Development Case Studies Module #5 – ljs5300

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Lucas Skiba

2/21/16

Geog 030

Module #5

 

Development Case Studies

            The first case study I researched was an article from IRIN called COP21: How Glacial Melt and Toxic Waste Could Spell Disaster in Kyrgyzstan. This development was about a gold mining pit partly owned by the Kyrgyzstan government through a company called Kyrgyzaltyn, and also Canada’s Centerra Gold. They own the largest gold mine in Central Asia. The mine’s tailings pond sits a little more than 3 miles below Petrov Lake. The issue is the glaciers have been melting from waste dumping and climate change, and the Petrov Lake is expanding. If this keeps happening there is risk of a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). This happens when the lake fills up with water from glaciers melting and the water burst through the natural moraine dam made of soil, rock, and ice. If a GLOF happened in the lake it could wipe out part of the tailings pond running chemicals into the Kumtor River, which runs into a water system millions of people use everyday.

The second case study I researched was an article from E & E Publishing called Coal: As China’s Demand for Coal Soars, So Does its Water Scarcity. This development is about coal mines in Xilinhot, the coal mining city of inner Mongolia, China. Xilinhot is one of China’s driest cities and water is already scarce. According to E & E China’s coal mines have been dumping 80 million tons of wastewater into the Yellow River every year. The Yellow River is China’s second largest river, but due to over withdrawal of water its been on high alert. Chinese policymakers decided to create 16 large-scale coal industrial hubs. These coal mining hubs use lots of water for mining, preparation, power generation, coal-chemical factories, etc. E & E says, “those hubs are estimated to consume nearly 10 billion cubic meters of water annually, equivalent to more than one-quarter of the water the Yellow River supplies in a normal year.” With China’s water scarcity and water contamination it seems that coal mines are a threat to the environment.

I currently live in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania its not near any major cities but there is still affects from industrial development in Pennsylvania. Some of the affects happening in Pennsylvania are water contamination from fracking for oil and natural gas. Now this relates to both of these case studies because each of these developmental problems all are causing water contamination. Each case studies reason for water contamination are different like Kyrgyzaltyn’s gold mining company, China’s coal industry, and Pennsylvania’s fracking oil wells. They all are causing water contamination and they all are examples of development. Each of these areas are in different countries and all have different climates but you can still see the side affects of the industrial developments in each area. What we have to be able to take from these case studies and information on these developments is that being a developed or first world country is not always good, there can be its side affects to its environment. We need to be more aware of the damage we cause from these developments.

Citations/Bibliography:

 

  1. IRIN News (December 2, 2015). Retrieved February 21, 2016 from http://www.irinnews.org/feature/2015/12/02/cop21-how-glacial-melt-and-toxic-waste-could-spell-disaster-kyrgyzstan

 

  1. GreenPeace (March 21, 2014). Retrieved February 21, 2016 from http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climate-change/coal/Water-impacts/#a0

 

  1. E & E Publishing and News (July 1, 2013). Retrieved February 22, 2016 from http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059983712

 

  1. EcoWatch (June 5, 2015). Retrieved February 23, 2016 from http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/05/josh-fox-fracking-contaminates-drinking-water/

 

2 thoughts on “Development Case Studies Module #5 – ljs5300”

  1. Hi Lucas, my name is Alyssa. Here’s the link to my blog post: http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/25/module-5-develop…t-case-studies-5/
    I liked your post because I too wrote about water contamination in PA. In my hometown, there has been a scare of lead in our water. I agree that we need to be careful about how we treat our environment, regardless of where we live. Development is not always a positive thing, as we have seen from researching these case studies, and it’s important to understand the differences. Great job with this blog post!

  2. Hi Lucas,
    I enjoyed reading about your case studies, particularly due to the fact that I related my own case studies back to the cracker plant that is going to be built in my hometown a few year down the road. I mainly talked about the economic growth the plant could provide, and I didn’t really touch on the possibilities of pollution and contamination. It is true that developments like this are not always good and I hope the people in my region are looking at creating a sustainable plant that doesn’t negatively impact the environment, like in your studies.
    Rachel
    You can take a look at my blog here:
    https://wp.me/p3RCAy-by6

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