Transcript Water transfers

Water transfers- a quick fix?
Source area
Receiving area
Major Water Transfer Schemes
Examples of existing schemes
International
Lesotho to South
Africa: Lesotho
Highlands Water
Project
Turkey to Israel
by tanker
National:
Snowy MountainsAustralia
Melamchi Nepal
Tagus-Mercia
Spain
Proposed schemes
International
Turkey to Israel
undersea
pipelines
Austrian Alps to
Spain + Greece
by pipeline
National:
South-North transferChina
Ebro -Spain
Ob to the Aral Sea
NAWAPA Alaska to
California
Video: China’s Parched North
Water crisis
What has led to some of China’s
water scarcity problems?
Water Transfer
projects in
China
China: the North/South water
divide
• VIDEO: Great Chinese Drought
continuing
– What are some of the causes and
consequences of the drought problems in
Northern China mentioned in the report?
Water Management
Spain Case Study
Local water resources are intensively exploited
•70% of land surface in Spain semi-arid climate zone
•Recurring droughts
•Strong seasonal variability of rainfall
•Agriculture
•Tourism
The expansion of water supply by construction of dams
has come to an end
•1,300 dams in Spain
•Spain is the country with the 4th largest number of
dams
Some aquifers are overexploited
Climate change will further lower the natural supply of
water
Low water prices hold back the development of
unconventional supply sources
Water Management
Spain Case Study
The Colorado River: A Case
Study
• Video: The Colorado: a river in peril?
0’52
• Video: Colorado River: America’s
Most Endangered River 2013
The Colorado River
• Most endangered river in the U.S.
– Most dams,
– supplies the largest portion of the population
– Irrigates the most crops
• Increasing water supply problems in California
– Climate change
• Less run-off from melted snowcaps
– Longer and more severe droughts
– Population growth
• Mostly in arid south
• Immigrant populations looking for farm work
– Infrastructure
• Ageing pumps and aqueducts = environmental havoc
– Region contains richest farmland in the country
• Major food supplier of the U.S.
• Agriculture Accounts for % of employment
Colorado River Basin
Human influences on water supply and scarcity
• Humans affect the hydrological cycle at many points of flows and
storage:
In developing countries, 70% of
industrial wastes are dumped
untreated into waters where they
pollute the usable water supply.
Source:World Water Assessment
Programme (WWAP)
Water Security: a definition
“The capacity of a population to
safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of acceptable
quality water for sustaining livelihoods,
human well-being, and socio-economic
development, for ensuring protection
against water-borne pollution and waterrelated disasters, and for preserving
ecosystems in a climate of peace and
political stability.”
The risks of water insecurity
• What are the potential implications of an increasingly
‘water insecure’ world?
Water supply problems
Increasing water
shortages may be more
important than energy
shortages- because
there is no alternative!
Water conflicts
Where demand exceeds supply
and no effective management
operates, then there will be
conflicts between the various
players involved
Water transfers
Of this precious resource by either
diverting the actual river, or using
canals . Long carried out at a small
scale but increasingly over larger
distances, and even transboundary
Water geopolitics
The conflicts between nation
states, despite the international
agreement called the Helsinki
Rules designed to create more
equitable use of water
extending across boundaries
Water Scarcity
NPR : Water the Epic Struggle
A Delicate Balance
Water
Energy is needed to
clean and transport
water
Water is needed to
generate energy
Energy
Energy is needed
to produce food
Water is needed to
grow food
Food transports
(virtual) water
Food
Food can be used to
produce energy
Synopticity-Water-Energy
• Energy and Water: Solving Both Crises Together:
• Water and energy are the two most fundamental ingredients of
modern civilization
• We consume massive quantities of water to generate energy, and
we consume massive quantities of energy to deliver clean water
• There are tensions between the two:
water
restrictions are
hampering
solutions for
generating
more energy
energy problems,
particularly rising
prices, are curtailing
efforts to supply
more clean water.
Reading Homework
• IB Geography text (pp. 1-3 on
California)
• EU spotlight turns on Spain
• Spain suffers worst drought
• Water Diplomacy in the Middle East