AP Environmental Science - Mrs. Saullo



Water Diversion Case Studies

World’s Water Hotspots

What is a water hotspot? An area where water depletion is cause for great concern.

Click on the links below to learn about world water hotspots and answer the following questions:





List five water hotspots.

Which “hotspot” do you think is most at risk and why?

Introduction

In the western US, as population grows, and droughts continue to occur, confrontations over water will continue to increase.  People in the humid, eastern US are unaware of the potential water problems in the west.  As a developed nation, we are blessed to be in the dark of what it is like to live without access to a clean and adequate water supply.

Do you remember learning about the Dust Bowl in the 1930s? What was the response to the environmental disaster caused by the lack of water?

In order to protect soil fertility and maintain our food supply, the people of the Great Plains tapped into the Ogallala Aquifer as a response to the Dust Bowl. The aquifer stretches from the Texas Panhandle northward to South Dakota and is the largest single water-bearing unit in North America covering 174,000 square miles. The Ogallala Aquifer is not an underground lake nor an underground river as envisioned by many, but a gigantic sponge holding enough water to fill Lake Huron. The aquifer ranges in thickness from less than a foot to 1,300 feet and averages about 200 feet in most areas. The greatest volume of water in the Ogallala Aquifer underlies the state of Nebraska where the aquifer actually bubbles to the surface in places (springs). Presently, most of the water pumped from the Ogallala is used to irrigate crops, much of which is used to feed livestock. Use of the aquifer began at the turn of the century and since World War II reliance on it has steadily increased. The withdrawal of this groundwater has now greatly surpassed the aquifer's rate of natural recharge. Some places overlying the aquifer have already exhausted their underground supply as a source of irrigation. For this reason, the Ogallala aquifer is on the list as a water hotspot.

In order to meet our water demands in areas that have less available water then is demanded by those that live there, surface water is dammed and diverted to reach areas in need of freshwater. The purpose of this activity is to look at various case studies of water diversion projects in order to compare and contrast the information presented in your textbook.

Mono Lake Case Study 

Visit the websites below and answer the questions that follow:

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•  Video:

1. Where is Mono Lake?

2. What properties about the lake water are unusual?

3. When did the level of Mono Lake start to drop and what caused it?

4. What are the strange looking rock towers that are characteristic of Mono Lake and how did they form?

5. Describe how water diversion affected the Mono Lake ecosystem.

6. What lessons were learned from Mono Lake?

The Salton Sea Case Study

Visit the following websites to learn more about the Salton Sea:

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• Video:

1. Describe the location of the Salton Sea.

2. How did the Salton Sea form? Explain what role humans played in the formation.

3. What is the present condition of this body of water? How has it changed in the past 25 years? Why?

4. Describe several ways the Salton Sea has altered the ecosystem of the region. Comment on the stability of that ecosystem, how has it changed over time?

5. What steps are being taken to remediate the Salton Sea? What are the changes of success?

6. Compare the similarities and differences between the Salton Sea and Mono Lake.

The Aral Sea Case Study

Visit the following websites about the Aral Sea:

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• Video:

• Video:

• Video:

1. Where is the Aral Sea located? Which former Soviet republics border the Aral Sea? Which rivers mainly supply the Aral Sea?

2. Why was the water supply to the Sea diverted?

3. What resources did the Aral Sea supply to the local inhabitants?

4. Describe two environmental negative effects of the fading of this sea?

5. Describe two economic impacts in the region because of water diversion.

6. How is the situation in the Salton Sea similar to the Aral Sea? How it is different?

7. How would you describe this region today, other than as a “sea”?

8. Explain two health effects on people related to the vanishing Aral Sea.

9. How can the Aral Sea be realistically rehabilitated?

10. Could a situation similar to the one in the Aral Sea region happen in the United States? Why or why not? In what ways would the disappearance of Mono Lake resemble and differ from the disappearance of the Aral Sea?

The Colorado River Case Study

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1. What is the Colorado River Compact? List the seven states that signed the Colorado River Compact.

2. List three dams located on the Colorado River.

3. List the names of two reservoirs on the Colorado River.

4. List the name of the largest canal built to divert water from the Colorado River. Where is the water diverted to?

5. What problems are associated to the diversion of the Colorado River?

6. Why are people protesting to tear dams down?

7. Where is the Three Gorges Dam? Why was it built?

8. Compare The Three Gorges Dam to the dams on the Colorado River. How was its construction different/similar to the dams on the Colorado River with respect to the disruption of human life and impact on the environment?

EXTENSION/EXTRA CREDIT:

James Bay Project Case Study





1. Summarize the James Bay Project.

2. What are the environmental problems specific to this project?

3. Describe how this project differs from the Hoover Dam project?

Kissimmee River Water Diversion Project Case Study





1. Summarize the pros and cons of the Kissimmee River Water Diversion Project.

2. What is the goal of this project?

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