Water Resource Management

Physical Water Scarcity - places that are arid and dry which makes water naturally come in low quantities.

Economic Water Scarcity - areas that lack the human power or cannot afford to invest in water sources and meet local demands. Watr is only available to the people who can afford it and not for the poor.

Water deficit: when the water demands exceed the water available

Water surplus: when the water demand is less than the water available.

Evapotranspiration - the movement of the water from the Earth, through evaporation and plant transpiration, to the atmosphere. 

Rainfall totals vary globally and nationally which has led to the variations in the amount of fresh water that is available. 

Another factor that restricts the availability of water is that water is away from the concentrations of population. 

The water that is available for people each year is between 12,500km(cubed) - 14,000km(cubed).

• The amount of rainfall that a region receives. 
• Some countries with reasonable rainfall have high evapotranspiration rates; this means high temperatures will turn the water to water vapour which rises back into the atmosphere - the water does not have time to enter water sources and make it available for humans. 
• A region can have an economic surplus or deficit. This means whether a government can afford to provide water supplies to the population. 
• In developed countries, the population has access to fresh water through water supply systems but this can lead water deficit if water is not used properly. 
• In developing countries, water supplies may be in surplus because the majority of the population has no access to fresh water due to economic water scarcity. 

Australia and South of Africa is in a water deficit.

Europe is in water surplus. 

In Emerging and Developing countries:

• The supply of piped fresh water supplies to households in developing countries has increased in the last 50 years due to charity organisations, like Water Aid UK, and other organisations, like World Health Organisation, that have given them the means to provide themselves with drinking water. 
• 2.3 billion people gain access to improved drinking water between 1990 and 2012 but in 2012, 11% of the global population still didn't have access to drinking water. 

In Developed countries:

• The supply of fresh water to households in developed countries has changed over 50 years due to human intervention.
• Although, the variations in rainfall totals has had an impact on the availability of fresh water in some developed countries.

Increase in demands globally because:

• increase in manufacturing industry in developing countries
• increase in thermal electricity generation
• increase in domestic use and increase in meat production
• increase in water for irrigation
• Average 3000 litres to produce one person's daily food intake - and the population is increasing.

Increas in demands in developing countries because:

• the supply of piped water for households has improved so more people want it because the country is using water that, in the past, they never had access to. This could create water shortages.
• For example, China has been supplying water to households for the last 50 years which has caused an increase in the demand in areas with less rainfall because that is where the population lives. So, the Chinese have started to build a large water transfer scheme to help the surplus of water in some countries and the deficit in others. 

As developed countries become wealthier, the demand for water has increased. This is because:

• Technological advances - dishwashers and dryers use more water than washing clothing by hand. 
• Personal hygiene changes - hygiene requirements have change from the past with people showering and bathing everyday which increases the demand of water.
• Sport increasing- for example, large amounts of water is used in golf to keep the courses green.
• Leisure increasing - swimming pools have increased, particularly in hot countries like Spain. Hotels are also increasing and they usually have large swimming pools for tourists. 

In developed countries, water usage for industry is higher than for agriculture, whereas in developing countries, water usuage for agriculture is higher than domestic use. 

Agriculture - the amount of water used it due to: irrigation methods, rainfall and the level of development in the country. Developed countries with low rainfall use irrigation systems that use lots of water (a spray system can spray 75l of water per second). Developing countries have the same technology and so use closer to 2 litres per second.

Industry - Developed countries use lots of water like Walkers Crisps factory uses 700 million litres a year, but 42% is recycled. Developing countries have small-scale companies (usually running from home) - these cottage industries use less water. However, due to large multi-national companies moving their production to emerging countries, water usage for industry will increase rapidly. It takes 3 litres to make 1 litre Coke; in India there are 24 Coca-Cola plants: there is conflict with the local people over the usage of ground water sources.

Domestic - Developed countries use water for many purposes. In developing countries, many don't have piped water to their homes (although this is decreasing) and so people have to fetch water from rivers and wells: thus, their water usage is restricted because of how much they can carry from the well and therefore can only be used for the basics: hygiene and cooking. 

