Water - 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is Water Security?

A

Having reliable & sustainable source of enough good quality water to meet everyone’s needs

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2
Q

What does Water Security depend on?

A
  • Amount of water available
  • Number of people who need to use water
  • Access to water - hard if your poor
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3
Q

What is Water Surplus?

A

Having more water than needed

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4
Q

What can a Water Deficit lead to?

A

Water insecurity - when not enough clean water to keep everyone healthy or enable them to make a living (water crops,etc)

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5
Q

Where does Water Security occur and give an example?

A
  • Areas with high rainfall
  • Very low population density
  • E.g. Canada, Brazil
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6
Q

Where does Water insecurity occur and give ah example?

A
  • Areas with low rainfall
  • High population density
  • E.g. Mexico, Libya
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7
Q

Why is water demand rising?

A

More people with more money

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8
Q

How does rising population affect the global demand for water?

A
  • Everyone needs water for drinking, washing, preparing food
  • More food needs to be grown
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9
Q

How does economic development affect the global demand for water?

A
  • Industrialisation-produce more goods, manufacturing uses a lot of water
  • Energy production-water used for this (e.g. cooling thermal power plants)
  • Rising living standards-peoples wealth increases as can afford higher standard of living - increases water use
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10
Q

What is Water Availability affected by?

A
  • How much rainfall you get
  • Physical Factors
  • Economic & Social Factors
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11
Q

How does Physical Factors of Climate affect Water Availability?

A
  • If climate is too hot, lots of water lost from lakes & rivers due to evaporation
  • Climate change altering amount of rainfall in places, how heavy rainfall is and how often
  • Dry areas are getting drier = droughts
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12
Q

How does Physical Factors of Geology affect Water Availability?

A
  • Rain falls on impermeable rock (clay), can’t soak in so flows off into rivers & lakes - easy to get water from
  • Rain falls on permeable rock (sandstone), flows down through them & form underground water stores (aquifers) - harder to get to
  • Groundwater Make water available in very dry places (Sahara desert)
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13
Q

How does Economic and Social Factors of Over-Abstraction affect Water Availability?

A

•When more water being used than replaced
Caused by:
•Population growth & economic development
•Improvements in sanitation and hygiene
•High demand from businesses - tourism & recreation put stress on places during holiday season

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14
Q

How does Economic and Social Factors of Water Pollution affect Water Availability?

A
  • Reduces amount of clean water
  • Major problem in rapidly industrialising countries, where industrial waste dumped into rivers
  • Human & animal waste are hazards where people share water sources with animals & no sanitation
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15
Q

How does Economic and Social Factors of Limited Infrastructure affect Water Availability?

A
  • Rapid urbanisation
  • Water pipes & sewers can’t be built quick enough to supply the population and prevent sewage from contaminating the supply
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16
Q

How does Economic and Social Factors of Poverty affect Water Availability?

A
  • Fee charged for supplying water to homes

* Poor people can’t pay so haven’t to find other sources of water, which may not be safe to drink

17
Q

What Problems does Water Insecurity lead to?

A
  • Pollution and diseasey
  • Less food production
  • Industrial output
  • Conflict
18
Q

How does Water Insecurity lead to Pollution and Disease?

A
  • Water polluted by sewage, industrial chemicals, nitrogen from chemicals
  • Cholera and typhoid caused by microorganisms passed through water containing sewage
  • People forced to drink polluted water if no access to alternative water supplies - leading to death or disease
19
Q

How does Water Insecurity lead to Less Food Production?

A
  • Irrigation for agriculture uses a lot water

* Shortage of water means less food can be grown = starvation

20
Q

How does Water Insecurity lead to Industrial Output?

A
  • Manufacturing industries are water-intensive

* Produce less when water shortages = decrease in wages for people and affecting economy’s country

21
Q

How does Water Insecurity lead to Conflict?

A
  • Areas of water insecurity share same water supplies = conflict
  • If a country takes more water from a river, it reduces water security of countries downstream
22
Q

How can Water Transfer schemes Improve Water Supply?

A
  • Move water from river that has surplus water to river that has a water shortage
  • Transferred in pipes & canals
  • Original channel dredged (deepened) to improve water flow
  • Reduce water insecurity in receiving basin
23
Q

What Problems can Water Transfer schemes cause

A
  • Environmental
  • Social
  • Economic
24
Q

What are Water Transfers?

A

Large scale engineering projects

25
Q

How can building a Dam and Reservoir Improve Water Supply?

A
  • Dam across river traps a lot of water behind dam = reservoir
  • Reservoir filled during water surplus
  • Water released when water deficit
  • Transferred from reservoirs along pipelines, involve building tunnels, pumping stations and aqueducts - expensive
26
Q

What Problems can Dams and Reservoirs cause?

A
  • Economic - building tunnels & pumping stations are expensive
  • Conflict - reservoirs flood agricultural land & drown settlement so people forced to move
27
Q

What is Desalination?

A

Removal of salt from seawater so it can be used

28
Q

What are the 2 processes of Desalination?

A
  • Seawater heated to evaporate it then condensed to collect water
  • Seawater passed through special membrane to remove salt
29
Q

How is Desalination used in the UK?

A
  • Used during droughts
  • Desalination plant on banks of River Thames
  • Supplies enough water for 400,000 homes
30
Q

What is the Problem with Desalination?

A
  • It’s expensive

* Energy needed to heat water or force it through membrane

31
Q

Why does Water need to be used more Sustainably?

A

Make sure there’s enough to meet everyone’s needs without preventing future generations from meeting their needs

32
Q

What is the Process of Water Conservation and how is it Sustainable?

A
  • Fixing leaking reservoirs
  • Fitting dual-flush toilets - use less water
  • Buying efficient washing machines & dishwashers, only running with full load
  • Tell people to take shorter showers
  • Fitting homes w/ water metres - makes people more aware of how much they using
  • Irrigating farmland using drip pipes that direct water where it needed exactly
33
Q

What is the Process of Groundwater Management and how is it Sustainable?

A
  • Monitor amount of groundwater extracted so not extracted faster than being naturally replaced
  • Apply less fertiliser & pesticides to farmland to prevent pollution
  • Companies fined if leak industrial waste
  • International agreements so a country doesn’t take unsuitable amount of water and other country is left in water deprivation
34
Q

What is the Process of Recycling Water and how is it Sustainable?

A
  • Sustainable because less water extracted from rivers, etc
  • Water from homes piped to water treatment plants
  • Treated to make it safe to reuse
  • Recycled water used for irrigation, industry, power plants, toilet flushing
35
Q

What is the Process of ‘Grey’ Water and how is it Sustainable?

A
  • Type of recycled water
  • Reused immediately instead of being treated first
  • Waste water from peoples homes
  • Used for irrigating gardens, farmland, washing cars, flushing toilets