Water NEW

Question 1

What does the index take into account to determine if theres a water crisis?

Answer 1

Water stress 
Population growth rates
Reliance on external water supplies
Sustainability of water use/intensity of water use in the economy
Government effectiveness
Virtual water use

Question 2

Where are extreme risk countries concentrated?

Answer 2

In arid areas of Middle East and North Africa

Question 3

What is ‘peak water’?

Answer 3

When a nation uses well over 100% of their total annual renewable water supply

Question 4

What can help reduce the chance of reaching ‘peak water’?

Answer 4

Deplete non-renewable resources and deepen the crisis
Reduce demand (water conservation)
Recycle existing supply (grey water use)
Increase supply (desalination)
Increase supply by ‘grabbing’ other resources (transboundary rivers and aquifers - risking conflict)

Question 5

What is virtual water?

Answer 5

The hidden flow of water in food or other goods that are traded from one place to another

Question 6

What are the 3 factors that make water conflicts worse?

Answer 6

Rising demand and falling supply - conflict is usually worse in regions which already experience water stress/scarcity, it is rare in areas where water is plentiful
Transboundary supply - either a transboundary river or aquifer
Pre-exiting political tension - water is often just part of a water disagreement

Question 7

Describe the spectrum of disagreements

Answer 7

Local: small scale localised disputes over river and groundwater rights, small sames
National Argument/Debate: most large scale dam projects lead to heated debate, which can have an ‘unrest’ element if people are forced from their land
National Civil Conflict/Unrest: water privitisation in Bolivia
International Tension/Diplomatic Crisis: Nile River, Tigris Euphrates
International Military Dispute/War: Jordan River

Question 8

What are the three main physical factors global water supplies are linked to?

Answer 8

Climate - determines the distribution of water by means of annual and seasonal rainfall distribution, or snowfall
Rivers - transfer surface water across continents
Geology - controls the distribution of aquifers, which supply underground water

Question 9

When does scarcity occur?

Answer 9

When the annual supply of water per person drops below 1,000m3

Question 10

When does Physical scarcity occur?

Answer 10

When more than 75% of a country’s or region’s river flows are being used

Question 11

When does economic scarcity occur?

Answer 11

When the development of the blue water sources (rivers and aquifers) is limited by lack of capital and technology

Question 12

How can humans impact the quantity of water available?

Answer 12

Over abstract - supplies cannot be replenished in time and reserves will be lost because rainfall can never full recharge the underground sources
Can lead to subsidence, salination of well and boreholes and loss of valuable wetlands by drainage or as a result of incursions by the sea

Question 13

How can humans impact the quality of water available?

Answer 13

Can pollute both surface water and groundwater supplies
Sewage disposal in developing countries - causes water-borne diseases (135 million people may day by 2020 - WHO)
Chemical fertilisers used by farmers - contaminate groundwater supplies and rivers, eutrophicate lakes and rivers - leads to hypoxia and formation of dead zones in seas
Industrial waste - dumped into rivers and oceans
Sediments trapped behind big dams can damage fish stocks

Question 14

What is water insecurity?

Answer 14

Not having access to sufficient, safe (clean) water

Question 15

Why are water supplies needed?

Answer 15

To support irrigation so that food production can be increased
To support industries (Coca Cola)
For hydroelectric power production/cooling in thermal power processing
Ensure better and higher standards of human wellbeing - listen as one of the 8 millennium development goals

Question 16

What water demands can lead to tension within and between countries?

Answer 16

Irrigation
Energy
Industry
Domestic Use
Recreation
Conservation

Question 17

What was the reason for pressure point in Tigris-Euphrates basin?

Answer 17

Concerns from Iraq and Syria that Turkey’s GAP project will divert much of the water via a series of irrigation dames
Syria has also develop dams, which in the 1990’s initially led to conflict in Syria

Question 18

What was the reason for pressure point in the Jordan River?

Answer 18

Use of the Jordan, largely by Israel but also Syria, Lebanon and Jordan as reduced the flow of the river to a mere trickle. This also affects supplies to Palestine’s West Bank

Question 19

What was the reason for pressure point in the Colorado Basin?

Answer 19

States in USA dispute their allocation of water from the Colorado, which is so great that the quantity and quality reaching Mexico does not reach the standards agreed

Question 20

What does the criteria of the Helsinki Rules for water sharing include?

Answer 20

Natural factors
Downstream impacts
Social and Economic Needs
Prior use

Question 21

What do water transfers involve?

