Lesson video

Hello geographers.

My name is Mrs. Griffiths.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is all about water security around the world.

So we're gonna be thinking about what are the patterns of water security and water insecurity around the world.

Now, water security you remember is all about the idea that people have a reliable and accessible supply of safe drinking water.

But this isn't something that is true for everybody around the world.

So we'll be looking at the geography of it, and also thinking about what are the impacts of water insecurity? 'Cause don't we take that for granted.

Okay, so let's make a start, shall we? Our outcome for today is I can describe the inequalities of global water security and the impacts of water insecurity on people and economies.

So that's what I hope you can say, by the end of today's lesson.

We have some keywords today which are as follows.

So we have water security, the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and agricultural, or industrial production.

Water insecurity conversely, is when water availability is not enough to ensure the population of an area enjoys good health and earnings caused by lack of supply or poor quality.

So we've got these two aspects to consider.

Waterborne disease.

This is disease transmitted and contaminated water contracted by bathing, washing, drinking, or the consumption of infected food.

For example, so an example of waterborne disease is cholera.

We also have water conflict.

This is a dispute between regions or countries about the distribution and use of fresh water.

So look out for those key words as we go through today's lesson.

Now our lesson breaks down around two key questions.

So the first is, how does water security vary around the world? Looking at that geographic pattern, our second question is what are the impacts of water insecurity? But let's have a look at that first one.

How does water security vary around the world? So water security is the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health livelihoods and cultural or industrial production.

So let's break that down a little bit into its aspects.

So we've got the idea that the local water supply or water that might be transferred into the area is sufficient.

So we've got enough for our needs.

We also have the idea that it's affordable and accessible so I can afford to pay for it and it's easily accessible.

We're thinking about the distance and the time taken to collect it for some people.

Not everyone has water pipe to their home.

Thirdly, we are looking at is this source safe? Is it safe to drink? Is it free from contamination? So all of those are important aspects of water security.

When we're looking at a country or population.

Now globally there are areas of water surplus or security and water deficit or water insecurity.

And here we've got a choropleth map.

It's a map of the world showing us renewable freshwater resources per person per year.

This choropleth map shows the uneven pattern of fresh water availability per person in cubic metres.

So we can see that that is a very uneven pattern.

We've got very different amounts of water that are available per person.

Renewable water resources.

Now useful to define that, isn't it water from river basins and recharging groundwater aquifers.

So these are water resources that if we abstract we take water outta that river, that lake, that aquifer underground, it will recharge potentially within the year or within a few years.

So what do you notice about that pattern? If we've said it's uneven, can you tell me anything else about it? Well, Lucas asked the question, how much water do we need? So let's try and put that, those amounts of water in context, good point.

The World Health Organisation WHO says a sufficient amount of water is at least 20 litres per person per day.

This is the minimum to sustain health.

Okay, you and I will be using a lot more than that per day.

And Lucas asks, and the size of the population is a factor.

Yes, absolutely.

When we're thinking about per capita renewable water resources, they not only depend on the quantity of water resources, so the water availability within the country, but also the size of the population.

So if we look back at that map and we remember that we said 20 litres a day per person was the minimum to sustain health equates, to 7,300 litres per person per year.

Which means looking at that map, we can see that regions, particularly on the equator, and I've added that dot dotted line there.

And at high latitude, so furthest from the equator, particularly in that northern hemisphere, have enough water.

However, there are large areas north and south of the equator and you could focus in on say 30 degrees north and south that appear to be experiencing physical water scarcity because they don't have much in the way of renewable fresh water resources per person.

But remember also population density is a factor.

So you can see the UK, features there as appearing to be a a water skate scarce area, but that's because it has a high population density.

So it's linked to population density as well as our climate or our changing climate.

What does the map not show? Well, it doesn't really show how many people have reasonable access to water within 15 minutes of home on foot.

So it just tells us the water is available, but it doesn't tell us how accessible it is.

Nor whether the water is affordable for most people.

So it tells us the water is there but not how much it costs.

Oh, I got the comment here.

There's no detail within countries.

Yeah, that's the way it works with these choropleth map based around whole populations for countries, it is a bit misleading.

And if we look at the USA, we can imagine that water security varies hugely within that vast nation.

That's a good question.

If there's not enough, where is the water we use coming from? Okay, so if we haven't quite got enough renewable fresh water resources, what are people using instead? Water stress is when demand exceeds supply.

In this map there are five categories.

So we've got five colour categories from no stress, to critical stress.

Okay, so have a good look at that map.

So we've got fresh water withdrawals as a share of internal resources and that red is significant because that's looking at areas of critical water stress.