• The north and west of the UK receive the highest amounts of rainfall (The Lake District receiving around 1,500mm rain/year and London in the south east receiving only 500mm rain/year).There is plentiful water in the South and West but one third of the UK population live in the South East (the drier side). The least populated areas are Scotland and Wales which thus means there is an imbalance between areas with lots of water and areas with greater demand.

• The north and west of the UK receive the highest amounts of rainfall (The Lake District receiving around 1,500mm rain/year and London in the south east receiving only 500mm rain/year).There is plentiful water in the South and West but one third of the UK population live in the South East (the drier side). The least populated areas are Scotland and Wales which thus means there is an imbalance between areas with lots of water and areas with greater demand.

• Many pipes used to supply water for households and industry are over 100 years old.
• in 2009, water firms lost 3.29 billion litres of water because of leaks - this is a third of water being supplied. However, Thames Water replaced old pipes for £1 billion. 
• In Cambridge, the utility is replacing 13km of water mains a year and installing meters on pipes so they can detect leaks more quickly. 
• There are always leaks in pipes because of the environment and the pressure of road traffic.
• The sewage system also has an ageing infrastructure which is over 100 years old. Before 2011, must of the sewage system was owned by the locals (some didn't even know they owned it) but then most of sewage systems were given to water companies - they are now responsible for maintaining the network and mending leaks. 
• Sewage leaks do occur when old drains collapse due to heavy road traffic and this is because they were not built to withstand the volume and weight of traffic. 
• There were long periods when the rainfall was below average and this also causes problems because levels in water storage reservoirs go down (but this was soon brought back up) 

The UK receives most os its water in the winter but there is a high demand in the summer. There is an increase in water supplies in the winter months November-January. This will be when the demand is at its lowest and in the summer, it has the highest demand (especially when its a hot summer). This can cause a problem of supply for the water companies.

• People don't have access to clean water due to the lack of piped water to households.
• Although there has been development in China and India, people in Africa still don't have a supply of water readily available.
• 2.3 billion people have gained access to drinking water from 1990-2012.
• 748 million people don't have acces to clean water.
• In the Amazon, waster from fossil fuel extraction is washed into rivers, polluting the indigenous tribe's water. The pollution can cause: risk of cancer, abortion, headaches and nausea because the water contains toxics above the acceptable of human comsumption.
• Pollution from untreated sewage in rivers can cause many diseases and 80% of sewage is discharged into rivers,lakes and coasts. 
• The young and old usualy get diseases related to unclean water and nearly half a million children died 1990-2012.

840,000 people died each year from contaminated water. Many people in developing countries still use rivers for drinking water. The rivers are being polluted in many different ways.

Nearly 70 million people in Bangladesh drink from wells - this water contains high arsenic levels that are above the recommended. This problem affects 140 million people in 70 countries and is now being made worse because the ground water has not been able to replenish itself due to increase in demand because of growing population.

70% of industrial waste is disposed, untreated, into rivers where it contaminates the water. In Africa and India, many wells contain high nitrate levels that are above the recommended for human comsumption due to intensive farming around the area. 

Many developing countries have low rainfall. This means, when the population increases, the countries will have a physical scarcity of water. 

These areas include: North of Africa and South Asia.

Attitudes to exploitation and consumption of water vary with different stakeholders:

• Head of Coca-Cola, India: They need a lot of water to keep plants working efficiently and providing jobs for the locals. They have a business to run.
• Government of India: It is important to conserve water for domestic use - factories will close down anyway if there are water shortages. 
• Water Aid campaigner: We need to conserve the water and use it sensibly. 
• Farmer in USA: We need to use water for agriculture so we can make a profit and so they are able to feed the population
• HEP Producer: I need to use water and create a dam in order to create energy. 
• Mayor of London: We need to converse water supplies or there will be water shortages in dryer years.
• London resident: There is enough water to keep UK going. 

