Option A Freshwater: Scarcity, quality and management
15 revision questions with answers for Option A Freshwater: Scarcity, quality and management, marked SL and HL. Read them here, or play the set as a class game on the projector. Free to host, and students join with a code.
Shortage where supplies exist but people lack the investment or infrastructure to use them?
- Physical water scarcity
- Water stress
- Water deficit
- Economic water scarcityRight answer
What this set covers
Water supply problems and their fixes run through this set. Economic and physical scarcity, eutrophication, salinisation, aquifers and the water table, IWRM, desalination, rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation and inter-basin transfer are all included.
- Common mix-up
- Students often mix up economic and physical water scarcity: physical scarcity means demand exceeds natural supply, while economic scarcity means water exists but people lack the means to use it.
- Revision tip
- For each management strategy in the set, write one advantage and one drawback, for example the sediment trapped by large dams, then test yourself on the matching term.
All 15 questions and answers
Shortage where supplies exist but people lack the investment or infrastructure to use them?
Answer: Economic water scarcity
Shortage where demand exceeds natural supply, as in arid regions?
Answer: Physical water scarcity
Annual renewable water per person below which a country is water-stressed (Falkenmark)?
Answer: 1,700 m³
Nutrient enrichment of lakes or rivers, causing algal blooms and oxygen depletion?
Answer: Eutrophication
Build-up of salts in soil, often from irrigation in hot, dry climates?
Answer: Salinisation
Permeable rock layer that stores and transmits groundwater?
Answer: Aquifer
Upper surface of the saturated zone in soil or rock?
Answer: Water table
Coordinated management of water, land and related resources across a whole basin?
Answer: IWRM
1971 international treaty protecting wetlands of global importance?
Answer: Ramsar Convention
Producing fresh water from seawater by reverse osmosis or distillation?
Answer: Desalination
Collecting and storing runoff from roofs for later use?
Answer: Rainwater harvesting
Watering method delivering small amounts directly to plant roots through perforated pipes?
Answer: Drip irrigation
Lightly soiled outflow from sinks, showers and washing machines, reusable for flushing toilets?
Answer: Grey water
Large dams trap this behind them, causing erosion of downstream deltas and coastlines?
Answer: Sediment
Moving supplies by canal or pipeline from a surplus catchment to a deficit one?
Answer: Inter-basin transfer
Play it as a class game
Play this set opens it in splycr, where you can host it for your class straight away. Hosting needs no account: put the room code on the projector, and students join from a phone with the code and their first name. Each question plays as multiple choice, and the three wrong options were written for that question.