Geography GCSE - Resource Management & Water

Case studies: Large scale water transfer is Lesotho and South Africa, local scheme is Hitosa, Ethiopia

Resource

A stock or supply of something that has value or purpose

Wellbeing

The state of being comfortable, healthy or happy

Economic wellbeing

A person/family’s standard of living based primarily on how well they are doing financially

Social wellbeing

Includes health and income and the level of harmony and progress in a country. eg. migrant and refugee populations, gender inequality, cultural diversity, public services and facilities

What percentage of water is used by industry in the UK?

75%

Where are the highest rates of undernourishment globally?

Southwest of Africa with some other places being parts of South America and Eurasia

Why is water consumption increasing?

• Increasing population

• Overconsumption due to new technologies in HICs such as AI

• Climate change causing unpredictable weather

Where, globally, are the highest rates of water scarcity?

Across Africa, South America, Australia and parts of China

What are reasons for water scarcity?

• Lack of money for exploitation of water supplies

• Sheer vastness of areas compared with low population in rural areas

• Position in relation to the equator

How many calories does the World Health Organisation suggest humans need to be healthy?

2000-2400 calories per day

How many people worldwide fall under the category of undernourished?

Over 1 billion

How many people worldwide suffer from malnutrition?

2 billion

Malnutrition

A poorly balanced diet lacking in minerals and vitamins

Water footprint

A measure of consumption of water (the amount used throughout the day) and it incorporates theses hidden water values in addition to direct consumption, such as energy needed to produce food, products and energy

What is the global water footprint per person?

1240 litres

What is the global water footprint per person in the USA versus Bangladesh?

2483 litres in the USA and 896 in Bangladesh

What are the 2 main reasons people suffer from water scarcity?

• May have water available but don’t have the money to access it since things like resevoires and pumping water from underground is expensive eg. Sudan

• Very dry physical conditions in the country mean that there is very little precipitation eg. Saudi Arabia

What do HICs vs LICs and NEEs tend to use most of their water for? Why?

HICs use a large proportion of their water for industry, versus low and middle income countries that use most of their water for agriculture. A significant factor affecting this is patterns of global trade in food and raw materials like cotton.

How does energy consumption between the richest 1 billion and poorest 1 billion compare?

The richest 1 billion people in the world consume 50% of the world’s energy while the poorest billion consume just 4%.

What is the daily calorie intake in the UK estimated to be?

3400

What is the daily water consumption of the average person in the UK is estimated to be?

150 litres

What is the current UK’s mix of energy use like?

Most is non renewable, with nuclear and coal use having massively decreased since 1998. Renewables are being used more however.

What are the 3 factors affecting food production?

• Climate

• Soil fertility

• Access to technology

What are the factors influencing food demand?

• Increasing population

• Changing lifestyle

Fossil fuels

• Coal, oil and gas make up those used in the UK

• Formed over many thousands of years and as they take so long to be replaced they are classed as non renewable - they will run out

• Used to generate electricity in power stations and power vehicles and machinery

Nuclear energy

• Uses uranium to produce heat in a nuclear reactor

• Considered non-renewable as supplies of uranium are finite

Renewable energy

• Water, wind, sun, waves, geothermal heat, biomass

• Can be expensive and produce small amounts of energy

• Clean and non polluting

What energy did the UK rely on in 1970?

Mostly on coal (47%) and oil (44%)

What energy source increased its share the most in the UK and when?

Between 1970 and 2015, the usage of gas increased by 28%

Why has the UK’s use of coal decreased so drastically?

More awareness about climate change so people look for more renewable options

Why has energy consumption fallen in the UK despite an increasing population?

• Low energy appliances

• Better insulation at home

• Deindustrialisation

• Energy efficient cars

• Households now using 12% less energy

• Heavy industry using 60% less energy

Economic benefits and disadvantages of fossil fuels

• Remaining coal is in hard to access areas so mining it is expensive

• Last coal mine in the UK closed in 2015 so now it is imported from Africa

• Miners often suffer health issues

• Cost of climate change to build things like flood defences

• Creates direct jobs

Environmental disadvantages of fossil fuels

• Burning creates greenhouse gases

• Visual pollution such as waste heaps from mining

• Access roads and support industries disturb nature

• Takes up space

Economic benefits and disadvantages of nuclear power

• Cost of building is high

• Enormous costs to store and transport waste

• Expensive to decomission power stations

• Creates jobs in research and development

• After initial investment, energy generated is cheaper

Environmental benefits and disadvantages of nuclear power

• Waste must be stored safely for many years to avoid contamination

• Nuclear accidents are very dangerous and can have a detrimental impact on people and the environment

