BLAR11045- Human and Natural Environment Assessment Answer

Issues with fresh water supply

Water is one of the main constituents of Earth's atmosphere and the most valuable resource. Water covers 70% of our planet, only 3% of world’s water is freshwater two third of this 3% freshwater is tucked away in frozen glacier (World Wild Life, 2022).Freshwater crises are in almost every part of the world. 2.2 billion people face the problem of potable water, and over 40% of the world's population is affected by water scarcity (The World Bank, 2022). In Australia, circumstances that led to the water crisis include continuous increment in population growth, change in climate, removal of vegetation and deforestation, and misusing and wasting water resources. These factors impact the health and development of both humans and animals. Improper water sanitation is one of the reasons for contamination of fresh drinking water; intake of contaminated drinking water can cause the spread of diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and diarrhea (Caritas Australia, 2022).

 The crisis of water is a matter of concern regarding present and future life. The upcoming generations are going to face ultimate complications regarding to freshwater. Climate change has impacts in several ways and it’s important to be aware of the effects that climate change has on where we live. Climate change is the biggest threat for human. Unpredictable climatic events like heatwaves, storms, and droughts and flood that impacts natural reservoir around the globe. Climate change is deeply intertwined with global pattern of inequality; millions of people face challenges like health effects, water scarcity, livelihood security, and loosing cultural identity (The World Bank, 2022). The continuous change in climate causes rise in temperature, extreme weather events, and irregular and lack of rainfall resulting in the declination of water stream flow in dams and in natural water reservoirs (Water Corporation, 2022).

The Great Artesian Basin (GAB) was formed about 130 million years ago, when rain falls on a mountain’s rainwater comes down from the mountain sat and sank into the earth on the western side whereas water on the eastern side ended up in the oceans. In every wet season, this process repeats itself rainwater from mountains sets and sinks into the western side of the earth leads the formation of the great artesian basin (Australia Lsesson Activities, 2022). Historic climate observations state that the GAB region has become warmer and wetter over the last five to six decades. The past climate of GAB region was warm and wet while the future climate in the GAB region is projected to be warm and drier. The current status of climate is a threat to GAB. Rise in climate temperature cause large amount of the water of basin gets evaporated and wasted (Centre for Natural Gas, 2020). Rivers and lakes are the source of freshwater but, any of the freshwater systems have become stressed, rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or become too polluted to use. More than half of the world’s wet lands have disappeared and agriculture is consuming more water than any other source. Large number of floods because of climate change pollutes freshwater source. The situation will get worse with this current consumption rate of freshwater, by 2025 almost two-third of the world’s population may face water shortage (World Wild Life, 2022).

GABSI (The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative) is the initial approach to maintaining GAB groundwater through piping and capping uncontrolled bores to recover pressure and save water. Lack of infrastructure and insufficient financial resources are the main reasons of failure of the program (Habermehl M.A., 2020).

Figure 1: showing annual rainfall during 2019–20 compared with historical records (1900–2020) (Australian Governmnent, 2022).

Figure 2. The states of the Commonwealth of Australia showing their capital cities (shown in capital letters), the national capital (Canberra), and the distribution of average annual rainfall (Bureau of Meteorology) (Radcliffe, J.C et at 2020).

Fig. 3. Major Köppen climate classification distribution in Australia (Radcliffe, J.C et at 2020).

Environmental Impacts in Australia

 Australia is ranked within the top 10 countries concerning greenhouse gas emissions per capita. Environmental issues in Australia need to be discussed, continuous climate change is affecting both human and animal life.

• Consideration of the differing environments: When the human population is busy with their economic development, World war, and rapid industrial growth, they neglect the fact that the ecosystem is getting harmed. 

The important environmental issues that need special attention are:

