IB Geography Freshwater Terms

Nile Water agreement

1929 Treaty signed between UK, Egypt & Sudan giving Egypt ownership of the majority of the Nile. Egypt 66%, Sudan 44%. Other countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, tanzania or Uganda were not allowed to use any water. This treaty is still in place today.

all american canal

Canal in southern California taking water from the Colorado to the Salton sea to create farmland

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

The amount of oxygen needed for microorganisms to break down the organice matter present in a body of water.

Biological monitoring working party (BMWP Scores)

A proxy to measure the biological quality of rivers using invertebrates as indicators. Certain invertebrates live in certain water qualities.

Colorado Compact

In 1922 - first agreement - allocated 7 states to have a certain legal right over a certain amount of water. Overall, they estimated that 93 km^3/year were available, but there was in fact a lot less than this. As well as this, Mexico was not counted in the compact and received 0.

Los Angeles Aqueduct

674km long, provides water for los angeles from havasu lake (colorado DB)

Minute 319

20th of Nov 2012, the governments of the US and Mexico agreed to share water in both drought and surplus.

Potatoes in the desert

In the Sahara desert in Egypt, 400'000 T of potatoes are produced annualy. Water is being pumped from 350m underground in a fossil aquifer, using a drill. The potatoes are then shipped from Egypt to Europe.

South-North Water Transfer Project

Aims to transfer significant quantities of water from China's humid south to the arid north. The US$62 billion scheme, designed to move 12 trillion gallons of water over more than 1000 kilometres, was launched in 2002.