Case studies: Sri Lanka and Greece

First Case Study: http://www.irinnews.org/node/255779

My first case study takes place in Sri Lanka where the cycle of floods and droughts has been worsening. They are planning a $675 million project which would enable the use of heavy rainfall for irrigation during dry periods and generating electricity. This includes constructing two new reservoirs and 260 kilometers of canals across Sri Lanka’s “dry zone” with some of these canals funneling water into hydropower dams to generate electricity. The Asian Development Bank is financing this project with $453 million while the rest is being funded by the Sri Lankan government and other donors. Construction began this February and the goal is to complete the project by 2024. This project enables the area to retain more of the rainfall rather than it being washed out to sea and it will use this water to irrigate 350,000 acres of new agricultural land. The reason this is important is because in the past 50 years rainfall in this area has fallen by 7 percent while the average temperature has been increasing by 0.2 degrees Celsius every decade. The reservoirs overflow causing floods and do not hold enough water to make up for the droughts. Therefore, updating the reservoir system will help the people adapt to the changing weather. This relates to the concept of sustainable development and agriculture being a starting point for development. Sri Lanka is trying to improve agricultural conditions and is doing so in a sustainable way by using heavy rainfall through irrigation systems and conserving the water for future droughts.

Second Case Study: http://www.lafarge.com/en/greece-a-partnership-reuse-waste-water-our-industrial-process

My second case study takes place in Greece where Lafarge, a french industrial company that specializes in cement, construction aggregates, and concrete, runs a Volos cement plant. Lafarge has set up a partnership with a local drinks company in order to reduce the use of groundwater for their cooling operations. The plant uses the drink company’s wastewater through a pipe directly into their conditioning tower which has provided the plant around 30,000 m³ of water every year. This solution has also prevented the wastewater from being disposed into the sea creating an environmentally friendly alternative. This relates to sustainable development because the wastewater is being used to help run another business that helps with infrastructure while not polluting the sea which improves the quality of sea life.

I live in the Los Angeles area which definitely has issues surrounding water. Although we do not get much rain like Sri Lanka, the rain we get causes mudslides on the hills and mountains. I believe we can learn from Sri Lanka’s project to prevent mudslides and conserve the little rainfall we get to help during our drought. If we update and add new canals in the appropriate areas according to the structure of the mountains and hills I believe we could prevent homes from being ruined and conserve more water. Although this might be an expensive project for such little rainfall, it would be beneficial in the long run. Much like the case study in Greece, Los Angeles also has a water recycling program in the Sanitation Districts and it is one of the largest wastewater recycling programs in the world. Both Greece and California are bordered by the sea so both have an interest in recycling wastewater to keep as much as they can out of the sea.

3 thoughts on “Case studies: Sri Lanka and Greece

  1. Hi Adriana! My name is Kevin and I wanted too see how you compared your home town to the ones in your articles because I also live in California and believe we have similar problems geographically. I can tell we went similar routes with our thought processes, because we write about what we know, and we know water shortages. I liked the approach of the recycled water because it is similar to processes used in LA, while I went with the approach of innovative irrigation methods because of my rural like area. I said rural like because its a rather strange community where college town meets rural farmland.
    http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/25/water-management-and-innovation-over-the-years/

  2. Hi Adriana,
    My name is Ralph (TJ) Diaz and I wrote a post on Ethiopia’s current drought and HIV/AIDS in Thailand. My link is: https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bBV. I like the topics you picked and how they relate to what you know about in Los Angeles. I know absolutely nothing about Sri Lanke or Greece, so learning about their water issues is interesting. The thing I liked most about your post is how the company in Greece is taking responsibility for their impact by partnering with drinking water companies to minimize the impact on drinking water. This type of activity never happens in the US because companies wait until a problem exists to correct it, they do not partner up and say “how can we prevent this problem before it occurs?” I think learning from Sri Lanke to help solve precipitation issues in Los Angeles is a good idea, but sadly(in my opinion), property damage from landslides is not enough of a motive for private companies or government officials to begin such an investment. These are good examples of sustainable development, however.

  3. Hi, Adriana,
    My name is Harrison. I really liked what you wrote, especially your first paragraph about flood and drought control in Sri Lanka. From an environmental and energy standpoint, harnessing the flood waters to generate electricity is definitely an eco-friendly way reducing flood damage(s) and implementing a cleaner energy source. It reminds me of the Three Gorges Dam in China. Nice work! Here’s a link to my article that I wrote: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/air-quality-pollution-how-has-it-improved-and-can-it-improve/.

    Harrison

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