How Can Rain Create Conflict? Precipitation and Water Use: Crash Course Geography #11 - Free Educational videos for Students in K-12

How Can Rain Create Conflict? Precipitation and Water Use: Crash Course Geography #11 - By Math and Science

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00:0-1	even though lots of maps help us understand our geographical
00:02	space , there's one map that some geographers would say
00:04	is the most important to understand all life on earth
00:07	. The map of the worlds precipitation , we can
00:10	think of precipitation as the final flourish in the hydrological
00:12	cycle that circulates water molecules between the four earth systems
00:16	. It's all the rain , snow , sleet ,
00:18	hail or any liquid or solid that falls from clouds
00:20	in the atmosphere , and we need water for so
00:22	many parts of our lives . Agriculture , industry ,
00:25	transportation , recreation , and not least for all the
00:27	flora and fauna that live here . Water is the
00:29	universal solvent , which means it can dissolve more substances
00:32	than any other liquid , and we almost never find
00:34	completely pure water . That's pretty important because as water
00:37	moves through the water cycle , it transports both vital
00:40	nutrients and harmful pollutants across spaces and places . So
00:43	using a map of precipitation helps us track water on
00:45	earth and reveals potential consequences of differing access to water
00:49	. Like if we compare our precipitation map with a
00:51	map of population distribution , we can understand a simple
00:54	but powerful pattern of human geography where there is water
00:58	, there are people , but it gets a little
00:59	more complicated than that because where there are people and
01:01	limited resources , there's often conflict and bigger geographical questions
01:05	at stake . I'm Elise a career and this is
01:08	crash course geography . We started our journey into physical
01:18	geography by looking at the big , big picture to
01:20	reveal the geographic patterns and processes that create earth's environments
01:23	and support all living things . And we learned that
01:26	the spheroid shape , rotation , revolution and tilt of
01:29	the earth cause insulation , air temperature pressure and wind
01:32	to form worldwide patterns that strongly depend on latitude .
01:35	Ultimately , precipitation comes from clouds in the atmosphere which
01:38	are complex structures that change based on many of those
01:40	patterns . So precipitation varies a lot between different places
01:44	, especially different latitudes . Looking at our map ,
01:47	there are areas with a lot of precipitation , like
01:49	the island we call Borneo . The air here near
01:52	the equator is hotter and has a higher dew point
01:54	. The temperature when the air is saturated with water
01:56	vapor and condensation is imminent . But areas like what
01:59	we call the Svalbard Islands in the arctic ocean get
02:01	very little precipitation because the air those latitudes is cold
02:04	and dry . A different kind of precipitation variability can
02:07	happen within a place that spans similar latitudes . Like
02:09	there's a region that makes up a large chunk of
02:11	the continental interior of the U . S . And
02:13	Canada , often called the Great Plains or the prairies
02:16	, because the Great Plains sit deep within the interior
02:18	far from oceans . A phenomenon called the continental effect
02:21	causes huge temperature fluctuations with scorching summers and frigid winters
02:25	. In addition , the Rocky Mountains , which are
02:27	west of the Great Plains , form a barrier to
02:29	the warm , moist winds blowing in from the pacific
02:32	, basically as the winds hit the side of the
02:33	mountains , the air is forced to rise as it
02:36	rises , the air expands and cools enough that water
02:38	vapor molecules can condense to form clouds and precipitation .
02:41	The resulting rain or snow or fog or whatever is
02:43	called orographic precipitation , which got its name from a
02:46	rose , a greek word for mountain . Then ,
02:48	as the air descends the other side of the mountains
02:50	, it gets warmer as the air molecules are compressed
02:53	together and any left over water droplets evaporate . So
02:56	we say , the side of the mountains , not
02:57	facing the winds like where the great Plains are ,
02:59	is in a warm , dry area called the rain
03:01	shadow of the Rocky Mountains . Orographic precipitation patterns can
03:05	be found on mountains worldwide . In Argentina , the
03:08	Patagonia desert lies in the rain shadow of the Andes
03:10	mountains , while the trans Himalayan region of Tibet and
03:13	Central Asia lies in the rain shadow of the Himalayan
03:15	Mountains . The Great Plains straddle the 98th meridian .