Answer 21

The diversion of water from one drainage basin to another either by diverting the river itself of by constructing a large canal to carry available water from the area of surplus to the area of deficit

Question 22

Name an example of an existing water transfer scheme

Answer 22

Tagus-Murcia transfer in Spain
Takes water from Tagus River by canal to drought stricken area of Almeria-Murcia-Alicante to provide water for the tourist industry and irrigating cash cropping areas

Question 23

Name an example of a proposed water transfer scheme

Answer 23

South to North transfer project in China
Began in 2003 and will take 50 years to complete, costing US$100 billion
It will transfer nearly 50 billion m3 of water per year from the relatively water-secure south to the drought stricken north via 1300 km of canals linking the Yangtze to the Yellow Huai and Huai rivers

Question 24

What are the environmental and social problems cause by water transfers to the source area?E

Answer 24

Experiences drop in flow of up to 60% as a result of diversion/transfer
River experiences low flow and becomes polluted, impact of ecosystems salinity increasing
Climate change can combine with lower flows to lead to water scarcity

Question 25

What are the environmental and social problems caused by water transfers to the receiving area?

Answer 25

Availability to water simply leads to greater use
Increased use for development (golf courses, tourism)
Promotes unsustainable irrigated farming by agri-businesses
Nitrate eutrophication, salination and ecosystem destruction, pollution transfer

Question 26

For the business as usual scenario, what are the water changes by 2025?

Answer 26

Water scarcity will reduce food production
Consumption of water will rise by over 50%
Household water use will increase by 70% (mostly in developing countries)
Industrial water demand will increase in developing countries

Question 27

For the business as usual scenario, what are the wider impacts?

Answer 27

Developing countries will become more reliant on food imports and experience increased hunger and malnutrition
In Sub-Saharan Africa, grain imports will more than triple
I parts of the Western USA, China, India, Egypt and North Africa, users will pump water faster than aquifers can recharge

Question 28

For the water crisis scenario, what are the water changes by 2025?

Answer 28

Global water consumption would further increase, mostly going to irrigation
Worldwide demand for domestic water would fall
Demand for industrial water would increase by 33% over business as usual levels, yet industrial output would remain the same

Question 29

For the water crisis scenario by the International Food Policy and Research Institute in 2002, what are the wider impacts?

Answer 29

Food production would decline and food prices (esp. cereal) would increase rapidly
In developing countries, malnutrition and food insecurity would increase
Dam building would decline because of fewer potential sites and key aquifers in China, India and North Africa would fail
Conflict over water between and within countries would increase

Question 30

For the sustainable water scenario, what are the water changes by 2025?

Answer 30

Global water consumption and industrial water use would have to fall considerably
Environmental flows could be increased dramatically compared to other scenarios
Global rain-fed crop yields could increase due to improvements in water harvesting and use of sustainable farming techniques
Agricultural and household water prices might have to double in developed countries and triple in the developing world

Question 31

For the sustainable water scenario by the International Food Policy and Research Institute in 2002, what are the wider impacts?

Answer 31

Food production could increase slightly and shifts occur in where it is grown
Prices could fall slowly
Governments, international donors and farmers would need to increase investment in crop research, technology and reforms in water management
Excessive pumping is unsustainable
Governments could delegate farm management to community groups

Question 32

What are the four main groups of key players?

Answer 32

Political
Economic (business)
Social (human welfare)
Environmental (sustainable development)

Question 33

Describe hard engineering projects

Answer 33

More than 800,000 dams would wide, around 5,000 could be considered as mega dams
2/3’s of all surface water is obstructed
Over half of dams are primarily used for irrigated agriculture

Question 34

How is water being conserved within agriculture?

Answer 34

The maxim has to be ‘more crop per drop’
Sprinkler and surface flood irrigation is steadily being replaced by modern spray technology and more advanced drip irrigation, which uses less water

Question 35

How is industrial water being conserved?

Answer 35

Reusing water - grey water

Waste water can frequently be recycled using filters and chemicals

Question 36

How is water used for domestic purposes being conserved?

Answer 36

Compulsory provision of water meters makes consumers more careful about water use
Reducing water usage in kitchen and bathrooms - using an eco kettle or low flush toilet
Water harvesting via rain butts in gardens

Question 37

Name the 4 ways water resources can be sustainably managed

Answer 37

Groundwater Management: aquifer storage/recovery, groundwater quality/quantity modelling

Waterway Management: river rehabilitation, sustainable water allocation, waterway health, environmental flows, waterway structures

Integrated Urban Water Management: water treatment technology, water sensitive urban design, water harvesting and reuse

Monitoring Technology: sensor technologies, real-time wireless monitoring and control systems