Knowledge Organiser: Water Security and Management
Part of Water Resource Management · GCSE GCSE Geography revision
This topic summary covers Knowledge Organiser: Water Security and Management within Water Resource Management for GCSE Geography. Revise Water Resource Management in The Challenge of Resource Management for GCSE Geography with 0 exam-style questions and 26 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 14 of 14 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 14 of 14
Practice
0 questions
Recall
26 flashcards
Knowledge Organiser: Water Security and Management
Key Terms
- Water security: reliable access to sufficient, safe water for health and development
- Physical scarcity: insufficient water due to climate (North Africa, Middle East)
- Economic scarcity: water exists but can't be accessed — poverty, no infrastructure
- Virtual water: water embedded in traded goods (1 kg beef = 15,000 litres)
- Over-abstraction: withdrawing faster than replenishment (Aral Sea)
- Appropriate technology: low-cost, community-managed (fog catchers, sand dams)
- Eutrophication: algal bloom from fertiliser run-off, depletes oxygen
Aral Sea (Over-Abstraction)
- Once 4th largest lake in the world
- Soviet irrigation diverted feeder rivers from 1960s
- By 2007: shrunk to 10% of original size
- 60,000 fishing jobs lost; fleet stranded on dry land
- Toxic dust storms from exposed, chemical-saturated lakebed
- World's worst water management disaster
Three Gorges Dam (China)
- Yangtze River, completed 2006; cost $25 billion
- 22.5 GW electricity — 2% of China's supply
- Major flood control — Yangtze flooding deaths reduced
- 1.2 million people displaced
- Yangtze River dolphin: functionally extinct
- Sediment trapped → delta erosion; landslide risk increased
Small-Scale Solutions
- Fog catchers (Atacama): $500 each; 1-6,000 L/day; no displacement
- Sand dams (Kenya): $3k-$15k; 300 built; 100,000+ beneficiaries
- Rainwater harvesting: roof collection into tanks; global LIC use
- All: community-run, low-cost, no ecological damage
- Limitation: cannot supply cities or large-scale agriculture
POCA Threats
- P: Pollution — run-off, sewage, industrial (2.2bn lack safe water)
- O: Over-abstraction — Aral Sea; groundwater depletion
- C: Climate change — drought, glacier retreat (1bn depend on meltwater)
- A: Access/inequality — economic scarcity, no infrastructure
Cape Town and Conservation
- Day Zero 2018 — reservoirs fell to 26%; taps nearly switched off
- Consumption cut from 200L to 50L/person/day — Day Zero avoided
- UK loses 3 billion litres/day through leaking pipes
- Drip irrigation uses 30-50% less water than flood irrigation
- Metering reduces household use by 10-15%
Common Mistakes
- Confusing physical and economic water scarcity: Physical scarcity means there is not enough water (e.g. Middle East, North Africa); economic scarcity means water exists but cannot be accessed due to poverty or lack of infrastructure — most of sub-Saharan Africa has economic scarcity
- Describing the Aral Sea without explaining the mechanism: Don't just say "the Aral Sea shrank" — explain that Soviet irrigation schemes diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, reducing inflow faster than evaporation could be compensated
- Evaluating large-scale solutions only positively: The Three Gorges Dam provides 22.5 GW electricity but displaced 1.2 million people, made the Yangtze dolphin extinct and traps sediment causing delta erosion — balance is essential
- Ignoring small-scale solutions in evaluation questions: Fog catchers and sand dams are low-cost and community-managed, but cannot supply cities — always compare scale and context when evaluating strategies
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