Water In South Africa Flashcards
Less than _____ percent of all the water on Earth is fresh water.
One
Do people and animals need fresh water to live?
Yes
People use water in their ____,____,_____.
Homes
Farms
Factories
What do farmers use water for mostly?
Irrigation
What else do farmers use water for besides irrigation?
Animals, cleaning and washing machines.
How do homes use water?
Washing
Cleaning
Getting rid of sewage
How to mines and industry use water?
Mines use water in processes for removing minerals from rocks.
True or false
Trees don’t need water to grow well. And forest therefore use a lot of water.
False , they do.
Irrigation means?
Watering crops.
What is potable water?
Water which is safe for humans to drink.
What is the average yearly rainfall for South Africa?
450mm
What is the world’s yearly rainfall?
860mm
How much of South Africa gets less than 200mm of rainfall per year?
21%
What percentage of households have access to potable water?
88%
What percentage of South Africa’s population don’t have access to clean water?
12%
The demand of water could double by the year _____.*
2030
True or False
South Africa is water scarce country.
True
What does it mean if a country is water scare?
There is not enough water to meet all the needs of all the people in the country, especially as populations continue to grow.
Many parts of South Africa are ___ for long periods of time. Whereas other places receive most of the year’s _____ in a few months, often as heavy __________.
Dry
Rainfall
Thunderstorms
What are systems that are able to distribute and store water across the country?
Rivers, dams and pipes.
At the moment South Africa only has enough water for its ____ Million people.
50
What systems ensure that we have enough water?
Complex water cleaning and distributing systems and dams.
If there weren’t any of these systems cleaning water for us and distributing water to us what would happen?
There wouldn’t be enough water to for all of us.
South will double its present water needs by ____.
2030
What do some people think is the only for South Africa to meet its further water needs?
By building more dams
What are the disadvantages for building dams?
High costs
The effect they have on their land and river systems.
What is evaporation?
The process where water changes into vapor (gas) because of the heat from the sun.
What is a river catchment?
The area drained by one main river and all the rivers that flow into it.
What does The River Health Program do?
It is an organization that works towards finding where and how river catchments have been damaged.
All the activities that people do in a river catchment area can affect the ____ of water that ends up in the river.
Quality
What is the biggest threat to our fresh water supply?
The pollution of our rivers.
What are alien plants?
Plants that do not naturally occur in an area.
What are indigenous plants?
Plants that naturally occur in an area.
What does it mean to rehabilitate?
To fix or restore something to its natural state.
Why has 50% of South Africa’s wetland been destroyed?
Because of farming activities and growing cities.
Wetlands form a part of river catchment areas and are often ____ in _____.
Covered in water.
Why are wetlands important?
They act like big sponges and absorb extra water naturally, they also act like big sponges and absorb extra water in river systems after heavy rain. This how they help prevent floods.
Some plants and animals can only _____ in wetlands. The more plants and animals there are the healthier the _____and ______ will be.
Survive
River
Wetland
What is working for wetlands and when was it started?
In 2000 to help rehabilitate our damaged wetland.
How many wetlands were rehabilitated in 2009?
95 across all nine provinces.
We find wetlands in ___ parts of South Africa.
Many
Where can wetlands occur?
Inland or near the ocean.
Inland wetlands have _____ water.
Wetlands on the coast have ___ water.
Fresh
Salty
Why are pesticides?
Poisonous chemicals used in plants to get rid of pests.
What is a fertilizer?
Used in the soil to help plants grow more quickly.
