Question
Answer
The line graph shows changes in water use for the whole world over a one hundred year period, split
between three different sectors, while the table looks at just two countries – Brazil and the
Democratic Republic of Congo – for the year 2000.
Over the one-hundred-year period, it is obvious that all three types of water use increased
significantly, although none of them changed positions. Throughout the whole period, agricultural
purposes required more water than any other, beginning at about 500km3
and soaring to more than
3,000km3
a century later. Industrial use was much lower, at about 100km3
in the year 1900, but also
soared, finishing the period at about 1,500km3
. Domestic use required slightly less water than
industrial use at the beginning of the period, but grew to use around 500km3 by the millennium.
In the year 2000, Brazil had a population and area of irrigated land vastly larger than that of the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Similarly, the amount of water used per person was more than forty
times greater than that of the D.R. Congo.