1. Acid rain- Acid rain includes the deposition of sulphuric or nitric acid in the form of precipitation with acidic components. With rain, snow, or fog this acid deposition falls on the ground, known as acid rain. This acid rain harms the plants and wildlife like insects and other small creatures. When it rains again deposited acid washed off and mixed into freshwater sources, cause to contamination of water sources (EPA, 2022).
2. Global warming: It is concerned with the continuous increase in the temperature of the earth, causing the increase of greenhouse gases in the environment (SLF, 2022). The earth’s north and south extremities are crucial for the maintenance of planet’s climate; impacts of global warming are vulnerable for these Polar Regions. Study shows that over the last 100 years the average air temperature in Arctic region has increased by about 5°C. Even small scale melting of ice in Antarctica region is likely to have significant effects on global sea level rise, but because of global warming and climate change ice, snow and permafrost is melting (WWF, 2022).
3. Stratospheric ozone depletion: Earth’s ozone layer acts as the protective shield which protects all life from the sun’s harmful radiation, but as the climate is changing at a continuous rate this shield of perfection is getting damaged, causing the increment in the rate of damage of crops and skin cancers in humans (EPA, 2021).
4. The urban trash crisis: Researchers in Australia states that new strategies are required to reduce waste generation, by integrating new strategies that will need to engage and actively involve households (Australian Research Council, 2022). 
5. Introduction of pesticides in groundwater: Pesticides are an important part of the agriculture industry complete stoppage in the usage of pesticides is not possible, but in the last year excess use of pesticides cause groundwater pollution which is highly hazardous to the aquatic environment and causes loss of aquatic life and to human health. APVMA (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority) regulate the issues related to pesticides in Australia (Noverom, 2020).
6. Hazardous waste disposal: Waste generated from electrical and electronic equipment is known as E-waste, it is highly hazardous, and the fastest-growing waste category in recent years. E-waste collection and proper disposal need to be strengthened in developing countries (Ilankoon, I.M.S.K., et al 2018).
7. Natural and synthetic carcinogens: In white people, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and the risk factor is exposure to ultraviolet radiation. A Standardized program has been implemented in Australia of proven efficacy to reduce the risk of cancer by natural and synthetic carcinogens (Miligi, L., 2020).

• Deforestation and desertification – Cutting forests to fulfill human needs is the process that has been followed for so many years, causing depletion of forests and habitat of animals. Deforestation majorly affects the ecosystem of the earth and changes the climatic condition. Green beauty is a boon to humans, they provide us oxygen to breathe, food, and vegetable to feed and satisfy our hunger, but what humans did in, they cut millions of trees for their needs. Deforestation leads to increment in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Study.com, 2022).

Plants use carbon dioxide by photosynthesis in preparation of their food and provide us oxygen, plants trap the carbon dioxide in them but when these trees are burnt or cut down the release of oxygen in the atmosphere cause and boost global warming (Study.com, 2022).Now a day people are so offensive with wood furnishes and using wood as ornamental things, these practices provide harm to the ecosystem. Forests are home to so many species of animals and humans; deforestation and burning down of forests cause the extinction of many species and the loos of homes of others living creatures. It takes years for a forest to grow even the compensation for deforestation can't fulfill the loss (Resource Library, 2022).

Desertification is the defined as type of land degradation, resulting in unfertile or non-productive lands. Loss of biodiversity, agricultural activities and draughts are the results of land desertification. The major factors that are related to land desertification in Australia are removal of natural vegetation, wind erosion, lack of nutrients in soil, water imbalance, and the release of excess nitrogen in soil through the use of fertilizers (Integrate Sustainability, 2019).

• Fresh water supplies, modern approaches to its supply: Only 3% of water is considered freshwater of all the water on earth rest 97 % of water is salt water (Noverom, 2020). In Australia because of the continuous supply and increasing demand for freshwater, there is a need for conservation of water and restrictions on the use of water. 

Australia is in great crisis regarding freshwater. Among all continents, it is the driest continent and the world's highest consumer of water 

Some of the approaches followed in Australia for freshwater supplies are:

1. Storage of rainwater: With the increase in Australian colonies and lack of rainfall. This strategy is being followed by many tribal communities and urban areas. Storage of rainwater and its preservation is the new practice followed by Australians. In rural areas people used to store water in deep pits; in urban areas, they used to build dams.
2. Water recycling: Water can be reused and recycled by treating it to some extent so that water gets free of harmful constituents. Regulations are implemented for recycling water by the Australian government like recycled water should be sealed and labelled as recycled water.
3. Treatment of sewage water: There are strict rules to prevent the mixing of sewage water in freshwater bodies. Sewage water treatment plants are established on a wide scale to reduce the risk of infections that spreads through sewage water.

• Pollution of the soil, water, and air: Pollution is not limited to a resource it's affecting flora, fauna, water, air, and soil causing environmental pollution. There is an urgent need to work on all aspects of pollution like its sources, transport, deposition, and control measures (Ibrahim et al ,2020).

 Soil pollution is mainly caused using pesticides in crops and the dumping of non-biodegradable waste, which leads to the accumulation of harmful chemicals in the soil when rain falls these toxic substances are mixed up in the water. This results in the contamination of freshwater sources. Pollution of air, soil, and water are interconnected to each other, depletion in the quality of one source would affect the other (Solar Impulse Foundation, 2022).

