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(1/25) How have Humans interacted with the Environment in Southwest Asia?

Explore how humans in Southwest Asia interact with the environment, focusing on the scarcity of water and the region's heavy reliance on oil. Discover the construction of dams, irrigation techniques, and the transportation of oil.

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(1/25) How have Humans interacted with the Environment in Southwest Asia?

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  1. (1/25)How have Humans interacted with the Environment in Southwest Asia?

  2. What about water? • Water is a scarce resource – to the people in SW Asia it is more valuable than oil • To increase and control water dams are being built in SW Asia • At least 793 large dams provide irrigation and flood control • Turkey has the most reservoirs, followed by Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

  3. Southeast Anatolia Project • Massive plan calling for 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric plants strung along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers • Intended to provide almost one-quarter of that country's electric power. • The Anatolian Peninsula is the location of what country? • Turkey

  4. Syria and Iraq Concerns • Syria and Iraq rely on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers for water • The Turkish government is systematically damming up those rivers • Turkish officials have said repeatedly that they will not restrict the flow of the river once their reservoirs are filled • The two downstream countries fear they will be subject to blackmail by Turkey whenever their national policies conflict.

  5. “The next war in the Near East will not be about politics, but over water," former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once warned an American think tank. "Washington does not take this threat seriously because everything in the U.S. relates to oil."

  6. Irrigation & other water technology • Countries along the Tigris, Euphrates, Diyala, and Jordan Rivers depend on the waters for irrigation of their crops • Fossil water is pumped from aquifers and has been there a long time – not enough rain to replace what is taken • Drip Irrigation uses the least amount of water because it waters just the root systems • Also use canals to carry water to crops • Desalinization removes salt from sea water • Water is too salty to drink or use for irrigation • Mostly used for sewage • Very expensive

  7. Older methods of irrigation • Qanat tunnels: Built by muganni (quanat diggers) • Underground and lined by bricks • Slope gently and use gravity to help move the water • Usually begin at the base of a mountain and can run 20 – 30 miles

  8. Noria system: Uses a water wheel • Can be run by water power or animal power • Wheel lifts the water and pours it into a ditch/channel to be transported to the fields

  9. Noria Irrigation System

  10. The National Water Carrier of Israel or המוביל הארצי • Main task is to transfer water from the Sea of Galilee in the north of the country to the center and arid south or Negev region • To enable efficient use of water and regulation of the water supply in the country. • The National Water Carrier connects the Sea of Galilee with Israel's water system.

  11. The National Water Carrier of Israel • Completed and functioning by 1964 • Combination of underground pipelines, open canals, interim reservoirs and tunnels • Water from Lake Kinneret, located 220 meters below sea level, is pumped to an elevation of about 152 meters above sea level • Water flows to the coastal region, and is pumped to the Negev Desert

  12. Problems • The diversion of water from the Jordan River has been a source of tension between Israel and Syria and Jordan • In 1964, Syria attempted construction of a Headwater Diversion Plan to block the flow of water into the Sea of Galilee • Israel attacked the project in 1965 which increased regional tensions ending in the 1967 Six Day War • Israel won this war and now occupies the Golan Heights from which water resources flow into the Sea of Galilee. • Israel has a treaty with Jordan agreeing to supply them with 50 million cubic meters of water annually.

  13. Oil & Natural Gas • SW Asia is rich in oil and natural gas • Created millions of years ago from plants and animals that lived in an ancient sea • Their remains mixed with sand and mud and were transformed into oil by pressure and heat • They are non-renewable energy sources

  14. How is it transported? • Crude oil is removed from the earth by drilling • It is moved by pipeline to refineries or ports • In the Refinery it is processed into gasoline, heating oil or other products • Occasionally oil is spilled on land or from tankers (ships) into water • 1991 – tankers and storage facilities in Kuwait were blown up – 240,000,000 gallons spilled • 1989 – Exxon Valdez spilled 11,000,000 gallons of oil • 2010 – BP oil well ruptures contaminating the Gulf coast of the U.S. estimated 3,377,959 gallons spilled

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