wl2, Riga Secondary School No 47, Latvia, Question:

In our country Latvia, the ground-waters is about 1-10m in depth. Therefore very often they are polluted. In Latvia about 20% of wells are polluted. Drinking water resources in Latvia are sufficient, but they aren't located even.
Lakes occupy 1,5% of the territory, swamps - 10%.
Fresh-water is in lakes and rivers, too. The amount of rivers in Latvia is 12 400.
Gauja is the longest river - 452 km. Daugava - 352 km long.
People who live near the lakes and rivers, use it in housekeeping and farms. Rain is approximately 700mm a year. It is raining more than vaporizate, so therefore swamps and damp places form.

How is the situation in your country?

Answer from wl1

Answer: Our country Bangladesh is called the land of rivers. There are about 700 rivers in Bangladesh. But now these rivers are drying up because of the silts from the up streams. We have many sources of drinking water in the villages. But in big cities the water is supplied by WASA. In the city of Dhaka, there are acute shortages of pure drinking water in the dry season. In the northern part of Bangladesh, there is scarcity of water in the dry season.

We have to big 30 to 50 feet for tube well to get water in the villages. Heavy rainfall is characteristic of Bangladesh causing it to flood every year. With the exception of the relatively dry western region of Rajshahi , where the annual rainfall is about 1,600 mm (63.0 in), most parts of the country receive at least 2,300 mm (90.6 in) of rainfall per year. Because of its location just south of the foothills of the Himalayas, where monsoon winds turn west and northwest, the region of Sylhet in northeastern Bangladesh receives the greatest average precipitation.

From 1977 to 1986, annual rainfall in that region ranged between 3,280 and 4,780 mm (129.1 and 188.2 in) per year. Average daily humidity ranged from March lows of between 55 and 81 % to July highs of between 94 and 100 %, based on readings taken at selected stations nationwide in 1986.

Most of our land is low land and there is some marshy land, We call the Hawar or Biil. Flooding of the rivers during the monsoon season causes enormous hardship and hinders development, but fresh deposits of rich silt replenish the fertile but overworked soil. The rivers also drain excess monsoon rainfall into the Bay of Bengal.

Thus, the great river system is at the same time the country's principal resource and its greatest hazard.

The longest rivers of our country are the Padma, Meghna, The Jamuna. Their sources are the Mount Himalayas.

We have only one big lake in the District of Chittagong names Karnafully Lake. We use it for Hydro-electricity production.

Answer from wl3

How is the situation in your country?

    Our country is in good situation. We have an abundance of water due to living near the Great Lakes which contains a full 1/5th of the World's fresh water. Almost all Canadians receive treated water to be used everyday. The average family uses 1514 litres of water a day in Canada (Government of Canada). We have such a large quantity of water that it’s the cheapest water in the entire world (about 30 cents per cubic meter). The closest is 40-80 cents per cubic meter and that's from the US. Canada's drinking water system is one of the best in the world. Canada has about 7% of the world's total renewable freshwater supply (it's the third largest in the world).Water in Canada is used in many different ways. Some of them include everyday uses such as cooking, bathing, cleaning, etc. Other uses of water are for entertainment, for example swimming.

Lake Superior, one of the Great Lakes, has an area of 82000km2, larger than that of your entire country (Latvia is around 68000km2). Lake Superior has 12,000 cubic km of water. It falls second on the list of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, Lake Huron is fourth, Lake Erie is 13 on the list. Lake Ontario is the smallest out of all the Great Lakes in Canada but it still falls 15th on the list of largest lakes in the world.

Answer from wl4

Ukraine has 31 thousand in sq. km of a water table of the rivers and 6,8 thousand in sq. km of artificial reservoirs, 6 thousand in sq. km of estuaries, 1 thousand in sq. km of a surface of lakes. In total in territory of Ukraine is 73 thousand names of the rivers, from which small (length to 10 km) - 68796, from 10 to 25 km - 3020, from 25 to 100 km - 968, from 101 to 500 (averages on the size of the river) - 123, more than 500 km (the large rivers) - them 14.
The basic rivers of Ukraine – Dnepr, Southern Bug and Danube running into Black sea.
On fresh water stocks on one inhabitant of Ukraine is one of the least provided countries of-1 thousand м3. Is better the western regions of the country are provided by water resources: on the average on one inhabitant water security in the west almost in 7 times above, than in the south, and in 3 times above, than in the east of Ukraine.

The majority of tap water in the country is only conditionally suitable for drink.
By estimations of the rector of Institute of ecology and the person deserved the doctor of Ukraine, a member of the Ukrainian academy of Sciences of Michael Saljuty, only third of the total amount of water used by domestic municipal services, Ukrainians can consume without additional clearing. «Two thirds of tap water can be drunk only after additional water preparation by means of the filter or a boiling», - the expert confirms. So this water, as a matter of fact, is conditionally suitable for drink.

