
20th July 2 months rain fell in 2 hours on already saturated soil
July - 541% average rainfall
Highest ever daily rainfall (19th-20th)
What were some of the problems caused by the flooding in Tewkesbury?
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
How did the military help in the Tewkesbury flood?
Largest deployment of helicopters
Biggest peace time emergency
Constructed 1km embankment around electricity sub power station threatened by the water
What was the aftermath left by the Tewkesbury flood?
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
When was the Bangladesh flood?
July 1998
What were the causes of the Bangladesh flood?
Very flat land
Heavy rainfall in July (30% underwater)
By September 68% of the country was underwater
Why is flooding needed in Bangladesh?
Less then 20% flooded causes mass food shortages
Brings water needed to grow rice and jute
Deposits silt fertilising the flood plains
Where is the Ganges delta?
Bangladesh
What were the economic effects of the Bangladesh flood in July 1998?
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
What were the social effects of the Bangladesh flood in July 1998?
25 million people homeless
7 million homes destroyed
Outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera
Some places flooded for more than 70 days
What countries does the River Rhine run through?
Switzerland
France
Germany
Netherlands
What are the problems with the River Rhine?
Polluted Alarming levels of phosphates By 1970 the river almost biologically dead Declining fish population Hard to get drinking water
Why is the River Rhine so polluted?
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
When was the Rhine Action Plan?
1987
What was the Rhine Action Plan?
Forced companies to treat waste before dumping
Brought in strict laws to reduce pollution and waste dumping
Salmon ladders over dams - regenerates ecosystem
What does ICPR stand for?
International Committee for the Protection of the Rhine
Why does the ICPR do?
Public relations campaign advising companies on pollution
Environmental awareness
Courts can close down pollution offenders
What two companies developed their own environmental schemes to help with the pollution of the River Rhine?
BASF
Sandoz
What is the case study for river management?
River Nene in Northhampton
What did they do in 2002 to manage the river nene?
Flood embankment built at Weedon
Raised land level by 10m
In times of flood water can be stored behind the bank