 Waste and sewage disposal, plastics, chemicals, etc. - Environmental pollution is majorly concerned with plastics and their disposal. Over the last decade, plastic has become one of the biggest problems and harm to the environment. Plastics are made up of synthetic organic polymers, when they were first discovered seems beneficial but after years of use, it was found out that they are not decomposable and cause diverse associated problems in the environment, use of plastic is banned in many countries to limit the use of plastic and reduce pollution caused by polythene and plastic material (ClinMed, 2022).

• Transportation impacts: There are a lot of negative impacts of transport on the environment including climate change, degradation of water and oil resources, noise and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and degradation of air quality leading to several air-borne infections (The Geography of Transport Systems, 2022). Production of vehicles requires economic and industrial process that involves large scale of land. Industry establishment for vehicles leads to deforestation and desertification. Development of port and airports has an impact on the urban landscape.

The activities of the transport industry release several million tons of greenhouse gases each year into the atmosphere, accounting for between 25 and 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Transport activities contaminate hydro graphic system by hazardous particulates discarded from aircrafts, cars, trucks and trains or airports (The Geography of Transport System, 2022).

• Agricultural impacts: Deforestation and industrialization trigger fewer fields to cultivate. The continuous and rapid development of human resources directly or indirectly causes difficulty in the fulfillment of agricultural sources. However, newer technologies help to produce a better yield of crops that need cannot be satisfied because of poor irrigation (Velasco-Muñoz et al., 2019). Crops need water to grow and the world is facing water crises in many countries including Australia, farmers are worried about drought conditions and non-productive crops also soil pollution and the use of pesticides affects the quality of crop production. Synthetic fertilizers release a large amount of nitrogen into the soil, some of the extents of nitrogen get fixed by bacteria in the soil, and the rest of the nitrogen acts as a pollutant by deposition on the soil surface later causing water pollution (Resource Library, 2022).
• Power generation impacts and future opportunities- Fossil fuels such as coal have been used from very ancient time for energy generation, burning of fuels cause air pollution and release carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and particulate matter, the amount and type of emission depends on the fuel burned (EPA, 2022).

 

 Figure 4: Showing Australia’s net electricity generation by Fuel, 2020. (International Australia, 2022)

1. Air pollutant emission- incomplete burning of fuels releases a large number of gases including carbon–dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury other toxic matters. Inhalation of these toxic gases for a longer duration causes inflammation and increase the risk of severe diseases like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
2. Water use: More than three trillion gallons of water globally per year is used in electric power generation. The steam coming out of the turbine has to be cooled and water get condensed and recycled through the system, this cooling of water at power plants consumed most of the water. Use of water in power plants leads to water scarcity in nearby locations 

 (Scientific American, 2018)

3. Waste generation: Solid waste generated through power generating plants like ash, need to be stored rather than allowed to release freely into the environment. Proper disposal of such wastes must is required and the limit the side effects.
4. Land use: power generating plants require a large area of land for settlement, which leads to deforestation and loss of wildlife, and aquatic also. Many species have to pay the price for human development implementation by getting extinct (EPA, 2022).

Sustainability

 Sustainable construction refers to the construction of something by using renewable and recyclable material to reduce waste and consumption of energy. It helps to reduce the impact of industry on the environment (Scoones I et al, 2020). Construction of the building is itself a harm to the environment, this means that the design of the building should have reduced effect or harm on the environment. 

Major negative impacts of construction on the environment are loss of wild habitats, high use of energy during construction, most of the machinery still runs on fossil fuels, use of electricity, transportation of goods and materials required cause excess emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, contamination of local water source and noise pollution (Sarkodie et al., 2018).

By implementing some practices construction projects can be more sustainable like: 

1. Using renewable energy: Solar panels are the best option for the energy need in construction, implementation of solar panels and rechargeable modular battery systems at the site of construction would reduce the use of fossil fuels.
2. Use of sustainable material: Sustainable concrete is also an option in construction like alternatives to plastic and recyclables prevent the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Science Direct, 2022).
3. Modifications in building design: Having proper ventilation in the building helps in the reduction of heat generation in the building and using the building material (like reclaimed or recycled steel, recycles plastics and straw bales) that has a longer life span to prevent the need for renovation and reconstruction (Hu, X et al ,2019).

Applying sustainable construction in practice is not easy there are challenges to face like it will cost high organization. Many construction firms are not sure about the results of using sustainable construction a nd fear that they will get in trouble in the middle of demand and high cost (British Assessment Bureau, 2019). 

 Figure 5: showing water taken by use category and source in 2019–20 (Australian Government, 2022)

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