class discussion question tuesday, march 18th

Class Discussion QuestionTuesday, March 18th

How much fresh water do you think that you use in the course of an average day?

Students will be able to…•Make connections between fresh water

and population patterns in the Middle East.

•Determine the strategic and economic importance of this region to the United States.

•Understand the problems and possible solutions to the worldwide water crisis.

What is Water Scarcity?•Types of Water Scarcity

Iraq, 2009

So just how MUCH water do we use daily?

•Water Facts

Surprised?•According to the EPA

the average American uses 100 gallons of water each day for personal use.

•The biggest cause of usage is flushing toilets.

•Older toilets can use 3.5 to 7 Gallons per Flush.

Birds Eye View

Water Stress Index, 2011

EGYPT

Qanat System

Water wheels

Shaduf

Desalination•Desalination is the process of removing salts and other mineral from saline water.

•Most commonly used in the “oil rich, water poor” countries of the Middle East.

•Problem - cost

Strategic Importance•Economic – the

discovery of oil combined with the Industrial Age made this region vital to the economic interests of Western countries like the USA.

•Military – the physical location of the Middle East combined with America’s economic interests in this region make this region important to our national interests.

MOST IMPORTANT BODIES OF WATER

Suez Canal

Suez Canal - Egypt•The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

•Important for Trade & Military purposes.

Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf•Separates the Arabian peninsula from Iran (formerly called Persia).

•Contains the Strait of Hormuz – narrowest point of the Persian Gulf.

•20% of world oil supplies.

Iranian Navy boats take part in exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Jan. 3, 2012. Amid the current tension with the West, Iran has threatened to close the strait, a major export route for oil coming from the Middle East.

Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean•Has strategic importance to the United states because of its relative location to the oil producing nations of the Middle East.

Seriously?

Hydropolitics•Hydropolitics is the

interplay of water resources and politics.

•Water as a “weapon”?

•Saddam Hussein “emptied” the marshes of Southern Iraq to punish the people of that region.

Tigris & Euphrates Rivers

REAL WMD

Students will be able to…• Make connections

between fresh water and population patterns in the Middle East.

• Determine the strategic and economic importance of this region to the United States.

• Understand the problems and possible solutions to the worldwide water crisis.