Students will explore the African Water Crisis.

1. Entry Task
• What resources are abundant in Africa?
• What resources are scare in Africa?
• How have both types of resources
affected African people?

2. Objective:
• The students will be able to analyze the
affect of abundant and scare resources
on African society and livelihood.

3. The Power
of Water!

4. Resources (water) – Challenge
CRISIS!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTk7aSb
yd0

6. • Drinking water: our bodies need to stay
hydrated in order to function properly
• For cleanliness: Poor sanitation can lead to
disease
• To grow food: Many people depend on
farming for survival

8. Remember, only 3% of the water
on earth is freshwater…
…we cannot use saltwater for
drinking or watering crops

10. Where is all the freshwater?
Glaciers and Icecaps
Groundwater
Rivers and Lakes
Atmosphere

11. • There is very little freshwater to go around
• High Demand + Low Supply = High Value
• Water is incredibly valuable in areas such as
Northern & Eastern Africa

12. So here’s the dilemma…
You need fresh water
There are limited places to get fresh water
How do you get it?
First let’s take a look at some physical features

13. Physical Features of North &
Eastern Africa

14. Mountains!
• In the Western part of North
Africa you can find the Atlas
Mountains

15. Rivers
• Many rivers were the site of early civilizations
• Egyptians depended on the yearly Nile
flooding for survival

16. So back to our original question
Given the landscape of North & Eastern Africa
how do you think people get the water they
need?

17. Aquifers
• One solution is to pump water out of aquifers
– An aquifer is water that is stored in underground
layers
• Problems with aquifers
– Not all locations have great sources of
groundwater that are easy to access
– Groundwater can be contaminated by bad soil
– If water is removed faster than nature replaces it,
the aquifers run dry

18. Building Dams
• Building a dam on a major river can allow
water to collect, and be redirected to another
location
• Problems with building dams
– It takes away water that would flow to other
countries
– Can cause conflict among those countries

19. Rationing
• Making water resources available in limited
amounts

20. Desalinization
• Treating saltwater to remove salts and
minerals, makes it drinkable
• Very expensive process, so poor countries do
not have this option, and still have shortages
• Oil rich countries have developed plants,
making Southwest Asia the leader in the
process

21. So what is the right answer?
• There are pros and cons to each option
• Is there a right answer? Is there a way to
make everyone happy, and get everyone the
water they need to survive?
• What do you think is the best
solution to this challenge?

22. Living on Water
• https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=q_W-SZtjnKE

23. Water Wars in Kenya & Ethiopia
• http://pulitzercenter.org/video/focus-water-
wars
• What do you think the filmmaker's purpose is
in creating this documentary?
• Why some countries have more water than
others?

24. “Drought Spurs Resource Wars”
• Read the article “Drought Spurs Resource
Wars.”
• http://pulitzercenter.org/articles/drought-
spurs-resource-wars
• Complete the “Drought Spurs Resource Wars”
Questions (located on Google Classroom).