Water Case Studies

Question 1

What was the reason for China’s South-North Transfer project?

Answer 1

The south of China is rich in water resources but the north is not.
The project aimed to redistribute these resources and even out the availability of water.

Question 2

How much did China’s south-north transfer project cost?

Answer 2

The project cost close the US$100 billion

Question 3

How long did they expect China’s south-north project to take?

Answer 3

The project was expected to take 50 years to complete

Question 4

What year did China’s South-North Transfer project begin?

Answer 4

The project begun in 2003.

Question 5

What does the South-North Transfer project involve?

Answer 5

Building 3 canals that run 1300km across the Easter, middle and western parts of China and the link the country’s 4 major rivers.

Question 6

How much water will China’s South- North Transfer project transfer per year?

Answer 6

44.8 billion cubic metres of water per year

Question 7

What are the environmental concerns of China’s South- North Transfer project?

Answer 7

Likelihood of significant ecological and environmental impacts along the waterways.

Question 8

What were the social concerns of China’s South- North Transfer project?

Answer 8

• Resettlement issues
• Worsening of water quality ( The Yangtze River is already severely polluted and the water from the yellow river is undrinkable.

Question 9

What are some of the physical reasons that Australia is drought-prone?

Answer 9

• Low, highly variable rainfall, due to climate being dominated by the sub-tropic high-pressure belt of the Southern Hemisphere.
• Droughts vary considerably- some are intense and short-lived, some last for years, some very localised.
• Most are closely linked to El Niño events, e.g. the East Coast drought of Southern Queensland in 2002-3.
• Since the 1970s, there has been a shift in rainfall patterns, in the eastern area (where most people live) becoming drier compared to the manor the western areas.

Question 10

What year did the ‘Big Dry’ Australian drought happen in?

Answer 10

2006

Question 11

What was the ‘Big Dry’ Australian drought assessed as?

Answer 11

A 1-in-1000 year event as it spread Nation Wide.

Question 12

Effects of the ‘Big Dry’ Australian drought on agriculture?

Answer 12

Affected more than half of the farmlands- especially in the Murray- Darling Basin (the agricultural heartland) which provides 50% of the nation’s agricultural outputs.
- Had disastrous impacts on food supplies and wool, wheat and meat exports.
- Farmers rely on water for irrigated farming of rice, cotton and fruits.

Question 13

What did the ‘Big Dry’ in Australia cause reservoirs to fall to?

Answer 13

40% of their capacity

Question 14

What did the Aral sea used to be?

Answer 14

Once was the World’s 4th largest inland sea

Question 15

When did the Aral sea start shrinking?

Answer 15

Since the 1960s

Question 16

What had happened by 2010?

Answer 16

The sea had declined to just 10% of its orginal size and had split into seperate lakes.

Question 17

How where the former Soviet government involved in the Aral Sea crisis?

Answer 17

Communist leaders began an ambitious irrigation scheme to develop fruit and cotton farming in what had been an unproductive region and create jobs for millions of farmworkers.

Question 18

How where the fishing community involved in the Aral Sea crisis?

Answer 18

A once-prosperous industry that employed 60,000 people in villages around the lakeshore has collapsed. Unemployement and economic hardship is everywhere. Ships lie useless on the exposed sea bed.

Question 19

How where the local residents involved in the Aral Sea crisis?

Answer 19

Health problems are caused by the windblown salt and dust from the dried-out seabed.
Drinking water and parts of the remaining sea have become heavily polluted as a result of weapons testing, industrial projects and fertiliser.
Infant mortality rates are amongst the highest in the world, with 10% of children dying in their first year, mainly of kidney and heart failure.

Question 20

How many people live within the Nile basin? and what is this expected to increase to?

Answer 20

300 million people, expected to double to 600 million by 2030.

Question 21

How dependent is Egypt on the Nile?

Answer 21

95% of its water needs

Question 22

What is the Nile important for?

Answer 22

Tourism, agriculture, trade, wildlife, drinking water, HEP and drought control

Question 23

Who are the conflicts between about the Nile?

Answer 23

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan who share the Blue Nile Basin.

Question 24

What was the Nile Water Agreement in 1929?

Answer 24

Between the UK and Great Britian (representing its colonies along the Nile).
- Egypt was given unconditional power on any upstream projects undertakes and allocated the majority of water.

Question 25

What was the Second Nile Water Agreement?

Answer 25

In1956, the inital Nile Water Agreement was reviewed by Egypt and Sudan- However Ethiopia, the source of the Nile was not involved.

Question 26

What is GERD? And how will it effect Ethiopia?

Answer 26

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- Which will help Ethiopia’s economy and reduce food imports.
- However filling the dam will cause a period of water insecurity downstream, mainly affecting Egypt.

Question 27

How do other countries feel about the GERD?

Answer 27

Sudan sees an opportunity to get HEP from Ethiopia’s dam as part of the deal.
- Egypt are very against it, because filling the reservoir behind the dam would decrease the flows of the Nile by 25%.

Question 28

What is Intergrated drainage