Geography Activity. Why is there a shortage of water in the world?

Context – where is the world's water?

Freshwater availability Only cubic kilometres of freshwater is available as a resource each year, despite more than twice this amount falling as precipitation

Ground water rechgarge Nearly 70% of all freshwater is groundwater. Groundwater recharge is when the water stored below ground is replenished. Each year cubic kilometres of surface freshwater becomes groundwater. In many places this is not enough to replenish water being withdrawn.

A mere 2.5% of Earth's water is freshwater and only 0.3% of it is readily accessible to humans. This is equivalent to 0.01% of all water on Earth. Of this fraction, 8% goes towards domestic use, 22% is used by industry, and 70% for irrigation. If the research is correct, humanity's water footprint will reach a level 40% above reliable, accessible water supplies by Source: The Guardian newspaper Wednesday March

One estimate of global water distribution(Percents are rounded, so will not add to 100) Water sourceWater volume, in cubic milesWater volume, in cubic kilometers Percent of freshwater Percent of total water Oceans, Seas, & Bays321,000,0001,338,000, Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent Snow5,773,00024,064, Ground water5,614,00023,400, Fresh2,526,00010,530, Saline3,088,00012,870, Soil Moisture3,95916, Ground Ice & Permafrost71,970300, Lakes42,320176, Fresh21,83091, Saline20,49085, Atmosphere3,09512, Swamp Water2,75211, Rivers5092, Biological Water2691, Source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources (Oxford University Press, New York).

Until recently, issues of freshwater availability, use and management have been addressed at a local, national and river basin scale Since production processes in a global economy can shift from one place to another, water demands can be met outside the boundaries of a nation through the import of commodities. All countries trade water-intensive commodities, but few governments explicitly consider options to save water through import of water-intensive products or to make use of relative water abundance to produce water-intensive commodities for export. (Source: Mekonnen and Hoestra (2011) p. 7)

Water conflicts 1503Florence and Pisa warring states. Military toolYesLeonardo da Vinci and Machievelli plan to divert Arno River away from Pisa during conflict between Pisa and Florence Owens Valley, Los Angeles, California Political tool, Control of water resources, Terrorism, YesThe Los Angeles Valley aqueduct/pipeline suffers repeated bombings in an effort to prevent diversions of water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles Multiple parties Military target YesHydroelectric dams routinely bombed as strategic targets during World War II. 1951Israel, Jordan, Syria Political tool, Military tool, Developmen t disputes YesJordan makes public its plans to irrigate the Jordan Valley by tapping the Yarmouk River; Israel responds by commencing drainage of the Huleh swamps located in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria; border skirmishes ensue between Israel and Syria. 1990South AfricaDevelopmen t dispute, Control of water resources NoPro-apartheid council cuts off water to the Wesselton township of 50,000 blacks following protests over miserable sanitation and living conditions

Big idea: that there is only a finite amount of drinkable water in the world. As populations grow, we have less water to share between us. Curriculum areas: Science, Geography, PSHE, speaking and listening, Citizenship. Prior learning: the water cycle

Resources needed: 1. A 3D globe 2. A timeline on the Interactive White Board or wall of 5-6 key civilisations in history, starting with the dinosaurs (e.g. Stone Age, Egyptians, Romans, Victorians, present day people) in chronological order. 3. A jug of water. 4. Enough plastic cups for one per child.

Children sit in a circle around a table that has the globe and a jug of water on, explain that the jug of water represents all the water available on the planet and the globe represents planet earth, the timeline is displayed somewhere that the children can see it. Activity outline:

Recap the water cycle, emphasising that the amount of water on planet earth is not changing, we will always have the same amount, the water we drink today is the same water that the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago.

Ask two children to volunteer to represent all the dinosaurs that roamed the planet millions of years ago. They walk around the table with the globe ‘being’ dinosaurs. Fill from the jug a cup of water for each child (ask the two children not to drink the water but to pretend to!) explain that these ‘dinosaurs’ had all the water they wanted from the jug to drink. After a few minutes, pour the water back into the jug and ask the children to sit back down

Move on to the next period in history, e.g. the Stone Age. Ask 4 children to come and represent all the Stone Age people in the world. Repeat the activity, giving each child a cup full of water, explaining that they could have as much of this jug as they liked between them (remind them not to actually drink the water). After a few minutes, pour the water back into the jug and the children sit back down.

Repeat this activity with each period in history, adding a few more children to represent each period. When you get to present day people (2015), have all the class with a cup of water each, representing everyone that lives on earth today (remember it all comes from the same jug).

After you have emptied the jug, there may be slight chaos as not every child will get some water. Notice what the children might say, e.g. ‘I haven’t got any water yet’ ‘she’s got more than me’ ‘that’s not fair’ ‘there’s not enough for everyone’ ‘give me some of yours’.

Give them a few moments to organise things themselves. It is important that they experience the feelings of unfairness, happiness to have more, confusion as to why there isn’t enough or anger. You might find that some pour from their cups to others who don’t have any and that some don’t want to share.

Here is an example of some key questions you could ask the children at the end of the activity:

Why did the dinosaurs have more water than us? (There was less of them, so they had more water each) What did you notice happening to the amount of water on planet earth as we moved through each period in history? Why is there not enough water to go around now?

Has everyone got exactly the same amount as everyone else? Why not? Do you think that in real life water is shared out equally? Why? Why not? In the world, why do some people have clean drinking water and some don’t? What factors might affect this?

Teachers notes This activity has the potential to stimulate a healthy discussion or debate about the serious issues around global water usage and how we can help to not waste water. Focusing on virtual water (water used to make or grow things) next, (see Geography activity- virtual water in food), would highlight the vast amount of water needed in our modern era to make everyday items, this is in addition to having a population bigger than ever before on the planet, hence we need to save water. We can save water in many more ways than they might initially think of and by recycling or reducing consumption, we would also have a huge impact on the water availability in the world.