Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Water Questions 2

1. (Q) List the main reasons for water scarcity.
(A) Low rainfall, variations in climate, land degradations, population growth and water pollution.

2. (Q) What is a drought? What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethopia?
(A) A drought is when there is little or no rainfall and water scarcity in a large area. Hardships would be problems with washing and quenching thirst.

3. (Q) How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?
(A) It stops infiltration and creates run-off, thus transforming more fresh water from rain into salt water in the ocean.

4. a) (Q) What is El Nino?
(A) The strong winds that occur when the wind reverses over the Pacific.
b) (Q) Why does El Ninooften cause drought in Australia?
(A) Wind blows away storm clouds and water vaper in the air from Australia.

5. Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982-83.
a) (Q) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?
(A) El Nino takes away a lot of water from south east asia and Tasmania.
b) (Q) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino.
(A)Indonesia; more air pollution and forest fires, Philippines; drought, Papua; drought and famine, Australia; drought.

1 comment:

Michael said...

Nice work on these answers, Matthew. You've got the idea of these ideas concerning water scarcity.

mh