Water Conflict A2 Geography

WATER CONFLICT

Water stress = occurs when demand for water exceeds amount available or when poor quality restricts its use

Types of Water Scarcity:

1.       Physical scarcity (exists when shortages occur because demand exceeds supply)

2.       Economic scarcity (exists when people cannot afford water even when it Is available)

     The majority of the world’s water is in oceans, then ice caps, then saline ground water. The world is often described as a ‘’blue planet’’ but a lot of the water is saline and not suitable for drinking.

Water is a fundamental human need and the future may hold conflict, increasing demand as the BRICS grow crisis point, sustainable development, government intervention or more aid.

Farming and agriculture uses 70% of all water. Daily domestic water uses at an average of 95 litres per person per day in asia, 334 in UK and 578 in USA.

Ogallala Aquifer

It is a shallow water table in USA, one of the world’s largest aquifers. 174,000miles of water. It runs through 8 states in America, including: South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is part of the high plains aquifer system and 27% of irrigated land in America overlies it. 30% of ground water is used for irrigation. The aquifer is ‘recharged’ by precipitation. It is currently being used up too fast.

Facts on the charity organisation WATER AID

Common problem is that water can get polluted by animals. The average person in a developing country lives on only 10 litres of water a day. 2.5 billion People in the world do not have access to sanitation.

Water scarcity can be caused by climate change. Higher temperatures can create water shortages and extreme weather can damage land.

Water aid use a scheme called Mitigation VS Adaption. Water Aid use adaption to solve water and sanitation problems, as adapting to the natural environment so that the local people can fix their devices is sustainable.

Solutions:

·         Pipelines, storage tanks

·         Hand dug wells, protected wells

·         Boreholes (pump), hand pumps , rope pumps

·         Gravity flow systems

·         Rainwater harvesting  (collecting rain water to re-use it)

·         Fog collection (though condensation building on a sheet and dripping into bucket)

·         Latrines (can build samples and local people choose best fit)

Facts and figures:

·         4,000 children die a day from diarrhoea related diseases

·         A land use survey is carried out to work out which solution is most appropriate for the area in need. This will measure rainfall, temperatures, and local resources.

·         16 million children a year are born into a household with no toilet

·         Local people are often trained with skills such as hygiene

·         One of water aids main objectives is to use partners in that country so that the local people gain skills; there are rarely jobs where western people go over to the country.

·         Water aid doesn’t work in countries that are not politically stable as they need to know that their solution will stay in use.

2000 group called ‘world water forum’ was created. They are a water scarcity council. E.G They deal with decreasing size of Aral sea in Kazakhstan, due to the development of irrigation developments – high saline and pollution levels = fish dying

Water scarcity in Asia and pacific  

Asia and pacific +water scarcity

Critical health problems -3^rd of population lacks access to safe drinking water. 500,000 diarrhoea related infant deaths each year in Asia.

·         Agricultural use accounts for 90% of freshwater withdrawals in south Africa

·         Aquifer depletion in Asia led to drop in water availability per capita from 10,000m3 in 1950 to 4200m3 in 1990

Africa and water scarcity

·         25 African countries face weather stress or scarcity in 2025

·         Over 300 million people lack access to safe water

·         Nearly 51% of people in sub Saharan Africa are without safe water supply

·         41% lack sanitation

Europe / central Asia

·         lack of access to clean drinking water in central Asia

·         increasing water consumption over exploiting groundwater reserves

·         decreasing water quality in countries with ground water pollution

Water shortages in India and Bangladesh:

·         problem of water shortage was bad about 5 years ago

·         water used for irrigation and rice farming

·         hydroelectric power on river Ganges

·         1970 Faraka Barrage was constructed. Farmers / fishes not got enough water. Industrial city of Kolkala uses all of water on border of Bangladesh.

Issues include – salinity in water, drop in aquifers, and decrease in GDP due to water shortages.

Solution – need a political / economic incentive to correct water use or cut of industrial city Kolkala.

WATER STRESS = IF COUNTRIES WATER CONSUMPTION IS MORE THAN 10% OF ITS RENEWABLE FRESHWATER SUPPLY THEN IT IS IN WATER STRESS.

<1700m3 PPPY water stressed <1000m3 PPPY water scarcity (PPPY = Per Person Per Year)

Physical scarcity = demand exceeds supply E.G Africa

Economic scarcity = people cannot afford the water E.G South America

Europe and North America use most of water on industry, Asia and Africa use most water on agricultural.

