Water - EQ3 - 5.8 Flashcards
define water poverty
- a situation where a nation or region cannot always afford the cost of sustaianble clean water to people at all times
define physical water scarcity
- the lack of available clean freshwater resources (surface & groundwater) as in semi-arid climates
Physical water scarcity also occurs when…
- more than 75% of a country or region’s bluewater flows are being withdrawn for human uses
…..% of the global population cuurently experiences physical water scarcity
25%
Whichc ountries & regions experience physical water scarcity
- Middle East, North Africa,
- North China, West USA, South East Australia
define economic water scarcity
- when the use of blu ewater resources is imited by the lack of capital, technological & good governance
It is estimated that …. billion people are restricted from accessing blue water from …….
- 1 billion
- high levels of poverty
why might economic water scarcity occur
- it might cost too much for people to afford
- cleaning dirty water may be too epnsive
- this typically occurs in LICs who lack reliable salination infrastructure
- e.g Continental & SE Asia
Give some possible causes of water scarcity
- lack of annual or seasonal precipitation
- lack of investment & managemnt of water infrastructure to meet demand
- scarcity may also be a social construct duet to wealth, expectation or unusual behaviour
Why is water supplies not equitablly distributed
- although access to safe, potable water is a human right, it is treated as a commodity to be paid for
- the majority of water supplies are controlled & costs vary greatly, within & between countries
What is the expectation of water in high developed countries
- people expect to pay for their water supply, its removal & subsequent treatment
Issues of water pricing in LDEs
What can happen despite water being free
- it may not be fully clean
- & people often have to spend many hours walking up to 10km to get water supplies,
- disadvantaging women & girls daily
Issues of water pricing in LDEs
If people do have access to safe water it is often…
the case that the cost is beyond most people
Issues of water pricing in LDEs
What happens when people cannot afford the price of water
- charities such as WaterAid
- provided inavulable help via programmes
Issues of water pricing in LDEs
The majority of people rely on ….
vendors
Give a real exmple of how the cost of water disadavnatges poeple in developed vs developing natiosn
- Whilst the cost of water in the UK may only a take a small proportion of people’s salaries, it represents 20-25% of their daily income for the very poor, it is unaffordable
Supply vs Demand
If a resource is scarce it becomes………, depending on whether water … meets ….. demand
- expensive
- supply
- demand
Supply vs Demand
what does the price of water depend on
- human & physical factors, on various timescales
Supply vs Demand
what is the frustration of physical factors
- Some physical supplyside features cannot be controlled e.g rainfall
Supply vs Demand
what human interference can unknowingly reduce supply
- poor management of water supplies tend to reduce supply
- e.g by polluting or depleting (cloud seeding)
Supply vs Demand
how can demand be reduced
- by encouraging conservation & charging a realistic price for water
Supply vs Demand
what leads to a rise in cost of water
- any rise ind emand will also rise costs as water comapnies invest in production, treatment & infrastructure
- many private companie shave stakeholders to answer to, with profits being a requirment for future investment
In some countries there is only one water company, which leads to…
- a monopoly on supplying water & therefore they can charge what they want
Explain how NGOs intereferred in nationalised water
- During the 1980s, the wolrd bank & IMF gave loans that required many developing countries to privatise their water systems in the hope that competition would reduce cost