What are these countries actually using for water? Well, fresh water withdrawals can exceed a hundred percent of the total renewable resources where we've got extraction from non-renewable aquifers taking place.

And we've also got use of desalination plants that are significance because of course you're taking effectively brackish or saline sea water and turning that into drinking water.

So that's how you get to the point where you've got, you're extracting more than a hundred percent of internal resources.

True or false then, water security is always due to physical water scarcity, ie, when it doesn't rain enough.

I want you to have a think about that question.

Is it true or false? And in a moment when you restart the video, you're gonna need to give me an explanation of why.

Okay, how did you get on? We've got false.

That isn't true.

Isn't true that actually water insecurity is always due to physical water scarcity or it not raining enough? What was your explanation on that one? We had water insecurity may be the result of physical water scarcity, but in some places population density, or industrial output may be key factors too.

And when I say industrial, I'm including in that primary industries like agriculture.

Well done on your answer.

Let's have a look at this data source.

Now here we've got a divided bar graph and the title is share of population using safe drinking water facilities.

What do you notice about it? Have a good look at it.

Well, what I notice is that it looks like populations are grouped by geographic regions.

So we've got this idea of that Europe and North America, I suppose they've been bundled together.

That's not a perhaps a natural geographic regions in spatial terms. But we've got this, these groupings, perhaps Latin America and the Caribbeans a more logical geographic region.

But we've also got some grouping of countries by economic groups.

So we've got high income countries there, and we've got low income countries.

And clearly there's gonna be an overlap between those bars.

So Europe and North America, most of those countries are high income countries.

If we're wondering how to interpret the colour coded key, this resources from our world in data.

And you can see that they've given us a bit more information about what safely managed means, compared to basic and limited.

But all of those types of water resource are termed improved water sources.

They have the potential to deliver safe water by design, and include things like piped water borehole or tube wells, protected dug wells or springs rainwater and packaged water.

So potentially they're safe.

They aren't gonna give you a waterborne disease by design.

But notice that bigger bracket, all of those categories aren't tested for contamination only the safely managed.

Now all countries have actually agreed to work towards universal access to safe drinking water for 2030, as part of the sustainable development goal six.

So that's that highest category.

It's a very important aim, isn't it, that everyone has universal access to that.

But if we go back to our divided bar graph, we can see that actually if we take the world as a whole, three quarters of the world's population has access to safely managed drinking water rather than a hundred percent.

And that's the water that's improved in terms of it's located on the premises available when needed and free from contamination.

So that does mean that we've got three quarters, almost three quarters using safely managed water and a quarter or more than a quarter who don't have that access currently.

And in fact, progress has been slow on that sustainable development goal to achieve and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water since it was set in the year 2000.

If we look at these photographs of India, Haiti, and Burkina Faso, and under those photographs we have got their monthly income, these photographs are taken from the website Dollar Street.

People living in extreme poverty.

And all of these three families would would be in that category of surviving on less than $2.

20 15 cents a day.

These people are more likely to lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

And we can see people collecting water there, setting off from the home to collect water in India, collecting water from an open river in Haiti and in Burkina Faso storing water in a storage vessel in their house.

They're quite different access to water than you and I.

Where water is scarce, it becomes expensive and in many lower income countries there is unequal access to this essential resource within the population.

So we've been comparing the population of the world country by country, but even if we look within a population such as the large population of India, we can see there's a huge variety of access to water.

So we've got the two wealthier families there.

Again, these photographs are from Dollar Street.

They have access to water in their home and that the the wealthiest family looks to be using purification technology.

But we've got the poorest family there actually having to venture outta the house to collect water.

130 million people live in extreme poverty in India.

So we just look at the Indian population.

There are large numbers of people who don't have access to safe drinking water, however, the number is a third, that number of people living in extreme poverty is a third of what it was in 2000.

So India as a whole is moving in the right direction as it develops economically.

Check for you here, which of the following statements is or are true.

So I'd like you to read through those statements now.

Pause the video and when you think you know the answer, restart it for me.

How'd you get on? If you said well three of them are true.

So progress towards universal access to safe water has been slow since the year 2000, almost three quarters of the global population has access to safely managed water, and in many lower income countries there is unequal access to safe water with the poorest, lacking adequate access.

You'd be absolutely right, well done.

Practise task for you here.

So we need to grab a pen or a pencil.

Can you first of all define what is meant by water security? Secondly, I'd like you to describe the pattern of water insecurity using this bar chart and your own knowledge.

So you're gonna have to use the two things to answer that question.

And I've got a third task, which is use online resources to explore global inequalities in access to water and sanitation.

The website Dollar Street is a great place to start as we've already seen.