03:18	So there's precipitation . Sometimes it's just unpredictable . The
03:21	result is a step or semi arid climate , which
03:24	is too dry to support forest , but too moist
03:26	to be a desert . The dryness can be linked
03:28	to some combination of the continental effect , the rain
03:30	shadow location and subtropical high pressure systems in the atmosphere
03:34	. The unpredictability comes from local conditions and the constantly
03:37	flowing atmospheric and ocean circulation . So basically rainfall amounts
03:41	can change dramatically from one year or season or month
03:43	to the next A year . With lots of rain
03:45	could be followed by several years of below average precipitation
03:48	. So drought can be a major recurring problem for
03:51	people , animals and plants . In fact , at
03:53	one point , the great Plains was called the great
03:55	american desert , even though it's technically a stretch of
03:57	grasslands between forests to the east and deserts to the
04:00	west . By thinking about the physical space , we
04:02	learn more about how our understanding of the perceived space
04:05	has changed . It wasn't until the inventions of barbed
04:07	wire , the steel plow , well drilling techniques and
04:10	the railroad solved the region's unique spatial problems , that
04:12	it became a place where european people settled over long
04:15	periods of time , grasslands produce excellent soils , making
04:18	them extremely productive farmlands , but also prone to severe
04:21	soil erosion from over farming and overgrazing . So the
04:24	combination of mass settling and farming , unpredictable precipitation and
04:27	high temperatures led to devastation in this physical space .
04:30	One of the most significant droughts in the last century
04:33	was the Dust Bowl , which ravaged the Great Plains
04:35	for nearly a decade from 1930 until the fall of
04:38	1939 when the rains finally came . So now our
04:41	idea of the Great Plains as a place is forever
04:43	tied to hardship and even lack of opportunity , not
04:45	just precipitation patterns , like the rainfall effect , all
04:48	because of the physical geography of the space layered with
04:51	the human geography of our lived experiences there on the
04:53	other side of the rockies and east of the sierra
04:55	Nevadas , there are also vast stretches of semi arid
04:58	regions , with some true deserts . In the Southwest
05:01	, like in the great Plains , precipitation is rather
05:03	unevenly distributed . So the Colorado River is actually the
05:06	region's largest water source , dubbed the lifeline of the
05:09	southwest , actually 90% of the surface water in the
05:12	Colorado River comes from snow in the Rocky Mountains ,
05:14	which melts , flows down a network of smaller tributary
05:17	streams and reaches the main river . The challenges of
05:20	relying on water from one source , like a river
05:22	instead of from widespread rainfall involved both who needs the
05:25	water and where they are relative to the source .
05:28	Managing water resources is a spatial problem . For example
05:31	, the biggest water users are farms , factories ,
05:33	and towns , but they aren't all on the river
05:35	banks , so they have to find ways to transport
05:37	the water they need . And those that live near
05:39	the upstream parts of the Colorado River can use a
05:41	ton of water if unregulated , leaving less for anyone
05:44	who lives downstream . And the Colorado River is well
05:47	, a river , so as it winds from its
05:49	source to its mouth , it's unaware of any political
05:51	boundaries , like those from counties , native american tribal
05:54	land or even international boundaries . But the humans that
05:57	have made the semi arid region their home generally use
05:59	all these political boundaries for decision making about water ,
06:02	Understanding why precipitation is unevenly distributed , how drought can
06:06	change seasonally and how people use water are key parts
06:09	of geography And the intersection between these physical geography processes
06:13	and human geography . Decision making can be the source
06:15	of a lot of tension , especially when it comes
06:17	to environmental policies . For example , native Americans have
06:20	used the Colorado River's water and managed its resources for
06:23	thousands of years . But the modern legal doctrine that
06:26	governs water rights in the West , which goes back
06:28	to the gold rush of the 1840s and 50s in
06:30	some places , is the prior appropriation doctrine . This
06:34	doctrine allocates rights based on who started using the water
06:36	first , except traditional native American claims . Then in
06:40	1922 , the seven states of the Colorado River Basin
06:43	drew up the Colorado River compact on how to divide
06:46	the waters because seasonal precipitation alone wouldn't provide enough water
