Water Conflicts 2

Question 1

What is the latitude of California?

Answer 1

• California is located on the falling limb of the Hadley Cell 35 to 38 north of the equator.

Question 2

What is California’s average annual precipitation?

Answer 2

200-500mm

Question 3

What percentage of water is lost in California through evaporation?

Answer 3

• 65% of water is being lost through evaporation caused by intense short wave solar radiation

Question 4

What is the geology of the Sierra Nevada mountains?

Answer 4

• Mostly composed from granite, a relatively impermeable rock.
• This area is therefore vulnerable to surface run-off

Question 5

What percentage of California’s water comes from aquifers?

Answer 5

• As a result of sedimentary rock, which allows water to infiltrate and percolate to groundwater, 1/3 of California’s water comes from aquifers.

Question 6

What percentage of rain falls between May and November in California?

Answer 6

• 75% according to EPA 2010 which is an example of how areas suffer from seasonality

Question 7

How does relief rainfall impact water distribution in the Sierra Nevada region?

Answer 7

• Warm moisture rich air moves from the Pacific Ocean onto mainland California, which is then forced upwards by the mountainous regions, cools, condenses and falls as rainfall or snow on the other side of the mountain.
• Areas west of the Sierra Nevada mountains receive more rainfall than areas east such as the Mojave Desert(which receives under 100m annually as a result.)

Question 8

What percentage of global water store is available as freshwater?

Answer 8

Only 2.5%

Question 9

What percentage of global water store is easily accessible freshwater?

Answer 9

Only 1% - found in lakes, ecosystems, the atmosphere and rivers.

Question 10

How is water stress defined?

Answer 10

• When the annual supply of water per person falls below 1700m3

Question 11

What is China’s water mismatch/stress?

Answer 11

• China has 8% of the worlds freshwater, but 22% of the worlds population.

Question 12

What percentage of Chinese cities do not have enough water all year round?

Answer 12

• 2/3

Question 13

How are North Eastern Chinese rivers affected by food production?

Answer 13

• Rivers in the North East such as the Yellow River are suffering due to 70% of Chinese food being domestically produced which requires massive irrigation projects.

Question 14

What is India’s water mismatch/stress?

Answer 14

• India has 4% of the worlds freshwater, but 16% of the worlds population.

Question 15

What percentage of precipitation never reaches rivers or aquifers?

Answer 15

• 43%

Question 16

What is the water demand in the Beijing-Tianjin region?

Answer 16

• Currently 4.9 billion m3
• Water demand in the region is predicted to increase due to industrial output in the region increasing six fold in the last 20 years.

Question 17

How has China water consumption changed in the last fifty years?

Answer 17

• It has increased ten fold

Question 18

How has water over abstraction affected Beijing?

Answer 18

• Over abstraction from aquifers has led to subsidence in the area by 1m a year.

Question 19

What are the predictions for California’s population changes?

Answer 19

• Likely to exceed 50 million by 2025.

Question 20

What is the spatial imbalance in California?

Answer 20

• 75% of the demand for the water comes from south of the Sacramento river, whereas 75% of the precipitation falls from the north.

Question 21

Give an example of Californian affluence and how this impacts water security.

Answer 21

• California is home to 883 irrigated golf courses which require 90 billion gallons of water a year.

Question 22

What is the impact of water pollution in the Salton Sea?

Answer 22

• The Salton Sea has 75% of its inflow from agricultural runoff, pesticides and fertilisers.
• The salt content here is 25% higher than that of the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the death of 7.5 million fish in one day.

Question 23

How much industrial waste does the world produce annually?

Answer 23

• 400 billion tonnes

- Industrial waste contains lead and mercury which are toxic metals, which can lead to bioaccumulation.

Question 24

How is the Citarum River significant?

Answer 24

• The Citarum River(Indonesia) is the 4th biggest and supplies 80% of the water to Jakarta.
• This river carries water from 9 million people, factories and farms, and is then used for drinking water, untreated.

Question 25

What are the 5 parameters the Water Poverty Index uses?

Answer 25

• Resources, access, capacity, use, environment

- Each parameter is scored out of 20 to give a score out of 100.

Question 26

What is the difference between Canadian and Ethiopian water consumption?

Answer 26

• Canada uses 800 litres of water per person per day, whereas Ethiopia use 1 lire of water per person per day.

Question 27

How has war affected water accessibility?

Answer 27

• In the Central African Republic, water infrastructure has been damaged by war which has led to increased water costs.
• 60% of their population are children who would not be able to pay for the additional water fees.

Question 28

How has water privatisation affected water accessibility?

Answer 28

• Privatisation of the water industry in Bolivia has led to the French owned TNC Bechtel restricting water for over 200,000 people when they promised to provide water.

Question 29

How has lack of infrastructure in Nigeria affected the people?

Answer 29

• They are therefore reliant on street vendors who charge extortionate prices.
• This has meant that on average people spend $486 on water when they earn $2 a day.

Question 30

What did Soviet planners do in the 1950s associated with the Aral Sea?

Answer 30

• They diverted water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for the development of water intensive crops like cotton

Question 31

What was the result of the diversion of the rivers leading to the Aral Sea?

Answer 31

• Its level had fallen by 40 metres and to 10% of its original size as of 2007.

Question 32

What are the social-economic consequences of Aral Sea divergence?

Answer 32

• Social: As the sea dried out, it left pesticides from the irrigated water that can mix with sand storms and cause respiratory issues for the locals such as TB
• Economic: Aralsk, a former fishing port, (FINISH)