Water Pollution Case Study

1513 Words7 Pages
In recent years, with rapid growth of global population hitting 7 billion in 2011, and expected to rise to 9 billion in the year 2050. With this, comes the increase in demand for food and water resources. The growing population leads to increased agricultural activities to feed the demands of the population. There has since been a controversy on the severity of the increase in agricultural activities, creating concern on freshwater pollution because these activities are inevitable. On one hand, this is an essential detrimental cycle, so it is inevitable. On the other hand, with the advancement of technology and new ways to prevent water pollution , is pollution really inevitable ? “Agricultural activities" refers to the systematic raising…show more content…
which is a large freshwater lake in the Yangtze Delta plain near Shanghai, China. With an area of 2,250 square kilometers (869 sq mi) and an average depth of 2 meters (6.6 ft), it is the third-largest freshwater lake in China, after Poyang and Dongting. In recent years, the lake has faced alarming problems in relation to the water pollution occurring. As the core area of the Yangtze Delta, the water resource of Taihu Lake has multiple functions, such as for drinking, industrial and agricultural use, shipping, tourism, basin flood control and water storage. However, the area of Taihu Lake that is affected by harmful algal blooms is continuously increasing. Algal blooms mainly occurred in Meiliang Bay, Zhushan Bay, and a part of the Western Lake before 2000, which together make up approximately half of the total lake area. By 2007, there is an extension to the western part of the lake, hence involving more than half of the leg area. Due to algae blooms happening more frequently and over a longer period of time, it has affected industrial and agricultural activities, also threatening the water security at the Taihu…show more content…
Examples of the ‘Green Revolution’ methods are the continual increase of farming land, double-cropping in the existing farmland and using genetically modified seeds. Cultivation for land has been increasing since 1947, but was still insufficient to meet with rising demands. The expanding of land had to continue although the other methods are still required. Hence, the Green Revolution proceeded with this expansion of farming areas. Double cropping was a primary feature of the Green Revolution. Instead of having only one crop season per year, the decision was to increase to two crop seasons per year. The one-season-per-year practice was based on the fact that there is only one rainy season annually. During the second phase, water is collected from irrigation projects such as dams. The using of seeds with superior genetic qualities covered the scientific aspect of the project. The Green Revolution comprises of material components which are improved high yielding varieties of staple cereals such as rice and wheat. The improvements include irrigation or controlled water supply, effective use of moisture, fertilizers, pesticides and related management

More about Water Pollution Case Study

Open Document