• Considered cleaner and less polluting

Economic benefits and disadvantages of renewable power

• High set up costs especially in remote areas

• Impact on visual environment can affect tourism

• Low profitablility

• Many jobs created

Environmental benefits and disadvantages of renewable power

• Wind turbines - can affect bird migrations and bat life

• At sea they can disturb sea currents, fish and wildlife

• Access roads can impact untouched land

• Noisy, block TV and phone signals

• Much lower carbon emissions

• Land is used for wind turbines and can also be used as farmland

• Offshore turbines can function as artificial reefs

Fracking

• Hydraulic fracturing

• A means to extract gas from thousands of meters below the ground

• Hole is drilled deep into the rock - a mixture of sand, water and chemicals is injected at high pressure - splits the rock and releases the gas

Advantages and disadvantages to fracking

• Can lead to the pollution of ground water - contamination of drinking supply

• Linked to low-level earthquakes

• Requires large amounts of water

• Can bring jobs and government revenue

Statistics for food wasteage in the UK

• £280 000 000 worth of milk is wasted per year

• 10% of the weekly shop is binned

• 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink is thrown away each year

• 50% of the total food thrown away comes from our homes

How would stopping food wasting affect us?

It would be the equivalent environmentally of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road and would save the average family £50 per month

Food miles

The distance that food travels from producer to consumer

Carbon footprint

A measure of the amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person or organisation’s activities

How much food does the UK import?

Imports 40% of its food

What are the problems with the UK importing so much food?

• High food miles and a large carbon footprint

  • Contributes to climate change

  • Increased waste due to expiry as it has travelled a long way

• Tariffs affect our reliance on foreign countries

• If too reliant on one place, can be affected if they have crop failures etc

Agribusiness

Where agricultural production is treated like a large industrial scale business

Organic farming

Organic food that is produced without the use of chemicals such as pesticides and fertilisers, promoted as healthier and more environmentally friendly

Advantages and disadvantages of organic farming

Advantages include:

• Better for health

• Considered the ‘right’ thing to do ethically, socially and environmentally

• Using organic food in food service can be a marketing tool

• Improved soil health, biodiversity and reduced pollution

Disadvantages include:

• Sales sharply declined after 2009 recession

• Consumers usually from higher social groups so it is expensive

• Often more labour intensive and has lower yields

  • Higher production cost as result

• More land often required

Advantages and disadvantages of agribusiness

Advantages include:

• Increased food production

• Cheaper

• Brings advantages for investment

• High yield due to enhanced efficiency through technology and machinery

Disadvantages include:

• Massive cost to environment and jobs

• Impact on local food cultures

• Contributes to growing food inequality

• Smaller scale farmer based production emerges which is very expensive and for wealthy consumers

• Reduced rural employment and threats to smaller family farms

Water deficit

A greater demand than supply of water

Water surplus

A greater supply than demand of water

Water stress

Demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use. A country is in water stress when 80% of available water is used every year. Countries begin to experience it when less than 1700m³ are available per person per year.

Regions under high water stress:

• Bahrain

• Cyprus

• Malta

• Middle East

Water transfer scheme

A system of transporting water from areas of surplus to areas of deficit via a network of waterways and resevoires, and they are needed to solve issues of water stress or flooding

Water security

Having enough clean water to sustain wellbeing, good health, and economic development

Water insecurity

A country does not have access to sufficient safe water

In what ways is water quality managed?

• Legislations

• Education campaigns

• Waste water treatments

• Building better treatment plants and investing in new infrastructure

• Pollution traps

• Green roofs and walls

Pollution traps

When new roads are built close to rivers and watercourses, reed beds are often installed to ‘catch’ and filter out the pollution, eg. tire fragments

Over abstraction

Pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be replaced, often causing wells to dry up

Talk about Desalination

Removing salt from seawater to produce freshwater at special plants. It is used heavily in the middle east.

Its advantages include securing water for growing populations in arid regions, independence from rainfall and it supports a region’s agricultural and industrial needs

Its disadvantages include having an environmental impact on ecosystems when salt waste is dumped back into the sea, a vast amount of energy is required which adds to carbon emissions and there is a high cost to transporting the desalinated water to inland areas.

