ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Discuss how well the principles of Integrated Water Resource Management are
applied to the management of a catchment near you.
Answer:
IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) is a method that
supports the integrated development and management of water, land, and
associated resources in order to optimize economic and social welfare in an
equitable way while preserving essential ecosystems. Water conservation
through waterless toilets, water-efficient appliances, and water quantity
monitoring is an important aspect of ensuring residential water supply
sustainability. Efficient, leak-free, and well-insulated pipe systems create a
dependable network that helps to reduce water waste.
2. Explain the way that human-induced climate change may affect the hydrological
regime for a region.
Answer:
Human activities have a variety of additional effects on the hydrologic
cycle. River flow quantities and timing may be dramatically influenced by
channeling to remove barriers to flow and modifying the character of the
watershed by paving, compacting soils, and changing the flora. Parts of the water
cycle are projected to speed up as global temperatures rise, increasing the rate
of evaporation throughout the planet. On average, higher evaporation results in
more precipitation.
3. Assess the role of land use change as a major variable in forcing change in the
hydrological regime for a region near you.
Answer:
At local, regional, and global stages, changes in land use and land cover
have important environmental repercussions. Global loss of biodiversity,
disturbances in hydrological cycles, increased soil erosion, and sediment loads
are all consequences of these changes at the regional and global levels. Humans
alter the dynamics of the water cycle by building dams for water storage and
withdrawing water for industrial, agricultural, and household needs. Water
availability and demand are predicted to be affected by climate change.
4. Compare and contrast the impact of urbanisation to the impact of land use
change on general hydrology within the country where you live.
Answer:
Urbanization results in a steady loss of agricultural land, both directly
through land take and indirectly through the use of agricultural land for non-
productive rural activities such as leisure, horsekeeping, and hobby farming.
Deforestation, habitat loss, and the extraction of freshwater from the environment
are all common side effects of urbanization, which can reduce biodiversity and
change species ranges and interactions. Environmental contamination has risen
at an alarming rate throughout the globe today as a result of rising urbanization,
resulting in issues such as heat islands, global warming, water pollution, and
erosion. The impact of urbanization on land, water, and air is highlighted in this
research.
5. Discuss the major issues facing water resource managers over the next fifty
years in a specified geographical region.
Answer:
 Water efficiency - With shared performance commitments on water
consumption, leakage, and drought resilience as part of Ofwat's PR19
business planning process, there should be a greater business focus on
demand control than in the past. According to the NIC research, demand
management can close 34% of the resilience gap. However, this focuses
just on metering, and considerable savings can still be realized through
produce labeling, construction standards, and behavior change programs.
 Leakage - For PR19 draft decisions, an average leakage reduction goal of
17% by the end of 2020-25 has been reported across all enterprises in
England and Wales. To accomplish this decrease, it will need a
tremendous amount of technology and creativity, especially because the
overall reduction achieved last year was only 0.4 percent.
 Transitions for resilience - To enhance resilience to climate change, the
larger demands of population increase, and the need to safeguard the
environment, a new strategy will be required. Western Australia has used
a security through diversity methodology to achieve success in this area.
The culture of risk and innovation in water firms is progressively shifting.
However, several proposals in the WRMP2019 list rainwater harvesting
and SuDS solutions for households and neighborhoods as too dangerous
to implement. In the future, we'll need to see more examples of integrated
water management. Smaller neighborhood systems can operate as
decentralized semi-autonomous nested supplies inside our cities,
addressing resilience difficulties and bridging the gap between centralised
and decentralised alternatives.