Water Conflicts

Question 1

Citarum River, Indonesia- the world’s most polluted river?

Answer 1

It is an important river because of three reasons: HEP, water farming and for the Indonesian people.
Industry (waste of 2000 factories)
Untreated sewage
Sediment
Domestic refuse from 9,000,000 people
Soil erosion from the river banks

Question 2

Aral Sea Case Study

Answer 2

Located in between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in central Asia.
It’s a landlocked basin. The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth largest inland saline body of water with an area of 68,000 km2.
1918-became part of the Soviet Union.
They saw potential for farmland in surrounding desert- and usd the two big rivers flowing into the sea, Amu Darya and Syr Darya- main crop = cotton.
Over abstraction of the rivers feeding into the Aral Sea means the depletion of the water.
The remaining water is still evaporating which has increased the salinity of the sea as the salt is left behind.

Impacts:

• Stagnant water- cancer & disease
• Lack of freshwater
• Weak immune systems
• Lack of crop growth- impoverishment

Work is being done to restore in part the North Aral Sea by building a dam wall to hold the water in place.

Question 3

Water Conflicts in the Middle East: Israel

Answer 3

This part of the Middle East has low seasonal rainfall and a growing population. 
Water is derived from:
•The River Jordan and The Sea of Galilee
•Three important aquifers –
The Coastal Aquifer
The Mountain Aquifers
The Gaza Aquifer.

Issues:
Overconsumption
Growing Population
Degradation of existing water supplies- saltwater incursion
Border disputes- Shifting borders- who owns the water?

Conflict:
Shifting borders have not helped. Many Palestinians live in areas that were once Israel occupied. However Israel still claims that water as their own.
The Israelis fear that the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip will use too much water and that this will cause salt water to seep into the aquifer and cause contamination of water supplies.
The Palestinians think that Israel’s high demand for water leaves them with too little.
Allegations that the Israeli army have demolished Palestinian reservoirs.

A wall separates Palestinian controlled territories and Israeli controlled territories.

Question 4

The Colorado River Case Study

Answer 4

The basin of the Colorado river is the most heavily used source or irrigation water in the USA.

Colorado Compact 1922, allocated the water rights between the seven different states.
Under this, the ‘Law of the River’ divided the river into the Upper and Lower Basin with the Upper having responsibility to supply the Lower Basin states.

Now there is a ‘giant plumbing system’, with more than 10 major dams to give water to over 30 million people

Stakeholders:
Farmers
City dwellers
Environmentalists and recreationalists
Indigenous groups
Mexican people
US federal government

Question 5

The Three Gorges Project

Answer 5

Yangtze River and is the world’s largest hydroelectric scheme

Benefits
- 18,000MW of electricity generated
- Will supply water to the region responsible
for 22% of China’s GDP
- Flood protection will save lives and cut
financial losses
- Navigational improvements could open up
China’s interior to development

Costs
- Dammed waters will down 100,000 hectares
- 1.9 million people will be displaced
- Pollution increases as abandoned mines and
factories are flooded
- Dam failure, earthquakes and heavy rain could
cause serious issues
- Ecological impacts on fishing and habitats

Question 6

The Snowy Mountains scheme

Answer 6

The Snowy Mountains scheme in the Kosciuszko National Park- Australia
The scheme collects and diverts water so that it can be used by the power station to create electricity

Negatives
Destroyed wildlife habitats
Some places have fallen to only 1% of its original discharge
Conflict between farmers and city dwellers
Record droughts in Australia in recent years triggered by El Nino events have used up the water allocations of Snowy Mountains Scheme