Water - Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography Revision Notes 2018
Water - Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography Revision Notes 2018
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(note: due to rounding of figures, the % on the pie chart to the right adds up to 99.9%)
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Water supply
The supply of water humans use comes from three main sources: Your notes
Lakes and rivers
Aquifers
Reservoirs
Other sources of water supply include:
Desalination
Rainwater harvesting—collecting water that falls as precipitation
Groundwater/aquifer
Water stored underground
The water has filtered through soil and rocks
It is obtained by drilling boreholes or digging wells
When all the rock is fully saturated with water, it is an aquifer
Groundwater may also come to the surface as a spring
Issues with groundwater/aquifers include:
Overuse or over-abstraction of water in some areas means that aquifers do not have time to
recharge through precipitation
Pollution from industry, agriculture and domestic waste can leach into the groundwater
Surface water
Water is stored in lakes, reservoirs, and rivers
Issues with surface water include:
Pollution from industry, agriculture and domestic waste can enter the water system through
surface runoff
Dams are used to store water in reservoirs, but the construction of dams has slowed due to a lack
of suitable sites and concerns regarding the environmental impact
Desalination
The removal of salt from seawater means that it can be used for domestic, agricultural and industrial
purposes
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Water demand
The global demand for water is increasing
Between 1934 and 2014, demand increased from 1 trillion m3 to 4 trillion m3
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Worked Example
Study Fig 1, which is a map showing information about the percentage of the population in each
country with access to clean drinking water.
Fig 1
Describe the distribution of countries where 75% or less of the population have access to clean
drinking water.
[3 marks]
Answer
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Water Shortages
Your notes
Water Shortages and Management
Water shortages (deficit)
Many areas of the world have water shortages (deficits)
Water deficit can be due to:
Low supply:
Lack of precipitation
High levels of evaporation
Poor water management
Drought
Pollution
High demand:
Increasing population
Industry
Agriculture
A combination of low supply and high demand
Areas with the greatest water-deficit include:
Australia
North, East and South Africa
Middle East
Southwest USA
East Brazil, parts of Argentina and Chile
India
These tend to be areas around the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
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Your notes
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"Halve by 2015 the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water
and basic sanitation."
Your notes
This goal was not met but access to clean water has improved
In 2020, 74% of the world's population now have access to clean water supplies
In some areas, there may be water supply, but this is not potable
UNICEF estimates 2.2 billion people do not have access to potable (clean drinking) water
Around 4.2 billion people do not have access to safely managed sanitation services
Water scarcity is expected to increase across the world due to:
increasing population
development increasing demand
climate change increasing aridity
pollution
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China has severe water shortages in the north but water is more available in the south
Conflict
Your notes
Many of the LEDCs who have struggled to meet the MDG are experiencing conflict
Impacts of water shortage
There are many impacts of water shortages, including:
Death and illness due to waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery
Potential for conflicts over water supply, particularly where countries share a river basin
Children in rural areas in LEDCs often miss out on school as they are responsible for collecting
water (they may have to walk miles to the nearest water source)
Lack of food due to:
Crops cannot be irrigated so yields are lower
Livestock dies due to lack of water
Damaged ecosystems and loss of habitats
Delayed economic development because water is not available for industry
Industry
Most water in MEDCs is used for industry
Some of this water could be recycled and used again within the process to reduce consumption
Agriculture
Drip irrigation, which delivers water to the roots of plants
Irrigation leads to 40% of the water used being lost to evaporation and poor management
Drip irrigation reduces this loss significantly
Domestic
Water-efficient appliances
Rainwater collection
Use of grey water for washing cars and watering plants
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An average tourist uses between 450 and 800 litres per day
An average Spaniard uses 127 litres per day Your notes
Tagus-Segura Project
Completed in 1978
Over 60% of the water flowing into the Tagus is transferred
A 286 km pipeline that connects four Spanish river basins: Tagus, Jucar, Segura and Guadiana
The aim was to supply Alicante, Murcia and Cartagena in the southeast to reduce the water deficit
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Issues
Much of the water transferred went to the tourist and leisure users, not to small-scale farmers Your notes
Water consumption in the southeast increased due to an increase in supply
It is estimated that 15% of the transferred water is being illegally used by leisure users such as golf
courses
Large commercial farms are benefitting more than small-scale farmers
Ebro project
A second water transfer project was proposed in 2001 to transfer water from the River Ebro
This project was abandoned due to the
failure and issues with the Tagus-Segura project
cost
threat to the Ebro Delta, as the scheme would have disrupted sediment flow to the delta
Spain has now moved to utilising desalination plants to meet the demand for water
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