Geo Active Questions 2!

1) List the main reasons for water scarcity.
The main reasons of water scarcity are Variations in climate, land degradation, water pollution and population growth.

2) What is a drought? What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethiopia?
A drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall. Hunger, scarcity of water, shelter and clothing.

3) How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?
It affects the supply of fresh water by covering the water table and aquifer and not letting any water filter in the ground causing a salt water intrusion.

4)

(a) What is El Nino?

El Nino refers to the warming of an area that develops every 3-5 years in the Pacific Ocean of the coast of Peru. It is accompanied by a reversal of air pressure.

(b) Why does El Nino often cause drought in Australia?
Because it gives high pressure systems building up over the most area of Australia.

5) Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982-83.
(a) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?

Serious drought was prolonged resulting to scarcity of fresh water.

(b) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino.

Africa: Reduced corn crop in sub-Saharan region.

Indonesia: high air pollution levels, following forest fires.

China: Agricultural land under threat from drought in northern regions and flooding in southern regions.

Philippines: Lower rice harvest following drought.

United States: Rainfall above normal in north-western states (double the historical averages.)

Colombia: Fishing operators affected by lower catch (down 20%.)

Peru: Flooding (also in Chile), fishing operators affected by lower catch as anchovy and Pacific sardine move offshore to escape warm currents (5 degrees Celsius above normal temperatures)

Australia: Wheat exports threatened by drought conditions across grain-growing areas, particularly New South Wales.

Papua New Guinea: Drought-related failure of food crops, leading to famine conditions requiring food aid.

Water Plantation Field Trip

On Thursday November 12, 2009 my class went on a field trip to a water plantation. There they showed us the 6 cycles in making water clean and all about dirty water and how if us humans don't stop polluting the water a high population of us can get sick with a disease called cholera.

Since there are 6 cycles in making water clean, we went to 6 stations.

The first station we went to had to do with Garbage Removal Through Coarse & Fine Filters. The purpose of that station is to take the garbage out of the water so only the water will make it through. We saw the way a giant clamp came and scooped up all the rubbish at the bottom of the river water that was being filtered. Some rubbish fell but our teacher said that it would be taken away in the filter.

At the second station they put the chemicals in the water and stirred it so all the dirt particles would stick together and create FLOC. We got to see how dirty it was when all the dirt particles stuck together.

After that we went to the third station where they allowed the sediment and floc to settle at the bottom. The purpose of that stations is as I said before so that the sediment and floc could settle at the bottom. There we saw pools of water 6 meters deep sitting still. That is because they were not touching it and all they did was let it settle.

At station 4 they were filtering the water through a meter of sand. They did that to filter out all tiny dirt particles. We didn't see much except for pools of water with sand at the bottom. My friend and I wondered: Where does the water go after it goes through the sand?

Station 5 was about chemicals and disinfectants being added to the water. The purpose of that station is to kill all the bad things inside the water. It smelled a lot like chlorine and it was a really interesting station.

After station 5, we moved into our last station: Station 6. At that station they did testing to make sure the water was safe and clean. There we saw many things like beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, test tubes and test tube racks. The tour guides showed us a before beaker and an after beaker filled with the water that came from the dirty river. Surprisingly it was very clean.

We had so much fun at the water plantation looking at the ways they make dirty river water clean by a filtering process. There I learned that we shouldn't pollute our rivers because if we do we can get cholera and get very sick. I also learned things from an animated movie we watched before we left. I realized that water is a valuable thing in our lives and we have a limited amount of it. I learned many things at the water plantation. I hope everyone did too.

Geo Active Questions!

1. What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?

2.5 percent of the water in the world is fresh.

2. Where is the world's supply of fresh water found?

The supply of the world's fresh water comes from ice on earth, rivers, lakes and underground.

3. Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?

The water is distributed in an uneven manner.

4. Observe the map of world average annual precipitation (opposite)

(a) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the southern to the northern tip of Africa.

The rain in the South of Africa is more frequent with precipitation than the North part of Africa.

(b) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western to the eastern tip of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.

The Western side of Australia has lesser amount of precipitation as compared to the Eastern part. This is because on the Western side, there are more deserts.

5. Observe the map above of water availability per person.

(a) Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available per person?

Philippines, Canada, Russia, The Northern part of South America and Greenland.

(b) Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water per person?

China, Africa, Most of Europe.

6. Observe the diagram of water use.

(a) What are the main uses of water?

Cooking, Bathing, Washing, Cleaning, Drinking and Preparation of Drinks.

(b) Which uses have increased the most over the last century?

Bathing and Preparation of Drinks.

Bintaro Lama

On Thursday November 5, 2009 we went on a field trip to Bintaro Lama. There we got to meet the kampung kids, learn about water and have a fun time all at once. We learned how the kampung people clean their water and we also learned how they went to the toilet and how people got sick because they didn't wash their hands after they did things. We also learned about the WatSan team and their effort to help the kampung people learn to wash their hands and be environmentally friendly. They didn't demand the kampung people or kids to learn suddenly they taught them how to do all those things by things like the Hand washing jingle they call "Ayo cuci tangan." It was a very fun experience to do all these things.

One of the stations we went to were called: PHP for Kids: Hand Washing With Soap. There we learned ways kids could get sick because of not washing their hands. It could be from pooing to touching food, touching water, touching babies and more. The WatSan team are trying to prevent that by making the kids wash their hands after they touch things that are dirty.

Another station we did was called: Ceramic Filter & PuR. At that station we learned about putting a powder imported from Pakistan that purifies the water. The water has to go through a cycle of putting the powder in mixing it in one direction and waiting for five minutes. The next step is putting the water in a cup with a cotton handkerchief over it so that only the water seeps through and the dirt stays out. After that step the water is ready to drink and they put it in a ceramic filter. It takes a while for the water to go through the filter so if they want to drink water in the morning they have to fill up the tank at night. This procedure can give a family 10 liters of clean water.

The last station we went to was called: Air RahMat & Aquatabs. At that station we learned another way of purifying the water. It's like the other station but it is the chlorination of the water. For the Aquatabs you need 20 liters of water to put the Aquatab in and wait for 30 minutes. In emergency situations you can get 10 liters and wait for 30 minutes as well. After you wait the 30 minutes the water is ok to drink. For the Air RahMat they have measuring cups that they use to fill with Air RahMat so they can put it into a 10 or 5 liter water container. After you pour the Air RahMat into the water container you have to shake it for 30 seconds. After you shake it for 30 seconds you have to wait for 30 minutes. Then the water is drinkable.

We had a great time learning about all these things at these three different stations and we also had a good time meeting people and getting to know how lucky we are to have water. We were fascinated by the way they clean water. The way they clean water is a way we never knew and because of this field trip we now know ways to clean water and we also know that we should be glad that we have the water we have now and glad that we were able to help these people. One person can make a big difference. I believe JIS can help a whole lot by doing even small things like this. In a way we can help our world and the people who live in it be happy. That's what I learned from this field trip and from my classes.

Jellyfish Stew

This is a video of me reading a poem called Jellyfish Stew. I really enjoyed this poem and I hope you enjoy it too. :)

Reader: Me (Elise Bunag)

Camera Woman: Alona Beloussova