Final Homework Assignment

The spreadsheet GEOL 150 Winter 2014 world water data.xlsx contains the most recent accessible information for most countries in the world for available freshwater resources, assess to water and sanitation, volume and type of withdrawals, economic and social development indicators, and population. Use this information to answer the following questions and turn in your work as a .doc(x) by the beginning of class on Wednesday. Notes: 1. Even if it is not stated in the question/item, all questions should be answered “for the data available”. For instance, we do not have data for many of the small Caribbean Island nations (or other small nation states) so we will exclude them from this large-scale analysis. 2. For item #5, use the linear rate of change – the easiest way is with excel’s linest function.

1a. What is the volume per person per day of freshwater withdrawals for domestic use in the USA? (provide your answer in US gallons/person/day to the nearest gallon)?

1b. How many countries have higher domestic use than the USA? 

1c. What are the three countries with the lowest volume of domestic water use and what are their respective rates of use- for which data exist (provide your answer in US gallons/person/day to the nearest gallon)?

1d. What country outside of either Africa or Asia has the lowest domestic use?

2a. How many countries in 2011 had unsustainable rates of freshwater withdrawals?

2b. In which countries do annual withdrawals exceed available freshwater resources by an order of magnitude or more?

2c. What % of Earth’s population resides in a country with unsustainable rates of freshwater withdrawals?

2d. What is the dominant use of water in countries with unsustainable rates of freshwater withdrawals?

3a. How many countries have a higher rate of access to an improved water source for rural populations than for urban populations?

3b. What is the respective percent of the world’s urban and rural populations that have access to an improved water source?

4a. In how many countries are residents more likely to have access to cellular coverage than to sanitation facilities?

4b. In how many countries are residents more likely to have access to electricity than to an improved water source?

4c. What percent of the world’s  population has access to the following: cellular coverage, access to sanitation facilities, access to electricity, and access to an improved water source?

5a. Use the data in the “water” tab to answer- How many countries experienced a decrease in the percent of its population with access to an improved drinking water source from 1990-2011? How about 2002-2011?

5b. Use the data in the “sanitation” tab to answer- How many countries experienced a decrease in the percent of its population with access to improved sanitation facilities from 1990-2011? How about 2002-2011?

6a. Plot %access to water as a function of per capita freshwater availability, annual freshwater withdrawals, corruption, and per capita GDP (on four different graphs). Describe the relationships that you observe.

7a. Plot child mortality as a function of, %access to water, %access to sanitation, corruption, and per capita GDP (on four different graphs). Describe the relationships that you observe.

8a. Develop your own weighted metric for quantifying water resources and a water resource availability at the country scale. Describe your metric and list (in order) the five countries with the best water resources and the five countries with the worst water resources according to your calculations.