Key term
Edexcel GCSE Geography A 1GA0
Changing Cities
Topic overviewGlobal urbanisation trends and ratesThe UK’s urban population and why urbanisation varies by regionThe chosen UK city: site, situation, connectivity and structureUrbanisation, suburbanisation and migration in the chosen UK cityPopulation change and deindustrialisation in the chosen UK cityInequality and changes in retailing in the chosen UK cityMaking the chosen UK city more sustainableThe chosen developing or emerging city: site, situation and structurePopulation growth and migration in the chosen developing or emerging cityInequality and quality of life in the chosen developing or emerging cityRapid urbanisation: challenges, and bottom-up and top-down responsesGovernment policy and quality of life in the chosen city
Coastal Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Management
Topic overviewThe world’s large-scale ecosystems and what controls their distributionThe biosphere as a resource, and its commercial exploitationUK terrestrial and marine ecosystemsTropical rainforest characteristics and the nutrient cycleRainforest biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsRainforest goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named rainforestDeciduous woodland characteristics and the nutrient cycleWoodland biodiversity and plant and animal adaptationsWoodland goods and services, and the causes of deforestationSustainable management of a named deciduous woodland
Energy Resource ManagementResource option
Geographical Investigations – Fieldwork
Topic overviewRiver fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataCoastal fieldwork: enquiry questions, methods and secondary dataUrban fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsUrban fieldwork: secondary data sourcesRural fieldwork: enquiry questions and methodsRural fieldwork: secondary data sourcesThe enquiry process: asking questions and choosing methodsThe enquiry process: presenting, analysing and concludingThe enquiry process: evaluating fieldwork
Geographical Investigations − UK Challenges
Geographical Skills
Topic overviewAtlas and map skills: distributions, patterns and sketch mapsDescribing the site, situation and shape of settlementsInterpreting diagrams, sketches and photographsUsing online census sourcesHypotheses, sampling and risk assessmentCollecting, recording and presenting dataWriting about findings and building an argument
Glaciated Upland Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
Topic overviewGlacial processes and the processes at work on relict landscapes todayPast climate and present UK weather in glaciated uplandsGlacial landforms of erosion and depositionCrag and tail, and drumlinsHuman activity and development in glaciated uplandsA named distinctive glaciated upland landscape in the UK
Global Development
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentThe global pattern of development and why it is unevenThe consequences of uneven development for quality of lifeStrategies to reduce uneven development: aid, top-down and bottom-upThe chosen country: location, context and internal unevennessEconomic change, trade, aid and investment in the chosen countryPopulation and social change in the chosen countryGeopolitics and technology in the chosen countryThe impacts of rapid development and how they are managed
Mathematics and Statistics Skills
Topic overviewCartographic skills: contours, transects, scale and distanceUsing GIS and geo-spatial dataChoosing, constructing and interpreting graphs and chartsNumerical skills: number, scale, proportion and ratioDrawing conclusions from numerical dataStatistical skills: averages, spread, percentages and correlationSpotting weaknesses in how data is presented
Resource Management
River Landscapes and ProcessesLandscape option
The Changing Landscapes of the UK
Water Resource ManagementResource option
Topic overviewThe global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficitChanging water supply and demandHow water use differs between countriesWater supply problems in the UK and in developing countriesStakeholder attitudes to water, and desalinationSustainable management of water resources
Weather Hazards and Climate Change
Topic overviewGlobal atmospheric circulation and the transfer of heatNatural climate change and the evidence for itThe enhanced greenhouse effect and the effects of climate changeThe climate of the UK and how it variesHow tropical cyclones form, and where they occurWhy tropical cyclones are hazardous, and their impactsResponses to tropical cyclonesThe causes of drought and why some places are more vulnerableThe impacts of drought and responses to it
Water Resource Management
- 6 subtopics
- 18 things to know
- Paper 2 section C
- Paper 2 section C, energy or water resource management
What Water Resource Management covers
Water Resource Management is examined in Paper 2, The Human Environment. It covers the global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficit, changing water supply and demand, how water use differs between countries, water supply problems in the UK and in developing countries, stakeholder attitudes to water, and desalination and sustainable management of water resources.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2 section C
The Human Environment: energy or water resource management.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 6 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- The global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficitHow much of Earth's water is fresh and where it is stored, which climates have reliable supplies, regional and local differences, water surplus and deficit, economic against physical scarcity, and what water stress is and where UK and world maps show it.Open →
- Changing water supply and demandHow population growth, living standards, irrigation and industry have raised demand, how dams, boreholes and transfer schemes have raised supply, how over-abstraction, pollution and deforestation reduce it, and how population projections compare with the fresh water available per person.Open →