So I'm gonna give you some time to do those tasks.

We've got three tasks to complete.

Pause the video now, and then restart it when you want to check your answers, good luck.

Okay, how'd you get on? Our definition is as follows, when people have access to a reliable, safely managed source of water and have enough to support their health, livelihoods and agriculture or industrial production.

So that's what it means to have water security.

Did your answer look something like that? Secondly, I asked you to describe the global pattern of water insecurity using the bar chart provided and your own knowledge.

How did you get on? Shall I read you our answers? There are areas of water surplus on the equator and at high latitudes, whereas regions 30 degrees north, and south of the equator are more arid experiencing physical water scarcity.

The bar chart provides information about water quality rather than quantity.

It shows that there is a large variation in the share of the population with access to safely managed drinking water, with 94% in Europe to 31% in Sub-Saharan Africa, and less than a third across all lower income countries.

So what I like about that answer is we've got comments about quantity and also we've got comments about quality as well.

And they're both factors if we think about water availability in our use of water.

Thirdly, I wanted you to go online to look at global inequalities in water supply and consumption.

I suggested that website Dollar Street, if you'd had a look at that website, you might have come up with something like this.

Well, there are some similarities between the homes of families around the world on similar income levels.

Families have similar water and sanitation facilities, though they live on different continents or in distant regions.

And it's really interesting, isn't it, to look at that different, the similar income bracket across different continents and see that people are living similar lives.

You've got a lot in common.

However, the poorest families must travel from their homes each day to get water.

And I'm sure you've noticed that if you had a good look around, there is a huge variation between families who live in the same country due to disparity in incomes between the richest and the poorest, in particular in low income countries and newly emerging economies.

And we looked, didn't we earlier on thought about that, that the variation within that huge population of India and South Asia.

How did you get on? I hope your answers were somewhat similar or perhaps you had even better points no doubt.

So we've addressed the first question of the lesson.

Let's have a look at the second one.

What are the impacts of water insecurity? What are the impacts of water insecurity? Now water insecurity has a number of different impacts and those are impacts on people, the economy and the environment.

Now I've mentioned waterborne disease, and we will come back to that in a moment.

There's also water pollution, which is a knock on impact of lack of supply.

Limited food production, and you can imagine how that might work.

And reduced industrial output is also a knock on impact of water insecurity.

But we also have here the idea that there's potential for water conflict.

And this is a real concern going forwards in a world where climate change affects our water resources.

So let's have a think about that first one, which was all about waterborne disease.

Now drinking unsafe water causes over a million deaths each year.

And here we can see a choropleth map of death rate from unsafe water resources.

Now the darker the colour, the greater the number, of greater the rate of deaths from unsafe water sources.

Water insecurity is a key risk factor for waterborne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, and typhoid.

In lower income countries, the death rate from unsafe water sources may be greater than a hundred deaths per hundred thousand.

By comparison in high income countries across Europe, for example, the same statistic is not 0.

1 deaths per hundred thousand.

So radically different impacts there of waterborne diseases.

Improved sanitation facilities are those designed to hygienically separate excretion from human contact.

We've got two images here, haven't we? But these improved sanitation facilities include things like flush, or poor flush toilets and that's the example have on the right hand side, connected to piped sewer systems, septic tanks, or pit latrines with slabs and composting toilets.

These systems, though we take them for granted are essential to prevent contamination of fresh water supplies.

Improved sanitation really is a lifesaver.

By contrast, many rural communities in lower income countries lack adequate sanitation facilities.

So they haven't got those improved sanitation facilities.

In some countries, the percentage of the population using safely managed sanitation services is as low as 20%.

That's really shocking, isn't it? Open defecation remains a social problem because the risk of sexual assault, especially for women and girls, as well as an environmental problem in a minority of countries.

So this is a statistic that is reducing in terms of the number of people that have to default to open dedication, but it's still a social problem that needs addressing.

Limited sanitation infrastructure and or lack of water supply leads to water pollution.

And we can imagine that can't we as well as waterborne diseases for those using local watercourse.

What does this scattergraft show? Just give you a moment to have a look at that.

So the title is share of sanitation use versus diarrheal disease episodes.

So we've got diarrheal disease episodes on the Y axis, and the share of population using safely managed sanitation on the X axis.

Ah, now I've added a line here to show there is a correlation in general when we link these two data sets.

So a share of the population with access to safely managed sanitation increases, you can imagine with economic development.

So the number of episodes of diarrheal disease decreases.

This is called a negative correlation, but it's also fair to say there are some anomalies there, and I'm sure you picked those out.

