§3.3 Water in the Middle East part 1

• Aardrijkskunde
• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 2

§3.3 Water in the Middle East part 1

At the end of this lesson:

• You can list several reasons why much of the Middle East faces water shortages
• You can explain that there are natural and human causes of water shortage
• You know the names of places in the desert where you can find water

Why is there little rainfall in the ME?

• Middle Eastern climate: there is little precipitation in many countries (steppe or desert climate).

• Where precipitation does fall, there is much evaporation (Mediterranean climate)
• As a result, there is a water shortage throughout the M-E

Mountains

Enough water falls in the mountains, but water is not distributed fairly among countries there

Countries build dams in the mountains to control the water

Water shortage in Middle East caused by humans

• Population grows rapidly (people use water)
• Economic growth (e.g. factories use a lot of water)
• Dams are built (some countries then have little water)

More population

More prosperity

Built the dams

To do-

1. Write down: which causes of drought can you name? Divide them between natural and human causes.

Paragraph 2 finished?

Start paragraph 3....

Time for a game?

Oases

There are places where water comes out of the ground. These are called oases

Aquifer

A water-bearing layer in the subsurface.

Aquifer

• Due to aquifer sometimes in desert areas agriculture is possible 
• But the problem about using this water is that the aquifer will not fill up again
  

Well oases

Wadi

River oases: Oasis fed by a river that originates in a wetter region before flowing through the desert.

The Nile in Egypt

River oases

Salinization

• Farmers pump a lot of water from the aquifer.
• This water is a little salty
• The water evaporates and salt is left behind
• Salinization = soil too salty and therefore no more farming possible

To do:

From §3.3, make assignments 1 through 4.