Lesson 1 - Water in Australia
To know - water in australia
to be able to - identify reasons behind water problems in australia
Why does australia have problems with water?
70% of the mainland of Australia is classified as semi-arid, arid or desert; making it the second driest continent on Earth and the driest inhabited continent.
Most of the large cities and towns in Australia are on the East and South coasts where good amounts of rainfall are received. However, the amount of people living in these areas is putting strain on the baseline water supply.
The North of Australia receives heavy rainfall in the monsoon season. The Western and central regions of Australia receive barely any rainfall (some less than 100mm per year). Australia is a large country and the distribution and availability of water is uneven.
Australia is a country that experiences drought regularly. This particularly impacts farmers who live inland where there is a lot of land but it is very dry.
Most central Australian towns rely on underground water.
task 1 - day zero news story
Watch the video and answer the questions below
1 - What two reasons caused fears of a day zero event happening in Australia?
2 - How long has Tenterfield been in drought? Is it still in drought?
3 - What words would you use to describe the appearance of the land in Tenterfield?
Task 2 - day zero short film
1 - What is eroding the land away due to the lack of water and plants?
2 - Describe the mental impact of the drought on the farmers.
3 - After watching the video, why would you say water is important for our country?
4 - It is obvious that the drought is causing a water crisis in Australia. What other pressure is causing a water crisis in Australia?
Task 3 - What's life like in a town when it runs out of water?
2 - How does Murrurundi get their water?
3 - What are some families considering if day zero conditions continue for a long time? How would this affect Murrurundi?
4 - Why don't the people like the water that is being trucked in?
5 - What is the solution to the water crisis in Murrurundi? Will this work?
Baseline Water Supply means how much water people are using vs how much surface water is available. If the amount of water being used is more than the amount of surface water available, the higher the stress. The map indicates this with dark red being the highest stress and yellow having the least stress. This may seem odd because we have just been learning about how central areas have the least water, this is because this map is measuring surface water usage only and towns in central Australia have low populations. Arid land means there is no surface water.
Task 4 - Choropleth map of baseline water stress in Australia
1 - What states have arid land?
2 - What states have low baseline water stress? Why? Hint - read the description underneath the map link.
3 - Which two states have the highest amount of baseline water stress? Why do you think this is?
4 - Look at the western Australian coastline. You'll see there is one tiny area with high water stress. Why does this one area have high baseline water stress?
5 - What colour is the baseline water stress for our area? Why is this?
6 - What is the baseline water stress level for the areas surrounding us?
7 - Which part of Tasmania experiences the most baseline water stress?
Lesson 2 - education perfect on Water in Australia
You have three education perfect tasks this lesson. They are called:
1 - Introduction to Australia's Water Resources
2 - Australia: A Water Poor-Country
3 - Rainfall in Australia
Lesson 3 - the 2018 Water crisis in cape town
to know - the 2018 cape town water crisis
to be able to - explain the causes and solutions to the 2018 cape town water crisis
the 2018 cape town water crisis
Water levels in nearby dams had been declining since 2015 due to drought, water wastage and rising population.
From mid 2017 to mid 2018, Cape Town in South Africa experienced Day Zero conditions.
The Cape Town water crisis was fixed after long periods of Stage 7 water restrictions and good rains ending the drought in early 2020.
Task 1 - Answer these questions while watching this video
Cape town water crisis video
cape town questions.pdftask 2 - education perfect
You have an education perfect task called cape town water crisis
Lesson 4 - Mawsynram, the wettest place on earth
to know - water in mawsynram
to be able to - explain the effects of high amounts of rainfall on human and physical geography
Mawsynram, the wettest place on earth
Mawsynram is a village in India that is located at 25.2975° N, 91.5826° E.
It is 1,400 metres above sea level.
The average rainfall in Mawsynram per year is 11,872mm!
To put this into perspective, Brisbane receives about 1200mm of rainfall per year.
Mawsynram holds the world record for the most rainfall received in a year when they received 26,000mm of rainfall in 1985. That's 26 metres of rain!
Task 1 - The physical and human impact of the high amount of rainfall in mawsynram
Let's have a look at the impact on the rainfall on the town
Answer the question underneath after watching the three videos
one of the main roads into mawsynram
look at how people in mawsynram have to live
PEEL paragraph - how does the high amount of rainfall in mawsynram influence the way local people live?
You have 5 minutes to answer this question
task 2 - climate graph on mawsynram
Use the climate graph of Mawsynram here to answer the questions below. Answer in your book.
1 - What was the average temperature in Mawsynram for the month of July?
2 - What was the average temperature in Mawsynram for the month of December?
3 - What was the average temperature in Mawsynram for the month of March?
4 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in July?
5 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in August?
6 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in January?
7 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in December?
8 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in June?
9 - How much rainfall did Mawsynram receive in April?
10 - Which hemisphere is Mawsynram in? How can you tell?
Task 3 - article on mawsynram and photographs in geography
Read the article and answer the questions below in your book.
Hint - there is one question per photo, so look at the description of each photo to find the answer for each question.
1 - Why do people cross naturally made bridges made out of rubber tree roots instead of man-made wooden bridges?
2 - What causes the heavy rainfall in Mawsynram?
3 - When is the monsoon season in Mawsynram?
4 - How often are weather measurements in Mawsynram taken?
5 - Why do people use knups instead of umbrellas?
6 - The rain causes damage to roads. How much are the workers paid to repair the roads?
7 - What type of photograph is Photo 7?
8 - What type of photograph is Photo 8?
9 - What percentage of people in the Khasi hills region (where Mawsynram is) are Christian?
10 - How can you tell Mawsynram is high above sea level?
11 - What type of photograph is Photo 11?
12 - What type of Photograph is Photo 12?
13 - Why don't the locals worry about the rain?
14 - When does it rain most in Mawsynram?
15 - Where is the best example of a rubber tree bridge?
16 - What other type of structure do the roots create?
17 - What type of photograph is Photo 17?
18 - What type of photograph is Photo 18?
Types of Photos in Geography.pdfThe Types of Photos in Geography
One of the skills in Geography is identifying types of photographs. The four types of photographs are:
Ground level - Taken from the ground
Obligue - Taken from an angle
Aerial - Taken from above, a bird's eye view
Satellite - Taken from a satellite at very high altitude