Geography (0460) | Water

Welcome to Theme 3: Economic Development – Chapter 3.6 Water!

Hello Geographers! This chapter is all about the most essential resource on Earth: Water. You might think water is a physical geography topic, but here we focus on how humans use, manage, and sometimes misuse this vital resource, and how that impacts a country's economic development.
Think of water as the ultimate fuel for the economy. If a country doesn't have enough clean water, it cannot develop.

Key Takeaway from this Section:

We will explore where water comes from, who uses the most, why shortages happen, and how managing water supply is critical for lifting people out of poverty and ensuring sustainable growth.

1. Methods of Water Supply

Not all water is easily accessible or clean. Countries use several methods to secure their water supply, depending on their wealth, technology, and natural environment.

1.1 Surface Storage: Reservoirs and Dams

This is one of the oldest methods.

• Reservoirs/Dams: A barrier (dam) is built across a river valley to trap and store water, creating an artificial lake (reservoir).
• Benefit: Provides a large, reliable, and predictable source of water for cities, irrigation, and often generates Hydro-Electric Power (HEP).
• Example: The Three Gorges Dam in China, or local reservoirs supplying major cities like New York or London.

1.2 Groundwater Access: Wells and Boreholes

Water stored naturally underground in permeable rock layers (called aquifers) is accessed using drilling methods.

• Wells: Simple structures, often dug by hand, accessing shallow groundwater. Common in rural areas or LEDCs.
• Boreholes: Deeper, mechanized drilling required. These provide a more reliable, often cleaner supply, but require energy and specialized equipment.
• Risk: If too much water is taken out (over-abstraction), the ground water level drops, and the well may run dry.

1.3 High-Tech Solutions: Desalination

This method turns seawater into fresh, usable water.

• Desalination: The process of removing salt and minerals from seawater.
• When is it used? Crucial in dry regions with long coastlines and high income, such as Saudi Arabia or parts of the USA.
• Constraint: It is extremely expensive and requires large amounts of energy, making it largely inaccessible for poor countries (LEDCs).

2. Proportions of Water Use: The Three Sectors

Globally, water is divided between three main economic sectors: Agriculture, Industry, and Domestic use. The proportions differ greatly depending on the country's level of economic development (LEDC vs. MEDC).

(Mnemonics: Think A.I.D. - Agriculture, Industry, Domestic)

2.1 Water Use in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs)

• Agriculture (Highest Use): Often 70–90% of total water use.
  

  Reason: Most people are employed in primary industries (farming). Irrigation is essential for growing staple crops, often using inefficient methods like flood irrigation where a lot of water is wasted through evaporation.

• Domestic Use: Low (due to low standards of living and limited piped water access).
• Industrial Use: Low (due to small manufacturing base).

2.2 Water Use in More Economically Developed Countries (MEDCs)

• Industrial Use (High and often Dominant): Often 40–59%.
  

  Reason: Factories, cooling systems, manufacturing processes, and energy generation require huge volumes of water.

• Domestic Use (Relatively High): Higher standards of living mean more use of appliances (washing machines, dishwashers), flush toilets, baths, and garden watering.
• Agriculture: Lower percentage (often less than 30%) due to modern, efficient farming techniques and a smaller proportion of the economy dedicated to farming.

3. Why Water Shortages Occur and Their Impacts

When the demand for water exceeds the supply, we have a water shortage (or water stress). This is a massive constraint on economic development.

3.1 Causes of Water Shortages

• Physical Factors (Supply Issues):
  • Climate: Low or unreliable rainfall (e.g., deserts, semi-arid regions).
  • Drought: Extended periods of below-average rainfall.
  • Geology: Lack of permeable rock to store groundwater.
• Human Factors (Demand and Management Issues):
  • Population Growth: More people need more water (domestic and food production).
  • Economic Development: As industry grows, demand rises sharply.
  • Pollution: Industrial or agricultural runoff contaminates surface and ground water, reducing usable supply.
  • Poor Management/Infrastructure: Leaky pipes (especially common in older cities in MEDCs and poorly maintained systems in LEDCs), or lack of dams/reservoirs to capture water.
  • Over-abstraction: Taking too much water from rivers or aquifers, leading to sources drying up.

3.2 The Impact of Lack of Clean Water on Economic Development

Lack of access to clean, reliable water severely limits a country’s ability to grow economically. This affects both local people and the country's potential GDP.

Impacts on Local People (especially in LEDCs):

• Health Crisis: Contaminated water causes diseases like cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Sick people cannot work, reducing productivity and increasing healthcare costs.
• Time Poverty: Women and children spend hours every day collecting water, often walking long distances. This time is lost from education, income-earning activities, or childcare. This is a direct barrier to development.
• Food Insecurity: Lack of water leads to crop failure and livestock death, causing food shortages and starvation. Farmers lose their livelihoods.

Impacts on Potential for Economic Development:

• Industrial Constraint: Industries (secondary sector) cannot operate without a reliable water supply, deterring foreign investment.
• Investment Diversion: Government funds that could be used for education or infrastructure must instead be spent on emergency water supply projects.
• Cycle of Poverty: Poor health and low agricultural output perpetuate poverty, making it difficult for the country to transition from primary to secondary or tertiary economic sectors.

4. Water Management: Ensuring Future Supplies

Careful water management is essential to ensure future supplies, especially as populations and economies continue to grow. Management focuses on increasing supply and reducing demand (conservation).

4.1 Increasing Supply

These strategies focus on finding or creating new water sources.

• Dams and Reservoirs: Building more facilities to store seasonal rainfall. (See Section 1.1).
• Water Transfer Schemes: Moving water from areas of surplus (where there is lots) to areas of deficit (where it is needed).
  Example: Pipelines or canals built across regions (e.g., Lesotho Highlands Water Project supplying South Africa).
• Desalination Plants: (As discussed earlier). A high-cost but reliable option for coastal areas.

4.2 Demand Management and Conservation (Sustaining the Future)

These strategies focus on using existing supplies more efficiently and wasting less water.

• Water Pricing/Tariffs: Charging users (especially industrial and domestic) more for the water they consume.
  Reason: This encourages consumers to conserve water because it directly affects their wallets.
• Water Conservation in Agriculture: Since farming is the biggest user, improvements here have huge effects.
  • Drip Irrigation: Water is delivered slowly and directly to the plant roots, maximizing efficiency and minimizing evaporation and runoff.
  • Use of drought-resistant crops.
• Greywater Recycling: Treating and reusing water from baths, sinks, and washing machines (but not toilets) for non-drinking purposes like irrigation or flushing toilets. This is commonly used in industrial processes too.
• Education: Public campaigns to encourage domestic users to save water (e.g., taking shorter showers).
• Fixing Leaks: Repairing old, degraded infrastructure to reduce water loss.