1. SS7G6:Environmental Issues in SW Asia Water in the Middle East… More precious than oil?

2. Essential Questions: How has the water supply in the Middle East influenced the lives of the people? How does it affect where people live? How does water pollution IMPACT drinking water? How does water scarcity impact irrigation and the lives of farmers?

3. Vocabulary Pollution: Unclean environment Unequal Distribution: uneven amounts Irrigation: Bring water to an area Scarce: not enough of something Desalination: the process of removing salt, especially from sea water so that it can be used for drinking or irrigation

4. Problems with water in the Middle East Water Pollution: –Found in high amounts across SW Asia Most nations are “developing countries” in which pollution is more problematic –Causes multiple deaths in regions

5. Statistics: Population v. Freshwater: –SW Asia has 5% of the total WORLD’S population –SW Asia only has less than 1% of the world’s freshwater Populations in SW Asia have lower consumption rates of water than other regions

6. Where is the water? SW Asia obtains freshwater from sources such as: –Tigris River –Euphrates River –Jordan River –Nile River (in Africa) Conflicts occur in SW Asia due to freshwater usage: –Turkey, Syria, and Iraq are fighting for water in the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers –Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians are fighting for water in the Jordan River

7. When resources are scarce, or rare, people often compete for them. For example: We already know that people have sometimes fought over oil Everybody in SW Asia needs to be able to use the water, but there is only a limited amount –Most cities/towns are located on or near a water source…why?

8. This is a satellite image of SW Asia. What colors do you see a lot in this image? You see a lot of tan, brown, and gray because SW Asia is largely desert. By definition, a desert has very little what? Deserts have very little water. How are people able to grow crops in a desert?

9. How does water scarcity impact farming?  Many people in the Middle East practice subsistence agriculture, which is growing small amounts of crops, to take care of local needs.  Because the climate is so dry, agriculture nearly always depends on irrigation, directing water from small rivers and streams to the farmers’ fields.  There is some commercial agriculture (growing crops for industrial markets), but even that is limited by lack of water.

10.  Farmers in very rural areas still use methods used by their ancestors to irrigate their fields, including water wheels, irrigation ditches and canals, and animal power to lift water from underground wells.  Farmers in countries with more technology use modern irrigation techniques. drip irrigation  Israel and Saudi Arabia have developed systems of drip irrigation using computers that measure out how much water each plant receives.

11. Since water is scarce, they have to use irrigation to grow food. Water is pumped from the few rivers and lakes in the region to irrigation systems that water food crops. These fields are round because that is where the sprinklers go. Communities formed near water sources like rivers, lakes, and oases. The water from these rivers and lakes is critical for the survival of a country.

12. How do water pollution and the unequal distribution of water impact irrigation and drinking water?

13. Water pollution, especially in an already scarce region such as the Middle East, can make it very difficult for citizens to get the water that they need to live. Pollution upstream can negatively impact the health and way of life for neighbors downstream.

14. Unequal distribution of water (such as our Turkey/Syria/Iraq example) can “cheat” countries downstream out of water when the country that holds the source of a major river uses more than their fair share.

15. Irri gation canals can help the country in which they are built by bringing water to dry farmland, but they can keep countries downstream from even having enough drinking water.

16. Solutions to water issues… Desalination: the process of removing salt and other chemicals from seawater –However, this is not very practical because it is very expensive and requires advanced technology Cooperation among countries sharing freshwater Dams –However, the downside is dams can be beneficial to countries upstream but deprive countries downstream of water they need!

17. More controversy… When one country controls the source (of the water), they essentially control how much water will actually leave their country and continue flowing on to neighboring nations.

18. Brewing conflicts… Iran is creating a new $88 million pipeline to carry more water to their capital city of Tehran Iraq is digging new irrigation canals to bring more water to Baghdad Turkey is starting a new project which could potentially take water from the Tigris and Euphrates away from Syria and Iraq

19. Now that you have taken the notes, please answer the essential questions below: How has the water supply in the Middle East influenced the lives of the people? How does it affect where people live? How does water pollution IMPACT drinking water? How does water scarcity impact irrigation and the lives of farmers? https://youtu.be/iCHul1fV6Rw