A2 Geography Edexcel-Water Conlicts

Water Scarcity Hotspots
1. Egypt- exports 50% of food due to scarcity.
2. Ogallala Aquifer- provides 1/3 of Us irrigation water
3. Aral sea - irrigation to cotton farms
4. River Ganges - pollution and over extraction.
Initiatives
1. United Nations - Water for Life
  1. 2005-2015
  2. Water and Gender
    1. Involving women increases the effectiveness of water projects by 7 x
    2. Women and girls spend up to 6 hours everyday fetching water
    3. Reducing water distance by 15 mins increases female school attendance by 12% (Tanzania)
  3. Water and Urbanization
    1. Every second, the urban population grows by 2 people
    2. More than half the world's population lives in cities.
    3. There is better access to water in urban areas
  4. Water Quality
    1. 80% of untreated sewage is discharged into water bodies
    2. 3.5 Million people die/year from inadequate water and sanitation
    3. Freshwater biodiversity has degraded more than any other ecosystem
  5. Water and Food
    1. It takes 70 litres for one apple to grow and 2025 litres for 150g of beef
    2. 70% of water withdrawal is from agriculture
  6. Water and Energy
    1. 2.8 billion people live in water scarcity and 2.5 billion have unreliable access to electricity
  7. Water and Sustainable Development
    1. More than 1.7 billion people live in river basins where use exceeds natural recharge
    2. Unsustainable due to agriculture, energy and industry, cities
  8. Human right to water
    1. In 2010 the UN declared access to water and sanitation a human right
  9. Access to Sanitation
    1. Every 20 seconds a child dies from poor sanitation.
    2. access has risen from 49% (1990) to 67% (2015)
CASE STUDY: Gaza
1. Location
  1. Eastern Med coast between Israel and Egypt
2. Physical factors
  1. low, unpredictable rainfall. Rely on one winter rainfall on a 2 year cycle.
  2. seawater incursion
  3. 61% lost to evaporation. 2.5% to surface run off
3. Importance of population
  1. 1.4 million people. 3,889 people/ sq km.
  2. Strains on water and space, affects living conditions
  3. Migration is large, 1/3 live in UN refugee camps
4. Structural scarcity: When water is controlled with unequal distribution
  1. E.G. Israeli's living in Jewish settlements have no restriction
5. Coastal aquifer problem
  1. Over pumped to meet demand
  2. Israel, takes the majority
  3. supply induced scarcity: a decrease in a renewable source from degradation and unsustainable use
  4. Sea water incursion (saline): damage crops
  5. sewage (broken pies from conflict) and fertillsers from agriculture
CASE STUDY: Aral Sea
1. Location
  1. East of the Caspian sea, central Asia. The borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakstan
2. History
  1. Controlled by the soviet union. The water was irrigated to feed agriculture, such as cotton field (white gold)
  2. used to be the 4th largest inland sea
  3. 1989 it reduced by 50%
3. Problems caused
  1. Damaged fishing industry
  2. high salinity
  3. reduced water quality
  4. Environment loss
  5. infant mortality doubled due to liver and kidney disease and cancer
  6. ammonia is common
4. Restoration
  1. Saxa plant helps keep dust grounded
  2. 2005 restoration projects set for the North but the South was left
  3. Building a dam- Dike Kokaral
Transboundary water
1. Water that crosses over different country boundaries
2. For example: Mekong, Danube, Nile, Ganges, Amazon, Rhine, Aral sea
3. Hydropolitics: politics of sharing water supply between counrties
4. Issues with different users
  1. Demand rising
    1. Population increase
    2. Demand generally
    3. Industrial use is rising
    4. Agriculture
  2. Supply is diminishing
    1. Climate change
    2. Quality reduction
    3. Abstracting
Ogallala Aquifer USA
1. 1930s excessive farming lead to a dust bowl, severe drought
2. Located over borders of South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico
3. provides 20% US agriculture
4. 1950 was when it was mostly exploited
5. Drilling from the Aquifer began in 1940
6. 'right of capture' policy, if it is under your land then you can extract as much as you like, at any time
7. Responses
  1. Dryland farming methods
  2. Planting cotton and sorghum for oil and ethanol for fuel is less water consuming
  3. Leave to return to grassland
  4. Use canopies or technology to prevent evaporation loss
  5. When rainfalls they should capture it.
  6. development new irrigation technology that saves drops.
  7. technologies that measures water usage

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A2 Geography Edexcel-Water Conlicts

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	Created by Maria Philpott almost 8 years ago