Chong Boon Secondary Geography Department

Sec 1 GeographyUnit 4 Lesson 1

Water Supply: Will our taps run dry?

Thinking questions

• What is water shortage?• Which locations in the world are facing

water shortage?• Why does water shortage occur?• How does water shortage impact

people and countries?• How can Singapore avoid water

shortage?

Lesson Objectives

• In this lesson, you will–Explore the hydrological cycle–Identify the uses of water–Define water shortage.

The hydrological cycle

• Commonly known as the water cycle.• Continuous movement of water from the

earth’s surface to the atmosphere and back again.

• Earth is a ‘closed system’• Water is trapped within the system in its

various forms (solid, liquid and gaseous)

Key Vocabulary

1. Evaporation2. Transpiration 3. Condensation4. Precipitation

5. Infiltration6. Surface

runoff7. Groundwater

flow

Name : ( ) Perserverance 1/2/3 Date:

Uses of water

• Fresh water has many uses• Fresh water usage is split into 3 main

uses– Industry 22%–Domestic use 8%–Agriculture 70%

Domestic use

• Consumption– Water that is consumed directly or through food

intake.• Hygiene– Water that is used to maintain general hygiene and

personal hygiene.– Bathing / Flushing / etc.

• Amenity use– Washing home / car / Gardening / etc.

Domestic use cont’

• Volume and way of use varies between homes.

• Cultural practices and climatic conditions also affect use.

• Compare the use of a typical Singaporean in 2011 (153 litres) against a Canadian (305 litres)

Let’s look at Exercise 2

• What is a pie chart?• How are pie charts useful?• Turn to Pg 125 of your textbook.

For the respective items, identify which country has a higher usage. Count the difference in percentage.

Shower: Kitchen Sink:

Laundry:FlushingCistern:

Washbasin:

Given an average Singaporean uses 153 litres of water and an average Canadian uses 305 litres, calculate how much more water is used for showering by the Canadians. L

Economic use

• Agriculture– Greatest use of water globally– Water used for growing crops– Food and non-food crops– Increase global population leads to increase in

food demand and increase in agricultural water use.

– Irrigation is the key way to increase agricultural water use.

Read Pg 127

Economic use

• Industry– Constitutes 22% of total global water use.– Over half is used for power generation• Nuclear, hydropower, thermal power.

– Water is used in all manufacturing processes either directly as a component or as a coolant.

– Tourism Industry also uses a huge amount of water with increase in tourists, water use will increase rapidly.

Read Pg 128

Water footprint

• The amount of water you use.• Total volume of water used to produce the

goods and services used per person.• Countries that use more water have larger

water footprints. • Developed countries and countries that

produce a lot of energy / agriculture have larger footprints.

Read Pg 129

Water Shortage

• Water level usage exceeds the supply available.

• Water shortage is highly dependent on the amount of humans living there and their activities.

• Common action to combat short term water shortage is to ration water.

Summary

Are you now able to

• Identify and explain the hydrological cycle?• List some common uses of water?• Define water shortage?

Let’s do a summary exercise

Let’s practice drawing a diagram of a hydrological cycle