WHY DOES AGRICULTURE USE SO MUCH WATER?

Irrigation systems are not sustainable. Many farmers depending on crop type flood the land as a means of irrigation, this is not suitable and uses a lot of water.  Sprinklers are another method of irrigation, they waste water that is evaporated, and only a small amount of the water filters through and gets into the soil of the plant.  A suitable method of irrigation is pipe lines under the plant with seepage holes, the problem with this is that the pipe lines are too expensive for many farmers to afford.

The huge size of our population is another key reason why agriculture uses so much of the world’s water. As population sizes increase, more food and crops need to be grown to feed more people.

‘’growing demand for a finite resource’’

Salinity

Salinity can be a problem for irrigated land. Irrigated water contains mineral salts which can become concentrated in surface layers of solids as water table rises. In arid areas moisture evaporates from surface layers of soil – leaving salt crystals behind. This can make plants die. Salinisation can destroy the land that irrigation was supposed to improve.

Water Scarcity = point at which the aggregate impact of all users infringes on the supply or quantity of water

·         Indonesia’s drive for economic development and its manufacture of cheap goods to sell to Europe and USA.  This lead to polluted water.

·         Manufacturing pollutes water. 40% world’s food comes from irrigated land and irrigation can lead to issues of salinity and water logging (air gets into soil and drowns plants.)

Water conflict (geopolitics)

·         263 rivers cross or form political boundaries

·         90% of all countries share water basins

·         Hotspots have been created – E.G Middle East and Turkey.

Water Scarcity = point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges on the supply or quality of water

40% of the worlds food comes from irrigated land and irrigation can lead to problems of salinity and water logging (air gets into soil and downs plants.)

Water shortages on the river Ganges in India and Bangladesh:

·         Problem occurred 5 years ago.

·         1970 Farraka Barrage built.

·         Meant that farmers were not getting enough water and fish were dying.

·         Industrial city of Kolkala using all of the water

·         Issues = salinity in water, drop in natural aquifers, decrease in GDP due to water shortages

·         Solution – political / economic incentive to reduce water usage. Or cut off industrial city

WATER STRESS = if countries water consumption is more than 10% of its renewable freshwater supply it is in water stress

<1700m3 PPPY water stressed <1000m3 PPPY water scarcity

Europe and North America use most of water on industry. Asia and Africa use most of water on agricultural.

Water conflict = Rio Grande River passes through Texas and Mexico. 1963 signed Chamazal treaty stating who got what. This is a geopolitical issue over water conflict as it is a finite resource, yet two places have to share.

CASE STUDY: CALIFORNIA

·         Gold rush in mid 19^th C..Hollywood era 1920s

·         American dream of money, sunshine, beaches and an attractive climate.

·         Threats facing California = arid land (average precipitation 200-500ml) 65% of precipitation lost through evaporation and transpiration. 13% flows out to sea, 50% of rain falls between November – march.

Population = 2million in 1900, 37.7 million in 2007, expected 50 million by 2050.

Population creating water shortages and spatial imbalance 75% of rain falls in the North. Colorado river provides 60% of California’s water.

California drought 2000-2007

·         Wetlands have been drained and natural habitats altered Fish stocks have also been depleted to secure water supplies

·         Polluted waterways over extraction of groundwater = increasing salinity

·         Bay delta region environmental disaster. 

Main threats to California are its lack of precipitation and its large population.  The increase in population has created a spatial imbalance.

STATE WATER PROJECT = SWP combined with CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT CVP provides water from river delta for central and southern California.

Geographical Controls

Mountain chains run parallel to the coast and prevent moist air reaching inland. The prevailing moist air flows from Pacific Ocean to the mountains. This condenses forming relief rainfall. 

Surface runoff occurs over impermeable, saturated and baked surfaces.

Some surface water infiltrates through the surface layer. It percolates through the rocks to become groundwater. 

Most of major rivers are fed by snowmelt from Nevada Mountains. Further south rivers can run dry.

WEATHER SYSTEMS = high pressure blocks moist air and can result in storms , el nino brings flooding, la nina brings drought.

Colorado River basin drains 7% of the USA. Throughout the 20^th Century many treaties were signed to allocate fair shares to the 7 surrounding states and Mexico.