- How water use differs between countriesHow world water use divides between agriculture, industry and homes, how those shares differ between developed and developing countries, water use per person, why farming dominates in developing countries and industry in developed ones, domestic use, and the effect of price.Open →
- Water supply problems in the UK and in developing countriesThe UK's mismatch of rainfall and demand, seasonal shortages, leaking Victorian pipes and overloaded sewers, moving water between regions, untreated water and waterborne disease, river pollution, low and unreliable rainfall, and why developing countries struggle to build supply networks.Open →
- Stakeholder attitudes to water, and desalinationWhat water users, water companies, farmers, industry, conservation groups and governments each want from water, then what desalination is, reverse osmosis and distillation, and its attractions and drawbacks.Open →
- Sustainable management of water resourcesSustainable water management, population pressure, over-pumping groundwater and over-abstracting rivers, the differing views of individuals, organisations and governments, top-down and bottom-up schemes, metering and leak repair, greywater recycling, transfers, rainwater harvesting and appropriate technology.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
Why does surface fresh water matter, which climate zones have reliable supplies, and why do some regions and deserts face deficits?
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How have population growth, living standards, irrigation and powered pumps changed water demand and supply over fifty years?
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Which diseases spread through untreated water in developing countries, where does river pollution come from, and why is treatment so hard to fund?
Key term
What happens when groundwater is pumped out faster than rain replaces it?
Key term
For each of the two contrasting countries you have studied, what should you be able to explain about its water management?
Key term
Where is most of the world's fresh water held?
Key term
How has population growth affected the demand for water over the last fifty years?
Key term
Which of the three main sectors uses the most fresh water worldwide?
Key term
Roughly what shares of world water use are taken by industry and by homes?
Key term
Describe the two main ways desalination is carried out.
Key term
Why is desalination attractive to hot, dry countries with a coastline?
Key term
Why is the amount of fresh water in rivers and lakes so important despite being tiny?
Key term
How have rising living standards increased how much water each household uses?
Key term
Why does agriculture take such a large share of water in developing countries?
Key term
Which parts of the UK receive the heaviest rainfall?
Key term
Give two drawbacks of solving a water shortage by desalination.
Key term
Why does a growing world population make sustainable water management urgent?
Take Water Resource Management further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Water surplus vs Water deficit
Water surplus: where available supply exceeds what people and the economy use. Water deficit: where demand exceeds the available supply so not all needs are met.
Economic water scarcity vs Physical water scarcity
Economic water scarcity: where the resource exists but people cannot afford wells, pipes and treatment. Physical water scarcity: where there is simply not enough of the resource in the environment.
Reverse osmosis vs Distillation
Reverse osmosis: forcing seawater through fine membranes that hold back the salt. Distillation: heating seawater so it evaporates and condensing the vapour as fresh water.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What share of all the water on Earth is salty ocean water?
Model answer
About 97%, which leaves only around 3% of the planet's water as fresh water.
- 2
Where is most of the world's fresh water held?
Model answer
Roughly two thirds of it is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers, and almost all of the rest is groundwater stored in rocks.
- 3
Why is the amount of fresh water in rivers and lakes so important despite being tiny?
Model answer
Surface fresh water is well under 1% of all water, yet it is the store people can most easily reach and use.
- 4
Which climate zones have the most reliable natural supplies of fresh water?
Model answer
Equatorial and temperate maritime zones, because rainfall is high through the year and rivers keep flowing.
- 5
Give one way water availability can differ from one region of a country to another.
Model answer
Wet uplands may have far more water than they need while a drier, heavily populated lowland region cannot meet its own demand.
- 6
At a local scale, why might one village have plenty of water while a nearby one has very little?
Model answer
One may sit beside a river or over a permeable rock that holds groundwater, or be connected to a piped mains supply, while the other is not.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Water Resource Management revision questions
- What does Water Resource Management cover in Edexcel GCSE Geography A?
- 6 subtopics: the global distribution of fresh water, and water surplus and deficit, changing water supply and demand, how water use differs between countries, water supply problems in the uk and in developing countries, stakeholder attitudes to water, and desalination and sustainable management of water resources. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Water Resource Management organised?
- By the Edexcel 1GA0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Water Resource Management, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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