Answer from wl5

Chemical fertilizer use in Egypt has increased significantly since the construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1968. Increased applications of chemical fertilizers in irrigated lands are likely to create nonpoint contamination sources of chemical fertilizer species. This study was conducted to investigate the contamination of ground water by nitrogen and phosphorus chemical fertilizers, as well as the availability of ground water for irrigation and public water supply for the next century. Future concentrations of NO₃, and PO³- in shallow and deep ground water in the Nile Valley were assessed under realizable rates of fertilizer application. A ground water modeling system (GMS) was used to simulate the three-dimensional ground water flow and contaminant transport in the Tahta region of the Nile Valley Aquifer, and to predict the future concentrations of chemical fertilizer species. Results of the transport simulation predict the occurrence of ground water contamination at shallow depths (30 m) due to the high rate and method of chemical fertilizer applications. Best management practices should be employed to control and reduce the nitrate leaching and future impact of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer applications. At the same time, new deeper wells should be constructed. In addition, the use of hand pumps, in zones close to croplands (15 m depth) must be avoided due to susceptibility to fertilizer contamination. Ground water from existing deep wells can be used as an alternative water supply. Furthermore, a ground water quality monitoring system should be established for early detection of ground water contamination and to determine progress of the fertilizer contaminant plume. A properly designed system should monitor nitrate and phosphate composition in observation and water supply wells.

Answer from wl6

We would like to answer the question posted by you.

In Ghana, the occurrence of groundwater is associated with the development of secondary porosity as a result of jointing, shearing fracturing and weathering. The depths of aquifers are mostly between 10mmand 60mm.water occupies about 75%of the country. However, about 25% of the water in Ghana is polluted. Therefore more than 9 million people don’t have access to clean water.  

There are 250 rivers and more than 15 lakes in Ghana. Moreover the length of rain per year is more than 100mm. the largest river is the Volta   and it is over 8485 sq. km long. People who live near lakes and rivers use the water in housekeeping, farms and nearby industries.

Thanks.

Answer from wl7

In our country we do have different sources of water for domestic and commercial use just like your country Latvia, we have wells which are dug deep to get water which is later purified or distilled for commercial purposes, we have rivers and lakes, streams and so on, all these sources of water are used by the water corporation for supplies through our pipeline after they have gone through a series of cleansing to kill all germs and harmful particles in them, our rivers and lakes are also used for fishing and many people travel on them with canoes and boats, we have the Atlantic ocean passing through as well so we are a country full of water and indeed we appreciate it.

Thank you. 

XXX

Answer from wl8

How is the situation in your country?
Kenya is one of the three countries in the East Africa which have a coast. Its population is 41.07 millions. Mombasa is located in the coast of Kenya and one of the few coasts of east Africa. Lying next to the coast is the city Mombasa with about 800,000 people. The ground water depth in Kenya varies from 100 to 150 meters depth. This depth of ground water is a major problem faced by the government of Kenya because bore wells are dug where the municipal water supply can not reach like the north part of Kenya. As the water is found at this depth, the cost of the bore wells increase and this makes it very difficult for the local residents of North Kenya to get clean supply of water. As it comes towards the coast the ground water depth reduces but the water found here is hard water and it is saline in some places. This makes it very difficult for people who cannot afford bore holes to get water supply. Due to this the government have introduced tax for municipal water.

There are about 6-7 large water bodies in Kenya. Unfortunately about 4 of them can not be used for any of the human activities including washing because salt water makes them get destroyed. The remaining ones provide water to Kenya. These lakes are: Lake Nakuru, Mzima springs and Lake Victoria. These are the main water bodies which supply water, but there are other ones which supply water to small villages. As Mombasa has saline water and bore wells cannot be dug here, government has encouraged rain water harvesting. This is a method where all the water falling on the roofs is transported to huge tanks at the end of the city and there the water is cleaned and processed and then supplied to the whole village/town. This method has been very helpful as the rain is about 678mm. Farmers usually have their own bore wells as municipal water will be too expensive for them. The largest water body is Lake Victoria. The rain fall is sufficient to supply water to the urban areas but the rural areas suffer from droughts for half of the year as municipal water does not reach them. And bore wells are too expensive. Thus the people have to walk many miles as the government has constructed bore wells in some areas for the people and some villages lie far from the bore well. This is a problem which is yet to be solved. But some organisations like we the Green Gang have visited rural areas to educate the people on water uses and its conservation.             

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kenya

http://iahs.info/redbooks/a182/iahs_182_0111.pdf

https://www.google.co.ke/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=618&q=ground+water&gbv=2&oq=ground+water&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=img.12...0l0l2l144l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0.frgbld.

https://www.google.co.ke/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=674&q=tsunami&gbv=2&oq=tsunami&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=img.3..0l10.9707l11689l0l12092l7l7l0l0l0l0l609l887l0j2j5-

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWRD/Resources/GWMATE_English_CP_13.pdf
https://www.google.co.ke/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=618&q=water+cleaning+plants&gbv=2&oq=water+cleaning+&aq=7&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=img.1.7.0l10.2062l27682l0l32921l27l25l1l0l0l1l2212l15655l3j2j2j1j1j3j9j2j0j1l24l0.frgbld.

Answer from wl9

XXX

Hello!!!

In our country the ground-water is a bit deeper than 1-10 meters. It is not polluted too much, but the process of pollution is accelerating. The drinkable water is not a problem now, but people waste it.

There are a lot of rivers but the longest is the Danube-1075km.

There are 2300 lakes on a surface of 2620(1.1% of the country).

Rain is under 100-200 mm a year.

                                                      All the best, WL9

Answer from wl10

Link to our Prezi:

http://prezi.com/z3lnlsbq4gz6/present/?auth_key=h0vf5mr&follow=vdzvk1li6jzk