Water Supply Challenges (Edexcel GCSE Geography A)

UK Water Supply Issues

• The UK uses an estimated 14 billion litres of water a day

  • The average use per person is 146 litres a day

• There are three main reasons for the UK's water supply issues

  • Infrastructure

  • Seasonal imbalance

  • Regional imbalance

Infrastructure

• Many of the water and sewage pipes are old

• Water pressures need to be higher due to increased demand

• Water transfer is inefficient

• The old pipes cannot cope with higher pressures, leading to fractures and leaks

  • Over 3.17 billion litres of water or 25% of the water supply, is lost to leaks

Regional imbalance

• Precipitation is higher in the north and west regions, including Scotland and Wales

• Population density is also lower in these regions

  • High supply and low demand mean there is a water surplus

• In the south and east regions, including London and the counties around London, precipitation is lower

• Population density in these regions is high

  • Lower supply and higher demand mean that there is a water deficit

Water surplus and deficit in the UK

Seasonal imbalance

• Winter and autumn months usually have higher levels of precipitation

• Seasonal differences are greater in some regions than others

• Droughts in spring and summer months can lead to reduced reservoir levels

  • This may lead to greater need for irrigation and restrictions on water use

Emerging & Developing Countries Water Supply Issues

• Water supply issues in emerging and developing countries include:

  • Limited access to treated water

  • Pollution 

  • Low precipitation

Limited access to safe water

• According to the UN, in 2023, about 2 billion people did not have access to safe drinking water

• Approximately 3.6 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation

• An estimated 653 million people have no sanitation at all

  • This leads to diseases and illnesses, including:

    • Cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery

  • People are less able to work, which affects their income and prevents them from leading healthy, productive lives

  • Children are unable to attend school due to being unwell

    • An estimated 443 million school days a year are lost to water-related illnesses

• Population growth also puts more pressure on the available water supply

Pollution

• In developing and emerging countries, there is less education about water pollution

  • This means people do not understand the impact of human and animal waste entering the water system

  • A lack of water treatment infrastructure means that bacteria entering the water system are not removed before it is used for washing and drinking

  • This leads to the spread of cholera and typhoid

• Regulation and enforcement of agricultural and industrial pollution are not as strict in developing and emerging countries

  • Heavy metals and other waste from mining contaminate water supplies

    • In Zambia, over 100,000 people have been affected by lead contamination from Broken Hill mine

    • Gold mining in Ghana has polluted the Debre River, affecting people's health and crop yields

  • Use of fertilisers and pesticides in agricultural areas 

  • Expanding commercial farming has increased the use of pesticides and fertilisers

    • This leads to toxins in the water system and eutrophication

  • Agriculture increases soil erosion 

    • This leads to more sedimentation in rivers, which can impact people's health

Low precipitation

• In many areas of developing and emerging countries, precipitation levels are low

• Rainfall patterns in many places are becoming less predictable due to: 

  • Climate change

  • Seasonal variations

  • Deforestation reduces transpiration and, as a result, precipitation

• Countries in areas such as the Sahel have experienced long-term drought