Sustainable Water Supply

Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 6.3.7

How Can We Make Water Supplies Sustainable?

Water conservation, groundwater management, water recycling and the use of 'grey' water can help make our water supplies more sustainable.

In 2018-2019, Cape Town in South Africa suffered from a water shortage and came close to running out of water.
The South African government recommended flushing the toilet using 2 litres of water, calculating that each household doing this would save 7,300 litres of water per year.
The amount of irrigation permitted for farming was reduced by 60%.
Other ways of conserving water including using drip irrigation (straight into roots/soil) rather than surface irrigation, avoiding long showers, and using water meters.

Groundwater is water stored in soils or in pockets on top of impermeable rocks.
Groundwater builds up over time. Monitoring devices can make sure that we are not consuming groundwater faster than it is being replenished.
Avoiding putting pollution in the environment will help ensure that groundwater supplies do not become polluted and undrinkable.
Sometimes, countries share groundwater. The Amazonas water source is shared by Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. If any country pollutes the groundwater, they are all affected.
64% of the world's countries share aquifers with other countries.

If water can be recycled then it doesn't need to be taken from reservoirs or groundwater.
Despite having a water deficit, Qatar uses 600 litres of water per day per person.
14% of Qatar's water comes from recycled wastewater, 36% comes from the groundwater and 50% comes from desalination.

'Grey' water is water that is recycled but probably should not be used for drinking.
This kind of water is ideal for flushing toilets or irrigation.

Which of the following is not a strategy that improves the sustainability of water supplies?
Which of the following is not an example of a water conservation strategy?