Many countries have a shortage of water due to rainfall. However, desalination (when salt is removed from salt water to make drinking water can solve this); more salty water is expensive but still can be achieved. There are currently 16,000 desalination plants and Saudi Arabia has the most plants (second is USA).

There is a problem it takes a lot of energy to desalinate one litre of water but this can be solved by plants using cheap oil and natural gas like Gulf states, night-time electricity or solar power to operate their plants. 

China has 7% of the world's fresh water but 20% of the world's population: Beijing is looking to quadruple its sea water desalination capacity over the next 10 years to help provide for its large population.

The population grows 80 million people a year and all these people need water. Although they might use 50 litres of water a day, it takes 3000 litres to produce food. The water should be managed sustainably because there is finite water in this world and:

• 2.1 billion water were given access to clean water between 1990-2011 and 800 million people are still living without access to clean water. 
• The world's population is increasing by 80 million people and so the demand will increase by 64 billion metres cubed each year. 
• There is an increase in demand for meat globally and meat production requires ten times more water than cereal crops.
• Every day, 2 million tonnes of human waste is disposed of in water courses. 
• In developing countries, 70% of industrial waste is disposed untreated in rivers.
• by 2050, the global demand for water is likely to increase by 55%
• Globally, 70% of water that is withdrawn from rivers goes to agriculture for food production. Irrigated land represents 20% of the land used for farmingbut contributes 40% of global food crop. 

• Chinese farmer: Irrigation takes less time and less water. Also, without irrigation, crops with fail and I would be unable to make a profit. 
• Government of Developing country: Unsure whether there will be enough fresh water to provide for people. 
• Conservationalist: We need to combine our water management to get the most water out of each river catchement area.
• UK resident: I believe there is a enough rainwater so we don't need to manage our water resources.
• Wealthy company spokesperson: We are replacing old water mains and installing meter so that we can mend leaks as soon as possible. 
• African villager: Piped water that the government has given me has improved my quality of life

Problems with the UK's water resources:

The UK has a plentiful supply of water although there is an imbalance between the areas (North and West) with high rainfall and smally populatedcompared to South and East areas that hold a third of the UK's population with little rainfall. 

Water has been transported from the areas with the high rainfall to areas with that are highly populated - further and larger water transfer schemes will be expensive. Water is obtained by aquifers (water-bearing rocks) and the supply hasn't replenished as fast as it is being used by water companies: this then causes problems like rivers running dry and ecosystems being damaged. 

Solutions:

• Governments have passed policies to ensure water companies will manage water sustainably. They have to produce a 25-year plan which shows their sustainable management of water sources.
• The governments have set up efficiency targets for water companies and they will be monitored each year. Each water company will develop plans to meet these targets. 
• Some websites are sponsered by the governmnet to help people save water in their homes.
• The government has lowered the licences given to water companies for water extraction to allow the ground water to replenish.

Since the government had set these targets in 1990:
leakage is down by 35%

Water and Sewerage companies have renewed and relined 20,000km of water mains.  

• During the last 50 years, China's population has doubled but the demand has has risen 5.5. times.
• West, Central and Northern-eastern regions in China have recurring droughts which leave 18 million people with water shortages.
• China has a high population density in the North-east, which has lower rainfall than in the South.
• Over 70% of China's rivers and lakes are polluted: the water is well below the standard for drinking.
• Around 1,500 people die of flooding every year. Two thirds of the population producing 70% of China's agricultural produce live on the floodplains of two major rivers.

Solutions:

• Water is being redirected from the wetter south of China to the north which has a physical scarcity of water. 
• Projects are being carried out by charities in rural China to cut the water being used to produce food.
• The government has introduced water-saving campaigns using Olympic athletes to go into schools and teach the children about the importance of saving water. They went to 1000 schools and gave out leaflets whilst also asking the children to post about water-saving tips around their school.
• Beijing has a water conservancy museum which hopes to raise awareness of how much water people use and hope they use less.