0% found this document useful (0 votes)
27 views14 pages

Water - Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography Revision Notes 2018

The document provides an overview of global water supply, use, and shortages, highlighting that only 2.5% of Earth's water is freshwater, with significant portions stored in glaciers and groundwater. It discusses the sources of water supply, the increasing global demand for water, and the disparities in water use between more economically developed countries (MEDCs) and less economically developed countries (LEDCs). Additionally, it addresses the causes and impacts of water shortages, emphasizing the need for effective management and potential solutions such as drip irrigation and desalination.

Uploaded by

Daneese
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
27 views14 pages

Water - Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Geography Revision Notes 2018

The document provides an overview of global water supply, use, and shortages, highlighting that only 2.5% of Earth's water is freshwater, with significant portions stored in glaciers and groundwater. It discusses the sources of water supply, the increasing global demand for water, and the disparities in water use between more economically developed countries (MEDCs) and less economically developed countries (LEDCs). Additionally, it addresses the causes and impacts of water shortages, emphasizing the need for effective management and potential solutions such as drip irrigation and desalination.

Uploaded by

Daneese
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 14

Head to www.savemyexams.

com for more awesome resources

Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE Your notes


Geography
Water
Contents
Water Supply and Use
Water Shortages

Page 1 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Water Supply and Use


Your notes
Global Water Supplies
Global water supply
Only 2.5% of the water on Earth is freshwater
Approximately 68.7% of freshwater is stored in glaciers and ice sheets and 30% is groundwater
The remaining 1.3% of freshwater is in rivers, soil moisture, lakes and the atmosphere
This is not evenly distributed across the globe—Canada contains more lakes than the rest of the
world combined

Pie chart showing sources of water.

(note: due to rounding of figures, the % on the pie chart to the right adds up to 99.9%)

Page 2 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

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

Page 3 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Issues with desalination include:


Expensive to set up and run Your notes
Desalination plants use a lot of energy
Global water use
Global water use by sector is:
70% agriculture—irrigation of crops and water for livestock
20% industry—producing goods and generating energy
10% domestic—toilets, cooking, cleaning, washing
The use by sector varies across countries depending on whether they are MEDCs or LEDCs

Water demand
The global demand for water is increasing
Between 1934 and 2014, demand increased from 1 trillion m3 to 4 trillion m3

Graph depicting global freshwater use from 1900 to 2014

Page 4 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Water use in MEDCs


11% Domestic Your notes
30% Agriculture
59% Industry

Water demand in MEDCs


The water demand in MEDCs is higher than in LEDCs for the following reasons:
Improving living standards—people have more appliances/sanitation that use water
Increased use of water in leisure and tourism—water parks, golf courses
Increased urbanisation
Increasing industry—water is needed for the production of goods and energy production
Increasing use in agriculture—more water is needed for livestock
The largest use of water in MEDCs tends to be industry

Water use in LEDCs

Water use in LEDCs

Water demand in LEDCs


Unlike MEDCs, water use in LEDCs is mostly used for agriculture

Page 5 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Many people are still dependent on agriculture


There is far less industry in many LEDCs so the demand for water for industrial processes is low Your notes
Many people in LEDCs do not have access to piped water and, as a result, are more cautious with water
use

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

Page 6 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Mainly/most in Africa [1]


Except Egypt and South Africa/except in North and South [1]
A few/some in Asia [1] Your notes
Near/on the equator, mainly in the tropics, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn,
Central Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa [1]
Uneven/clustered [1]

Examiner Tips and Tricks


When describing the distribution from a map, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the general pattern?
Does the pattern relate to anything else for example, the location of LEDCs and MEDCs?
Are they near the equator or further away?
Is the pattern uneven or clustered?
Use map features to help with your description: place names (countries and continents), compass
rose, latitude and longitude, the equator and the tropics.

Page 7 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

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

Page 8 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Your notes

Water surplus and deficit

There are different levels of water shortage:


Water stress occurs when the supply of water is below 1700 m3 a year per person
Water scarcity is when the supply is below 1000 m³ a year per person
There are two types of water scarcity:
Physical water scarcity—when physical access to water is limited due to the climate conditions of
the area
Economic water scarcity—when a population does not have the money to utilise the available
water resources
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) included Goal 7

Page 9 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

"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

Causes of water shortage


Many of these areas have a deficit due to low precipitation throughout the year or drought
Demand is greater than supply in some countries due to increasing population, industry and agriculture
In some areas, rivers flow through many countries
This leads to issues with water abstraction and other activities
The upstream country may:
take large amounts of water from the river for agriculture, industry or domestic use, leaving
less for the country further downstream
build dams or alter river flow, which impacts discharge downstream
reduce water quality by introducing pollution to the river
Higher temperatures may lead to increased evaporation and transpiration, reducing the amount of
water available
The type of land use
Agriculture leads to increased water consumption
In some countries, there is a disparity in water supply between areas

Page 10 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

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

Managing water supply


There are many ways in which water supply can be managed but this is easier in MEDCs, where the
money to implement these schemes is available

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

Page 11 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

Low-flush toilets and water-saving shower heads


Water companies fixing leaks and improving efficiency Your notes
In LEDCs, water management is more difficult due to a lack of funding
The involvement of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as Water Aid, helps to fund
projects
Appropriate technology is essential to manage water in LEDCs; they include:
wells
gravity-fed systems where water is piped from a spring or river higher up a valley
boreholes use a hand pump to bring water to the surface
rainwater collection from roofs
drip irrigation
drought-resistant crops

Examiner Tips and Tricks


Remember when interpreting maps to pay close attention to the key and title.
In the above example, the map shows the surplus and deficit of water supply on a sliding scale. Areas
of greatest water surplus are dark blue and areas of greatest water deficit are dark orange.

Case Study: Spain


The average precipitation in southeast Spain is approximately 365 mm a year
Most precipitation occurs in winter
The area is one of the driest in Europe
Agriculture uses 80% of the water available
147,000 hectares of land require irrigation
Regular droughts mean the supply of water is further reduced
There is a water deficit as demand exceeds supply
Tourism increases the problem because:
Water parks and golf courses use significant quantities of water
Page 12 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

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

Map showing the Tagus-Segura project

Page 13 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers
Head to www.savemyexams.com for more awesome resources

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

Page 14 of 14
© 2015-2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. · Revision Notes, Topic Questions, Past Papers

You might also like