Grand Ethiopian Resistance Dam

Ethiopia has a population of 88 million. Dam to be located on the Blue Nile through Sudan Cost = 4.8 billion dollars. China contributing 1.8 billion dollars towards project and it should be complete by 2017. Dam going to create artificial reservoir 1959 Nile agreement signed by Egypt and Sudan = conflict. Egypt do not want the Dam to be built as they rely on the river Nile = very popular for tourism. Egypt may propose war if the dam goes ahead.

ISRAELI WATER CONFLICT:

3 aquifers make up 25% of Israel’s water supply:

·         THE SEA OF GALILEE which is fed by river Jordan and tributaries in Golan heights

·         MOUNTAIN AQUIFERS mostly located in the west bank

·         COASTAL AQUIFERS supplies 80% of Israel with water

Syria wants its borders to be reinstated where they were before in 1967. This would compromise 25% of Israel’s water supply. It feels that Syria’s water management scheme is inferior and could contaminate Lake Kimenet.

 Threats from Turkey’s GAP project could force Syria to diver the river Jordan away from Israel.

OVER USE AND MISUE ARE ISSUES FACING ISREALS WATER

Mountain aquifers are mostly located in disputed west bank where urban growth remits water quality.  Gaza strip is showing signs of salt seepage as water levels in coastal aquifer fall. Israel thinks that Palestinians have over pumped supplies causing sea water to seep through.

Israel consumes 500 billion litres more water than what it has. Its population is growing at 1.5%. Droughts are common and they are lasting longer.

WATER PATHWAYS = Routes taken between sources of water (EG Rivers, lakes, groundwater) and are where it will be consumed. Usual routes are by pipelines or artificial canals.

Geopolitical conflict: Palestinians live in areas which Israel once occupied. 2004 Turkey agreed to ship water to Israel in return for high tech military support

TURKEYS GAP PROJECT:

In 2013 dams produce 12% of Turkish electricity. Turkey has regional variations in rainfall and droughts in Anatolia in summer. The main cities of Turkey are Ankara and Istanbul. GAP project is costing $32 billion. Turkey is aiming to be the ‘bread basket’ of the middle east and to increase crop production. Turkey gets 643mm average rainfall per year and 55% of this is lost as evaporation and transpiration.

Turkey is mainly a Muslim country. Kurdistan is a place in Iraq and their ethnic minority are Kurdish. The population of Turkey is 72 billion and 14 million of them are Kurdish. The Kurdish people have been fighting for better rights. Agricultural education programs are taught in Turkish and not Kurdish.

Project Aims:

·         To construct 22 dams

·         Create 19 hydro electric power stations

·         Provide 22% of Turkeys electricity

·         Provide irrigation for 1.7 million hectors of land

·         Diversify crop production E.G nuts, fruit, vegetables, cotton, wheat, barley.

·         make more cash crops

·         Stimulate urbanisation

·         Stop migration of young people

·         Help economy grow by 12%

·         Create 200,000 employment opportunities

LIMITATIONS OF GAP PROJECT:

·         Lisu dam was attacked by international community, world back and environmentalists. Lisu dam was built on the river Tigris 65km upstream from Iraq/ Sudan border. Many governments and engineering companies pulled out.

·         34,000 residents had to be re-homed and the historical city of Hanaskfey made underwater.

·         The dam means increased risk of malaria and water borne diseases.

·         Also risk of becoming a major dump as effluent (industrial waste) pumped into it.  

WATER CRISIS : AMERICAN SOUTH WEST

CAUSES =

·         Unsustainable water usage – Colorado river supplies 7 states with water and this creates a water deficit

·         Disappearing ground water – lack of ground water in aquifers causes land to subside boreholes are now so deep that they are expensive

·         Less river flow dust storms are fiercer this causes more snow to melt and the flow of the river to be slower.

·         Reduced hydro power – reducing level of lake mead will reduce amount of hydro electricity it can produce  

·         Increasing population – the population in the Colorado River basin increased from 20 million to 76.5 million in 2060.

Blue water = fresh water taken from surface water and ground water resources

Green water = fresh water taken from rainwater stored in soil as moisture

Grey water = polluted water calculated as volume of water that is required to dilute pollutants so that the quality of water is to agreed standards

Virtual water = water used in production of goods and services

Correlation between water use and economic development

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FARMER = USES BLUE AND GREEN PRODUCES GREY

FOOD PROCESSOR = USES BLUE PRODUCES GREY

RETAIL = USES BLUE PRODUCES GREY

CONSUMER = USES BLUE PRODUCES GREY