In the Indian Ocean nation, the floods and droughts have increasingly become more frequent and progressive. In order to stop the negative effects that the floods and droughts create, Sri Lanka plans to build two new reservoirs and update 260 kilometers of canals that link existing reservoirs. Building the two new reservoirs and updating the 260 kilometers of canals will help to capture heavy rainfall. The rainfall captured can be used for irrigation in dry periods. Currently, Sri Lanka does not have the ability to use the rainfall effectively and most of the heavy rainfall gets washed out to sea. The extra water will also help to generate electricity by being funneled into hydropower dams. As stated in module five, using fresh water supplies for irrigation and drinking is an example of unsustainable development. Since it is an example of unsustainable development, the natural resources cannot be replaced as fast as they are being used up. However, with this development in Sri Lanka, it is a way to utilize water more efficiently.
http://www.irinnews.org/news/2015/12/07
In the United Kingdom, a case study was done in order to determine how plant life affects a streams health. “Good Ecological Status” for bodies of fresh water was the goal of this study. This study found that macrophytes, which are large, submerged plants, alters river flow and traps sediment. With that being said, the plant plays a very large role on the ecological well being of the stream/body of water. The study also found that the trapped sediments release methane. The release of methane causes concern about the agricultural practices and the negative effect that they have. These findings have helped in the development of a software tool called, LEAFPACS. This software helps to predict the amount of macrophytes that should be in a fresh body of water, which helps to maintain “good ecological status” in that area.
http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/A8790D89-3B41-4328-9996-7A48C428A485/0/120413MTCFG14Final.pdf
I am from Mountaintop, Pennsylvania and in my town there has been problems with the water supply in the past. Many years ago there was a factory in a nearby industrial park and chemicals and waste from the factory affected the water supply on a certain road in my town. A few people were affected by the bad water supply and one woman even passed away from the using the contaminated water. It is very important to pay close attention to the ecological health of the bodies of water in all areas, which is proven through this example and the two case studies above. The second case study, which used the software, LEAFPACS, in order to determine the quality of water in fresh bodies of water could be a good solution in my town in order to monitor the water supply.
If you are interested here is a link to my post
http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/25/module-5-katie-kurtz/
Hello, my name is Katie. I thought your post was very well-written and I like reading the case study about the water reservoirs. I’m from Huntingdon and we have a man-made recreational lake, known as Lake Raystown. When the decision to build the damn and lake was made there was tons of controversy over it due to the loss of family homes and farms. One of my teachers from elementary school was one of the families that had to move off of their farm in order for the lake to build built.
Hello Sophia, my name is Rachael and I found your case study about the Indian Ocean nations to be very interesting because I also touched based on the limited amount of water in Africa. I think the idea of building two new reservoirs is a great idea in order to catch the heavy rainfall. I feel like utilizing rainfall more efficiently will be a great way of development. It was crazy to hear about what happened with the water in your town. That is very unfortunate for the woman who passed away, but that just comes to show how important it is to have a large supply of fresh water and avoid contamination as much as possible. Great job overall. If you want to check out my blog, the link is
http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/24/development-case…rachael-donnelly/