Geoactive Questions Part II

List the main reasons for water scarcity.

Very low rain fall, population growth, agriculture, pollution and global warming which causes many climate changes
a)What is a drought?

A long period of time when there is less than average rainfall.

b)What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethiopia?

People would have no water supply, it would be very hot, crops would die and people and life stock will also die. There will will be a famine and land will dry up.
How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?

It stops fresh water water going into the soil, and instead all the rain water will directly flow into rivers and lakes. Also the rain water will take away the top soil and you will have erosion
a) What is El Nino ?

The warming up of the SouthernEastern Tropical Pacific Ocean.

b)Why does El Nino often cause drought in Australia?

The clouds and rain storms that come come with warm oceans also go towards the east. With the result of rains which would normally fall over Australia start falling over the dessert in Peru. This causes forest fires and drought in the Western Pacific and flooding in South America.
Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982-83.

a)What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water? The countries

where there is a drought the fresh water supply will run on reserves and might run out. But in the regions where there is more rain than average the aquifer will fill up, but floods will probably also happen and cause salt water intrusion.

b) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino ?

Indonesia : many forest fires and clearance of tropical forest causing very high air pollution levels. Singapore & Malaysia : air polution due to burning of tropical forest. Philippines : lower rice harvest following drought. China : agricultural land under threat from drought in Northern regions and flooding in Southern regions. Papua New Guinea : Drought related failure of food crops, leading to famine conditions requiring food aid. Africa : reduced corn crop in Sub-Saharan region. Australia : wheat exports threatened by drought across grain growing areas and mostly in New`South Wales