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NSC: People and Their Environment

NSC: People and Their Environment. Water: A Scarce Commodity. Only about 1% of the Earth’s water is readily available for drinking. 97% - Salt Water 2% - Frozen Water Consequently over 1 Billion people cannot obtain clean drinking water on a day-to-day basis.

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NSC: People and Their Environment

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  1. NSC: People and Their Environment

  2. Water: A Scarce Commodity • Only about 1% of the Earth’s water is readily available for drinking. • 97% - Salt Water • 2% - Frozen Water • Consequently over 1 Billion people cannot obtain clean drinking water on a day-to-day basis. • This strain is predicted to worsen as the world population continues to grow.

  3. Water: Resources • Most of the freshwater in the NSC comes from rivers and aquifers. • The regions only major rivers are: • Nile • Tigris • Euphrates • Jordan • Amu Darya • Syr Darya • These rivers only flow through a relatively small number of countries within the NSC. • Most countries use smaller rivers for their water sources.

  4. Water: Other Sources • Desalination – the processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water. • Desalination has allowed for countries without a significant fresh water source (but with access to a salt water source) to produce drinkable water. • The “Great Man-Made River” • An ambitious multi-billion dollar project using pipelines to carry water from large aquifers beneath the Sahara to farms near the Mediterranean.

  5. Environmental Concern: Aswan High Dam • Aswan High Dam Facts: • Finished in 1970 • 600 Miles South of Cairo • Irrigates around 3 million acres of land • Supplies nearly 50% of Egypt’s electrical power • Aswan’s Negative Impact: • Stopped a process by the annual Nile floods would deposit fertile soul and wash away salt along the Nile floodplain • Now farmers must buy expensive fertilizer • Since the finishing of the dam parasite related deaths and diseases around the dam and down river have increased

  6. Environmental Concerns: Persian Gulf War • During the war Iraqi troops retreating from Kuwait set fire to more than 700 oil wells • This created huge black clouds of smoke that polluted the Area • Iraqi troops also dumped about 250 million gallons of oil in the Persian Gulf • Killed many fish and other aquatic creatures along the Persian Gulf coastline

  7. Environmental Concern: Kazakhstan • Kazakhstan was once home to Soviet nuclear bases, and weapons testing. • In 1989 it was discovered that this weapons testing had caused radiation leaks • The Soviet Union also used Kazakhstan as a site for heavy industry. • These industrial plants polluted the air with toxic chemicals • This pollution has been linked to high level of infant mortality in the country.

  8. Nuclear Testing Site in Kazakhstan

  9. Environmental Concerns: 3 Troubled Seas • Caspian Sea • Pollution primarily coming from near the Elburz Mountains of Iran • This pollution mixed with overfishing threaten the fish, an important export in the area. • Dead Sea • Sea levels have dropped more than 262 feet over the past 40 years due to water diversion (for irrigation and hydroelectricity) • Aral Sea • Has seen severe dropped in water, like the Dead Sea. • It has negatively effected the areas fishing production, and has created dust storms which spread disease in the area.

  10. Aral Sea

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