🌊 Flooding
The same floodplain that gives rich soil and flat land is also the land that floods. Floods can damage homes and farms and put lives at risk. Why floods happen, and what they do, is covered in the next lesson.
Rivers: Opportunities and Hazards » Living Near Rivers: Opportunities and Hazards
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 1.3.1
- Nine opportunities of living near a river
- Four hazards of living near a river
- Real examples from around the world
- Why people stay even though rivers can be dangerous
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Unlock This CourseWhy do people live near rivers?
Look at a map of almost any country and you will see towns and cities beside rivers. This is no accident. For thousands of years rivers have given people the things they need to live, farm and trade. The Nile in Egypt is a famous case: most of Egypt is desert, so most Egyptians live close to the Nile and its delta.
But rivers also bring danger. Geographers describe this using two ideas.
Key terms:
- Opportunity: a benefit, or a chance to improve people's lives.
- Hazard: something that can cause harm to people, property or the environment.
- Hydroelectric power (HEP): electricity made by using flowing water to turn turbines.
The opportunities
💧 Water supply
Rivers give water for drinking, cooking, washing and watering crops and animals. Water is the first thing any settlement needs.
🌾 Fertile soils
When a river floods, it leaves fresh silt on the floodplain. This makes rich soil for farming. The Ganges plain in India and Bangladesh is a large area of fertile land that can feed many people.
🏡 Flat land for building
Floodplains are wide and flat, so they are cheap and easy to build on. Roads, railways, farms and cities can spread out across them.
⚓ Transport and trade
Boats can carry heavy goods cheaply. The Rhine in Europe is a busy trade route, linking the port of Rotterdam on the North Sea to towns far inland in Germany and Switzerland.
🎣 Fishing
Rivers are a source of food and jobs. Many riverside communities, such as those along the Amazon in South America, rely on fish for food and income.
⚡ HEP
A dam across a river can store water and release it through turbines to make electricity. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze in China is one of the largest in the world.
🏭 Industry
Factories need large amounts of water for cooling, cleaning and making products. They also use rivers to move raw materials and finished goods. Industry grew along the Rhine in Germany for this reason.
🏖 Tourism and leisure
Rivers attract visitors for boat trips, fishing, swimming and walking. Cruises on the Nile and the Rhine bring in money and jobs.
🏰 Defence in history
A river can act like a natural moat. Durham in England has a castle and cathedral on a high, steep-sided bend of the River Wear, which made it hard to attack.
The hazards
💥 Erosion of banks
A river wears away its banks, especially on the outside of bends. Land, roads and buildings close to the edge can collapse into the water. Over time the river can also change its course.
🦠 Disease from polluted water
If people drink or wash in dirty river water, they can catch water-borne diseases such as cholera. Rivers can carry germs from one place to another.
⛰ Unstable land
Riverbanks and floodplains are made of soft sediment. When soaked with water this ground can slump, slide or sink, and buildings on it can be damaged.
Weighing it up: why do people stay?
With these hazards, why do so many people choose to live by rivers? There are several reasons.
- The benefits are every day, the hazards are occasional. People use the water, soil and transport every single day, but a serious flood may only happen once in many years.
- Jobs and income. Farming, fishing, ports and tourism provide work, and many families have few other choices.
- Family and history. Families may have lived in the same place for generations and have ties to the land.
- Protection and warning. In richer countries, people can use flood defences and warning systems to reduce the risk.
- Cost of moving. Moving is expensive, and good farmland or housing elsewhere may be hard to find.
In short, people weigh up the risk against the reward, and for many the reward wins.
Common mistakes
Do not write that rivers are "good" or "bad" without saying why. Always give a specific benefit or hazard and link it to the river. Do not mix up the two: flat land and fertile soil are opportunities, but flooding is a hazard even though it helps to make the soil fertile. If you are asked about opportunities, do not just list hazards.
Exam-style question
Fig. 1.1 is a made-up description of the town of Marro. Marro lies on the flat floodplain of the River Marro in a farming region. The river is used by barges carrying grain to a port. A dam upstream makes electricity. Parts of the town have flooded twice in the last twenty years, and some homes near the river have lost part of their gardens as the bank has fallen away.
(a) Identify two opportunities of living near the River Marro shown in Fig. 1.1. [2 marks]
(b) Describe one hazard of living near a river. [2 marks]
(c) Explain why the soils on a floodplain are good for farming. [2 marks]
(d) Discuss why many people continue to live in Marro despite the hazards. [6 marks]
Model answer
(a) Any two from: transport of grain by barge (1); electricity from the dam, which is HEP (1); farming on the flat floodplain (1).
(b) Flooding is a hazard (1). Water spills over the river banks and can damage homes and farms (1). Alternatively, erosion of banks (1) can cause land and gardens to collapse into the river (1).
(c) When the river floods, it leaves behind a layer of silt (1). This is fresh and full of nutrients, so crops grow well (1).
(d) Level 3 (5-6 marks): a balanced discussion that links the benefits and the hazards to Marro. Example: People may stay because the river gives them jobs and income, such as farming the fertile floodplain and working on the barges (1). The dam upstream makes electricity (HEP), which brings power and jobs (1). The flat land is cheap and easy to build on (1). The floods only happen occasionally, so people feel the benefits outweigh the risk (1). Families may have lived there for generations, and moving would be expensive (1). Flood defences or warnings might also reduce the danger (1).
Level 2 (3-4 marks) gives reasons but does not link them to Marro. Level 1 (1-2 marks) gives simple points only.
Exam tip
In a "Discuss" question, give both sides: what attracts people (the opportunities) and what puts them at risk (the hazards), then say why one side wins for the people in the question.