Exam Answer One
Which answer would you award the most marks? Why?
If you would like to read a printed (pdf) version of the exam questions/answers, please click here.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it here: 
Question:
Water shortage is one of the major problems that environmental scientists are faced with. Describe one of the solutions to this problem.
Answer 1
Today most people have running water in their homes. They use it to water their gardens, wash their cars, fill their swimming pools and baths and have long showers without thinking that there could be an end to the supply.
It is true that we live in a country where it rains such a lot that we do not have to worry about it so much, but it is only going to get worse. Last summer, there was a ban on using hose pipes in the gardens, and some day soon the water board will introduce water cuts.
The surface of our planet is two thirds water, of which 97% is sea water, which we cannot drink. Another 2% is frozen solid in the polar ice caps. So we only have a little bit of fresh water, about 12,600 cubic kilometres, scattered unevenly around the globe, for drinking, bathing, watering and cooking.
Farmers also use a lot of fresh water - about 70% and industry uses about 25% of the fresh water. As well as using a lot of water, the farmers and the factories are also polluting it by putting pesticides and waste products in the rivers and oceans. People in third world countries often let their sewage water go directly in the rivers and seas too, which contaminates their fresh water even more. A lot of people get sick and die because they use polluted drinking water. Local governments need to address these problems.
Environmental scientists are working hard to provide everybody with clean drinking water. Some countries are considering providing fresh water for their people by melting the ice in the polar caps. This is expensive and not very safe because scientists still do not know how you can move icebergs without them melting in the wrong place.
We need to be aware that as our winters get milder and our summers hotter, the amount of water available to us will get less. We all need to try to save water as much as possible and not wait for the scientists to invent ways of 'making' drinking water for us.