06:49	for everyone that lived there . But they overestimated the
06:51	flow of the river and didn't account for how the
06:53	amount of water varies year to year . So each
06:56	state was allocated more water than actually exists . A
06:59	problem that led to intense legal battles between states like
07:02	California is a downstream user , but also a very
07:04	powerful state and for decades was using more water than
07:07	it was allocated . So in 2003 , after threats
07:10	that their water would be cut off California agreed to
07:13	reduce its use of the Colorado River water over the
07:15	next 14 years to allow upstream states , their share
07:18	. The other big problem was that the river's natural
07:20	flow had to be physically moved to suit certain human
07:23	wants and needs , which made things even less fair
07:25	, like two huge dams . The hoover dam on
07:27	the Arizona Nevada border and the glen canyon dam in
07:30	Arizona were built in the 19 thirties and sixties to
07:32	store and hold back water in reservoirs . Lake Mead
07:35	, the reservoir for the hoover dam supplies water to
07:37	25 million people in California Arizona and Nevada and generates
07:41	hydro electricity for the region . But all that water
07:44	still has to be divided between different needs . And
07:46	since the 1950s , explosive urban growth in upstream states
07:50	, like the growth of cities like Phoenix and Las
07:51	Vegas meant skyrocketing demand for water there and as a
07:55	consequence , less water for farmers and other rural communities
07:58	, basically . Early miscalculations and mismanagement has created a
08:01	water crisis that affects 40 million people and 5.5 million
08:05	acres of farmland as of 2021 . Privatizing water rights
08:08	is being proposed as a new solution . Private investors
08:11	would buy water rights and cities , states and individual
08:14	farms could buy water from them even across state lines
08:17	. This way , the market would decide whether water
08:19	was more valuable serving urban or rural populations , redefining
08:22	the century old rules for sharing the river . So
08:24	yes , this would turn the river water into a
08:26	commodity that could be bought and sold . Private investors
08:29	would redraw the map of water distribution in the West
08:32	and make a profit . But while water management enters
08:34	a new phase with big players from Wall Street staking
08:36	a claim , native american tribes are still working to
08:39	obtain their water rights that they were finally awarded in
08:41	19 oh eight . There is no substitute for water
08:44	today we mainly focused on one region with one kind
08:47	of precipitation pattern , but we still saw how studying
08:49	precipitation opens up lots of deeper questions about geography from
08:53	what makes the region habitable to political struggles over resources
08:56	. Some of the most serious geopolitical issues in the
08:58	Middle East , North Africa , South Asia and the
09:00	Western US relate to control over water , like water
09:04	shortages affect public health , reduce agricultural productivity and damage
09:07	ecological systems on which we depend . So really that
09:10	map of earth's precipitation and where and how much water
09:13	falls from the sky is the foundation of a bunch
09:15	of big geographical questions . Who should control water is
09:19	water a basic human right and how humans alter the
09:21	environment to get the water we need and at what
09:24	cost . As geographers will keep looking for new answers
09:27	in the stories and patterns of the earth , like
09:29	next time when we'll look at cyclonic systems that bring
09:31	dramatic weather and spatial implications affecting human activities like where
09:35	we build our homes and choose to live . Many
09:38	maps and borders represent modern geopolitical divisions that have often
09:41	been decided without the consultation permission or recognition of the
09:44	land's original inhabitants . Many geographical place names also don't
09:48	reflect the indigenous or aboriginal peoples languages . So we
09:51	at Crash Course want to acknowledge these people's traditional and
09:54	ongoing relationship with that land and all the physical and
09:56	human geographical elements of it . We encourage you to
09:59	learn more about the history of the place you call
10:01	home through resources like native land dot C . A
10:03	. And by engaging with your local indigenous and aboriginal
10:06	nations through the websites and resources . They provide thanks
10:09	for watching this episode of Crash Course Geography , which
10:12	is filmed at the Team Sandoval Pierre studio and was
10:14	made with the help of all these nice people .
10:16	If you want to help keep Crash course free for
10:18	everyone forever , you can join our community on Patreon
00:0-1	.

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