Talk about water storage

When water supplies are stored over longer periods, in deep resevoires or in permeable rock (aquifers) underground.

Its advantages include flood mitigation, reliable agriculture irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, reduced reliance on mains water/rainfall and a safe and consistent water supply.

Its disadvantages include high construction costs, large scale human displacement, habitat destruction and it can great geopolitical conflicts over water rights.

Outline the advantages and disadvantages of a large-scale water transfer scheme (Lesotho —> South Africa). To what extent is it successful?

• Lesotho is a highland country in Southern Africa

• Despite experiencing food insecurity, Lesotho has a water surplus, since the mountains receive high rainfall and the demand for water is low.

• The Lesotho Water Project (LWP) is a large scale water transfer scheme aimed to help solve the water shortage in South Africa by transferring water from the Segu river in Lesotho to the Rival Vaal in S Africa

Advantages for Lesotho:

• Provides 75% of GDP

• Improvements to transport infrastructure with access roads built to construction sites

• Supplies the country with all its hydro-electric power requirements

• Sanitation coverage will increase from 15 to 20%

• Water supply will reach 90% of the population of the capital Maseru

• Income from the scheme helps development and to improve the standard of living

Advantages for S Africa:

• Fresh water reduces the acidity of the Vaal river resevoire, where pollution was previously affecting the water supply due to gold mining and sewage

• Provides water to an area with an uneven rainfall pattern and regular droughts

• Influx of water is restoring the balance

• Provides safe water for the 10% of the population without access to a safe water supply

Disadvantages for Lesotho:

• Corruption has prevented money reaching those affected by construction

• Construction of the polhali dam will displace 17 villages and reduce agricultural land for 71 villages

• Building of first 2 dams meant that 30,000 people had to move from their homes

• Destruction of a unique wetland ecosystem due to control of regular flooding downstream of the dams

Disadvantages for S Africa:

• Costs likely to reach $4 Billion USD

• Corruption plagued the project

• 40% of water lost through leakages

• Increased water tariffs to pay for the scheme are too high for the poorest people

Grey water

Used water from sinks, showers, baths and washing machines

Grey water reuse systems are not common because they cost a lot to install and run, and the quality of the water can decline if left in storage, causing bacteria levels to rise

Groundwater management

The aim is to ensure that groundwater supplies do not become heavily stressed by overuse and pollution, which can be helped by reducing the amount of permitted pumping and topping up the groundwater with treated grey water.

The challenge of groundwater management is that it needs some form of authority in overall control of the drainage basin, with the legal powers necessary to prosecute those who ignore the management strategy.

• Cut back on domestic use

• Stop leakages

• Improve irrigation practice

• Control pollution

Water conservation

The strategies and actions needed to:

• Manage freshwater as a sustainable resource

• Protect the water environment from overuse and pollution

• Meet present and future water demands

In order to reach a sustainable water supply, it is vital to achieve a balance between consumption and supply, and make sure that the dam is maintained in the long term, as water supply inevitably rises.

Outline the advantages and disadvantages of a small-scale (local) water transfer scheme (Hitosa, Ethiopia). To what extent is it successful?

• Hitosa is a largely rural area, 160km South of Addis Ababa - the capital city

• Ethiopia is in the North East of Africa

• One of the poorest countries in the world

• Plains hot and dry and have been extensively farmed

• Prior to the scheme, people collected water from a few largely seasonal rivers + 1 spring

• The gravity-fed water scheme began in the 90s, involving taking water from permanent springs high on the slopes of Mount Bada, which flows through 140km of pipeline to over 100 public water points and nearly 150 private connections (mostly agriculture)

Successes:

• Construction completed on time and within budget

• Water aid provided over half of funding

• Continues to provide reliable water 20yrs on

• Over 65000 people are provided 25 litres per day

• Project completely managed by local communities

• People charged a small amount for water to maintain the infrastructure

• There is no corruption

Problems:

• Pipeline may be too costly to replace after its expected lifetime of 30yrs

• Did not include any accompanying education about hygiene and sanitation

  • Hygiene around tap stands neglected = higher risk of disease

• Agriculture using too much of the water

• Water availability encouraged migration, so the scheme is now expected to meet the needs of more than 65000 people, threatening the project’s sustainability