Water World

Question 1

Give a named example of somewhere that unreliable or insufficient water supply impacts on humans

Answer 1

The Sahel (poor region of Africa)

• subsistence farming
• nomadic herding

Impacts on people:

• severe droughts -> failed harvests -> Ethiopia famine (2005-2010) -> malnutrition -> death
• grass and scrub cleared -> could farm on slopes BUT heavy rain increased soil erosion -> less farming
• dry spells -> dust storms
• less rain and land erosion -> desertification
• people migrate to cities

Question 2

How can human activities interfere with water supplies?

Answer 2

Over abstraction of groundwater

Deforestation

Question 3

Give an example of how humans have interfered with water supplies (c)

Answer 3

Over abstraction of ground water:
Coca-Cola bottling plant, Kerala, south India

Accusations:

• depleting ground water (Plachimada aquifer)
• damaging farmland and environment by dumping waste (between 1999-2004)

Paying compensation for:

• agricultural losses
• health problems
• loss of wages
• loss of educational opportunities
• pollution
• drought

Question 4

Give an example of how humans have interfered with water supplies (a)

Answer 4

Deforestation?
Aral Sea (between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan)

Water supply to Aral Sea from rivers was diverted for growing cotton plants.

This caused:

• sea dried up -> unemployment of fishermen -> people relocated
• dust storms -> chemicals left behind on the sea bed blow around -> health problems

Question 5

Give an example of large scale water management schemes in the developed and developing world

Answer 5

Developed:
The Hoover Dam (and lake mead), Colorado river, USA
1936

Developing:
Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China
2008

Question 6

Give some advantages and disadvantages of a large scale water management scheme in a developed country

Answer 6

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Colorado river, USA

Advantages:

• lake mead supplies Las Vegas and cities and farms in California
• clean, low cost, reliable water
• employment for building and maintenance
• lake is recreational -> fishing
• tourist attraction
• HEP

Disadvantages:

• cost $850 million to built
• almost no water reaches sea -> Mexico supply reduced
• decline of river ecosystem (reduced water flow + no seasonal flooding)
• states and cities argue over water
• water levels reached a record low in 2010 and global warming could lower this more

Question 7

Give some advantages and disadvantages of a large scale water management scheme in a developing country

Answer 7

Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China

Advantages:

• stops flooding on Yangtze
• employment for building and maintenance
• HEP and no air pollution
• river is more easily navigated than before (ships can go further inland)
• more reliable water to people nearby
• tourist attraction

Disadvantages:

• cost $26 billion to build
• reservoir is increasingly dirty and polluted by industry on its banks
• over 1 million people relocated for flooding the reservoir
• many ancient monuments were flooded
• habitat loss -> Chinese river dolphin extinct

Question 8

What do small scale water management schemes consist of?

Answer 8

Bottom up projects
Cheap and easy to set up
Use intermediate technology
Managed by local people
Address local issues

Question 9

Give a named example of a small scale water management scheme

Answer 9

Rainwater harvesting

• Uganda
• villagers trained by WaterAid (NGO) to build jars
• jars made of sand, mud bricks, cement, copper pipes
• jars hold 1500 litres
• jars cost £35 each
• jars supply 4 families each
• stores water for use in ‘dry season’