The largest of course is India with a much higher incidence of diarrheal disease than you'd expect according to the share that have access to safely managed sanitation.

Check for you here, true or false.

Water pollution may occur as a result of water insecurity.

What do you think? Pause the video now, remember, I'm going to need an explanation.

And if you said true, what was your explanation? Okay, well our answer was lack of water supply along with limited sanitation infrastructure means wastewater, so we're talking about sewage can enter watercourse causing pollution.

Okay, let's have a think about agriculture for a moment.

Countries with semi arid or arid climate depend on irrigation to produce food.

And I'm sure perhaps you've been on holiday in mainland Europe and seen sites like this.

These are common in mainland Europe where the climate means crops need additional water to support the harvest during hotter, drier months.

For example, in southern France.

Irrigation systems vary in scale though of course, don't they? So we've got large scale systems involving dams and canals to distribute water.

We've got field scale sprinkler systems, like this one in the image, and we also have drip irrigation here pictured where water leaks out of hoses to feed individual plants all the way to laborious use of buckets and water cans that also counts as irrigation.

Irrigation can boost crop yields or avoid crop loss due to drought and resulting wilt.

However, use of non-renewable sources of water such as historic underground aquifers can affect the availability of water for household use, which might already be scarce.

And we can imagine that in the image we have there.

This was the case in Saudi Arabia, in the 2010s due to cereal production.

So that cereal production and that use of underground aquifers was actually putting household use of water and water availability at risk making homes more water insecure.

If wells run dry, farmers or industrialists must limit production to help address the impacts of water insecurity.

Lack of water may limit industrial development in the first place, of course.

And if we look at this example, we have the semi arid Kalahari in South Africa.

Now tourism and ranching in this place been limited by water insecurity until a major water trans scheme was built in the 1990s.

You can see how arid that place is, just looking at the vegetation in that image, can't you? Climate change, of course worsens water insecurity issues creating the potential for water conflict.

And we've got a good example here, which is an aerial view of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

So we're looking down on it from above, and we can see the start of the reservoir, which is absolutely huge.

Just on the right hand side of the image, I suggest you go online and check it out.

Transboundary river systems are home to 40% of the world's population.

So 153 countries are involved when we talk about transboundary river systems. But very few countries have international agreements in place to secure water supplies.

Major, major problem.

Ethiopia's construction of a new mega dam to generate hydroelectric power on the blue Nile could affect the water supply of Sudan and Egypt downstream.

And it's a dam that was completed in 2025.

So this is one to watch out for in the news.

What are the implications of the Blue Nile being dammed in this place for power? Which of the following statements is not true? Not true in this case? So for this check, I'd like you to read statements A to D, pause the video now and then restart it when you think you have an answer.

And if you said D, very few people rely on trans transboundary river systems is not true, you'd be absolutely right.

The other three are.

Okay, practise task for you here.

Task B, can you explain the impacts of water insecurity? And my hint is I'd like you to talk about people or society, the economy and the environment.

So grab a pen now, best of luck with this.

It's an explain question, and it's explain the impacts plural.

So definitely need to write about more than one please.

Pause the video now and restart it when you want to check your answer, best of luck.

How'd you get on? Well done for having a go at that one.

We have this answer here, so let's have a look at this.

Compare your answer to it perhaps.

Water insecurity has terrible consequences for quality of life as people lack access to safe drinking water.

Drinking unsafe water can result in waterborne disease such as diarrhoea or cholera.

In lower income countries, the rate of death caused by unsafe water sources may be a thousand times greater than in higher income countries.

Lack of a reliable water supply for sanitation can make water pollution problems worse.

Furthermore, the economy of a country can be affected as food production and industrial production is inevitably limited by lack of supply.

Fewer export sales will limit the income of local businesses.

Now if you look again at that answer, you can see we've got the impact on people in society.

If we think about those impacts on health, we've definitely to touched on the impact on the environment because we've talked about water pollution and then we've also picked up on the economy towards the end of the answer.

So have another look at your answer.

Have you factored in at least perhaps two of those areas, maybe even three.

If you've got three, brilliant.

So in summary, what have we've been looking at today? Globally there are areas of water surplus or security, and deficit insecurity, and inequalities in access to safely managed water.

Water insecurity has significant impacts on the poorest in particular, who are most likely to suffer from waterborne disease.

A lack of water for sanitation can result in water pollution.

Water insecurity has impacts on the economy, including food production and industrial output.

There is potential for water conflict where demand exceeds supply.

Okay, so we've talked about quantity, we've talked about quality and how they're linked water security, but we've also thought about the impacts of water in security.

Thank you for taking part and making all those contributions and I look forward to seeing you again soon.