Freshwater

=Freshwater - Issues and Conflicts=



[[image:syllabus.png]]SYLLABUS REQUIREMENTS

 * =====**1. The water system**===== ||
 * **The hydrological cycle** || Examine the inputs, outputs, stores and transfers of the hydrological cycle. Discuss the causes and consequences of the changing balance between water stored in oceans and ice. ||
 * **The water balance** || Explain the concept of maximum sustainable yield of freshwater in terms of a balance between inputs and outputs.
 * 3 hours ** ||
 * =====**2. Drainage basins and flooding**===== ||
 * **Drainage basins** || Analyse the functioning of a drainage basin as an open system with inputs, outputs, transfers, stores and feedback loops.


 * 2 hours ** ||
 * **Discharge** || Define stream discharge. Examine its relationship to stream flow and channel shape.


 * 1 hour ** ||
 * **Hydrographs** || Describe the characteristics of a hydrograph. Analyse the reasons for spatial and temporal (short term and long term) variations in hydrographs. Examine the role of hydrographs in forecasting the magnitude, spatial extent and timing of floods.


 * 3 hours ** ||
 * **Floods** || Discuss the natural and human causes and consequences of a specific river flood.


 * 3 hours ** ||
 * =====**3. Management issues and strategies**===== ||
 * **Dams and reservoirs** || Analyse the hydrological changes resulting from the construction of dams and reservoirs. Examine the costs and benefits of dams and reservoirs as part of multi-purpose schemes.

Examine the human modifications of a floodplain and their effect on the size and probability of floods. Evaluate the costs and benefits of alternative stream management strategies.
 * 2 hours ** ||
 * **Flood plain management** || Explain the stream channel processes (erosion, transport, deposition) and explain the resultant landforms found on floodplains.


 * 3 hours ** ||
 * **Ground water management** || Explain the functioning and management of artesian basins and aquifers, distinguishing between natural and artificial recharge. Examine the environmental impacts of ground water abstraction.


 * 2 hours ** ||
 * **Freshwater wetland management** || Describe the role of wetlands as a water resource. Evaluate the effectiveness of the management strategies that have been adopted in a major wetland.


 * 2 hours ** ||
 * **Irrigation and agriculture** || Examine the environmental impacts of agriculture and irrigation on water quality: salinization, agro-chemical runoff, the pollution of ground water, the eutrophication of lakes, rivers and wetlands.

Discuss an example of an international conflict related to freshwater.
 * 3 hours ** ||
 * =====**4. Competing demands for water**===== ||
 * **Conflicts at the local or national scale**
 * Conflicts at the international scale** || Examine the competing demands for water in a specific river basin. Evaluate the strategies that have been adopted to meet these demands.


 * 6 hours ** ||

**[[image:resources.png]]ONLINE RESOURCES**
rss url="http://groups.diigo.com/group/ib-geography-2009-freshwater/rss" link="true" description="true" number="20" date="true" author="true" enclosure="true"

[[image:skills.png]]GEOGRAPHICAL SKILLS
This Optional Theme could include:

Topographic maps, satellite images and cross-profiles (sections).

[[image:skills.png]]GLOSSARY

 * Drainage basin || The area drained by a river and its tributaries. ||
 * Drainage divide || (Also known as a watershed)—the line defining the boundary of a river or stream drainage basin and separating it from adjacent basin(s). ||
 * Maximum sustainable yield || The maximum level of extraction of water that can be maintained for a given area, indefinitely. ||
 * Wetlands || Areas that are regularly saturated by surface water or groundwater, including freshwater marshes, swamps and bogs. ||

[[image:resources.png]]TEXTBOOK RESOURCES
• **the water balance** || Waugh, An Integrated Approach, Third Edition: p.214 Codrington, Planet Geographhy, Fourth Editiion: p.150 Bishop and Prosser, Water Resources: Process and Management, 2000: p.12 || • **discharge** • **hydrographs** • **floods** || Waugh, An Integrated Approach, Third Edition: p.58, p.68-70, p.61-63. Codrington, Planet Geographhy, Fourth Editiion: p.153, p.151. Bishop and Prosser, Water Resources: Process and Management, 2000: p.9, p. 25-26, p. 27-30, p. 108-129. || • **flood plain management** • **ground water management** • **freshwater wetland management** • **irrigation and agriculture** || Waugh, An Integrated Approach, Third Edition: Mississippi p. 87-90, Yangtze p.91-92, Colorado p.93-97, p.494-496. Bishop and Prosser, Water Resources: Process and Management, 2000: p.102-107, p.130-145, p.165-172 || • **conflicts at the international scale** ||  ||
 * =====**1. The water system**===== ||
 * • **the hydrological cycle**
 * =====**2. Drainage basins and flooding**===== ||
 * • **drainage basins**
 * =====**3. Management issues and strategies**===== ||
 * • **dams and reservoirs**
 * =====**4. Competing demands for water**===== ||
 * • **conflicts at the local or national scale**