W - 3.1 -> 3.4

Question 1

Mekong, SE Asia p1

Answer 1

• Name means ‘Mother of Rivers’ in Thai/Lao
• Transboundary - ties destinies of 6 countries
• Born from snowmelt on Tibetan Plateau (17,000 ft.) and topped up by monsoon rains
• 60 million depend on river directly – but also consider indirect needs (produce)
• Very rich biodiversity (second to Amazon)

Question 2

Mekong, SE Asia p2

Answer 2

• Fastest growing river basin in HEP construction:
• China has completed 8 dams, has 5 more under construction and 11 planned
• Laos & Cambodia – 2 under construction, 9 planned
• Lower Mekong managed by Mekong River Commission (MRC) – but limited power and cash – China refuses to be a member

Question 3

rising pressure: p1

Answer 3

• population growth
• Economic development
• Rising living standards

Question 4

Main pressures increasing the risk of water insecurity

Answer 4

• diminishing supply - climate change, quality from pollution
• Rising demands - population growth, economic development
• Competing demands within a basin - trans boundary, upstream downstream

Question 5

Reducing Quality (Water Contamination)
4 main ways: p1

Answer 5

• Intensive agriculture – chemical fertilisers, pesticides
• Industrial production – wastes and chemicals, mining, untreated sewage, and particularly, heavy metals
• Urbanisation – runoff and waste water, as well as poor sewerage systems
• Agribusiness – nitrate, and phosphate fertilisers – leading to eutrophication, hypoxia and dead zones

Question 6

Reducing Quality (Water Contamination)
4 main ways: p2

Answer 6

• Dams then hold back water – reduced quantity makes it harder to to flush out pollution)
  How big an issue is it globally?
• 1bn people live without safe water 
• 2.3bn live without adequate sanitation
• China: 300m people use contaminated water each day
• 190m suffer illnesses each year

Question 7

clear water erosion:

Answer 7

• clear water = less sediment = higher energy = higher velocity = higher erosion

Question 8

national water carrier

Answer 8

delivers fresh water from the Sea of Galilee all around Israel.

Question 9

due to Israel pumping out fresh water from the sea of galilee

Answer 9

for farming and daily use,
Jordan receives mostly saline water and has experienced significant drought as a result.

Question 10

freshwater demand in Palestinian settlements

Answer 10

exceed the supply of freshwater in each area, so Palestinians are forced to resort to saltwater

Question 11

gaza aquifier is

Answer 11

badly overdrawn and polluted – 96% of household water from the aquifier is undrinkable

Question 12

Saltwater encroachment into aquifers

Answer 12

due to over pumping

Question 13

Israel gets

Answer 13

40% of its water from Palestinian Territories

Question 14

finite supply

Answer 14

• saltwater encroachment and contamination affects water quantity + quality
• global latitude/ climate
• climate change and associated triggers
• ENSO variability - unpredictable drought and floods

Question 15

growing demand

Answer 15

• pollution from agriculture/ industry
• rising demand from emerging economies + rising population
• over extraction of water from river
• bottom billion cant afford to pay for it
• poor governance means poor communities cant afford or access water

Question 16

water stress occurs when

Answer 16

supply is less than 1700m3 a person

Question 17

water scarcity occurs when

Answer 17

supply is less than 1200m3 a person

Question 18

Israel

Answer 18

• formed in 1948 following UN partition to create Arab and Jewish states
• has occupied territory in West Bank, Golan heights

Question 19

natural climate

Answer 19

• warm climate, high evaporations, less precipitation
• water falls in winter, in norther
• 1.1 bn of ground water
• irrigation Is necessary

Question 20

salt water incursion

Answer 20

• freshwater hold seawater back
• removal means intrusion
• coastal aquifer - water is 20-50m bsl

Question 21

Israels demand for water p1

Answer 21

• 60% desert, 10% population increase since 48
• agriculture - desert farming specialists
• industry - huge technological base
• sanitation - untreated sewage and agricultural runoff into coastal aquifer

Question 22

Israels demand for water p2

Answer 22

• health - zionist desire to make the desert bloom
• settler communities have brief outages
• food - drip irrigation helps

Question 23

Rawabi

Answer 23

• The first ever planned city for palestinians – 25-40k ppl people
• West bank
• 2010-14
• Didn’t have access to water until 2015
• Used as political capital re negotiations over Israeli settlers
• Overruled by PM Benjamin Netanyanu
• Limited water available
• New reservoir to be constructed outside of Rawabi

Question 24

Water for human wellbeing:

Answer 24

• Human health (lack of water is responsible for 10% of disease) - 13/14%/yr increase in patients admitted with kidney problems in Gaza hospitals
• Israel blockades Gaza – hard to import more than 15% of equipment needed for clean water and toilets
• Climate is changing – more than 2oc increase since 1950s, 40% decrease in rain

Question 25

Water is a human right/ social dignity:

Answer 25

• Lack of water has a disproportionate impact on poor/ women/ children
• Economic growth means better health and reduced health costs

Question 26

Conflict?

Answer 26

*35 million people depend on limited water supply (32,500 GL per year)
*Introduction of water cap and Murray-Darling basin plan overshadowed by illegal over use (above quota) from farmers
*Conflict with environmentalists over wetland water availability (16 RAMSAR listed wetlands exist in basin)

Question 27

Murray-Darling Basin Plan:

Answer 27

• 2012 by MDBA
• Legislation to guide governments, regional authorities + local communities to sustainably manage the basin
• Aim of the plan is to ensure that water is shared between all users– and to return 2,750 GL back to river system
• System involves buyback scheme (trade) - taxpayers buy water back from farmers -$13 billion spent so far
• But, extraction rules for irrigators have changed – allowing them to use larger pumps to extract this ‘environmental’ water
• Key area of dispute is Barwon-Darling River System

Question 28

Brewarrina residents - fishing community

Answer 28

Tension between irrigators and fishermen, pumps are so powerful, water flowing other way. Members have split over whether to accept donation from Cotton Bourke. They keep an eye on the local irrigators, suggesting some distrust.

Question 29

Clyde and Webster limited cotton farms

Answer 29

Cotton farms, have massive storages of water, 5 of them on one farm holds 32 billion litres of water on just farm. Own more water than anyone else in the country bar the government, Look to make money from cotton, or by selling water in droughts to farmers in demand.

Question 30

environmental defenders office

Answer 30

Water purchased with Australian taxpayer money to go to the environment, yet private irrigation firms are storing all the water – is it not a public interest?

Question 31

Causes of water insecurity

Answer 31

• physical causes: climate, evaporation and evapotranspiration, discharge into the sea, saltwater encroachment
• Contamination of water by agricultural, industrial and domestic pollution, overabstraction from rivers

Question 32

Water for economic development

Answer 32

• agriculture, industry and energy, domestic use - worker Productivity