Data Analysis Project 2: Examining Global Freshwater Resources

A. In this project you will explore the global availability of freshwater resources using the World Bank data on freshwater resources, water productivity, and drinking water access by country and by region. Your paper should be 2-3-page long (double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and your name and title at the top-center of the first page), with 4 graphs and diagrams created using Excel or Numbers data-processing software.

The project should be submitted as a WORD DOCUMENT (doc or docx file) or a PDF file with graphs and diagrams incorporated into the body of the text.

B. Your paper should provide a brief data-driven overview of the contemporary state of the global freshwater resources availability and use based on the 2014-2020 water statistics available from the World Bank data tables. The table with the summarized data for your project analysis is posted on the Blackboard site. If you wish to access World Development Indicators online tables for more detail (for example, for the data on individual countries), go to the URL http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/, then click the Environment tab and download table 3.5 Freshwater to Excel (click the down arrow and follow the instructions). You can also download the data as a pdf file, and manually enter the needed data into your Excel or Numbers spreadsheet.

C. Start with reviewing the article by Vorosmarty et. al. “Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth” published in Science (vol. 289, 2000). The paper is posted on the Blackboard site. You can use this article (as well as any other published source) for a scientific perspective on global freshwater resources or you can use these data for your analysis as an additional resource. Remember to correctly cite and reference all used sources and materials (see the referencing rules at the end of the guidelines).

D. The data in the World Bank Freshwater dataset are split into four categories: Internal Renewable Freshwater Resources (total flows and per capita), Annual Freshwater Withdrawals (total withdrawals and the % share of agriculture, industry, and domestic use), Water Productivity* (GDP divided by total water withdrawals), and People Using Basic Drinking Water Services (% of urban and rural users). The data are for 2014, 2015, and 2020, last updated  in October 2021. You need to explore each one of the above four categories and comment on the general trends and relationships that the data reveal.

E. The dataset provides data for seven geographic regions determined by the World Bank (as well as for 213 individual countries available for downloading from the World Bank website). You will work with the aggregate data by the geographic region (East Asia & Pacific, Europe

and Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America & Caribbean, North America, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa) and by the group of countries by level of economic development: low-, middle-, and high-income economies**. You can add individual country statistics from various geographic regions and/or levels of economic development to emphasize your arguments and conclusions.

F. Use the World Bank statistical data to create charts, graphs, and diagrams to illustrate the conclusions you are making regarding the global and regional trends in water resource availability and use. Copy and paste the graphs into your project. All graphs and diagrams should be numbered, titled, and commented on in the text.

G. The final product should be a coherent analysis of the world’s water resource distribution and availability based on the World Bank dataset illustrated with your own graphs and charts.

H. The project will be graded based on the following criteria:

  • Data presentation –                       up to 10 points
    • Graphs and charts –                      up to 10 points
    • Data analysis and conclusions –   up to 10 points

                                                                 maximum 30 points

I. All literature sources (journal or newspaper articles, websites, YouTube videos, etc.) should be cited within the essay as well as listed in an alphabetical bibliography (in a reference list), according to a standard citation style (APA or Chicago Style). Examples of references and citations are attached below. Here is a link to the APA and Chicago citation styles: http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/citations/.

Using References and Citations in Your Project

All literature sources (journal or newspaper articles, websites, YouTube videos, etc.) should be cited within the essay as well as listed in an alphabetical bibliography (in a reference list), according to a standard citation style (APA or Chicago Style). Here is a link to the APA and Chicago citation styles: http://www.lib.unc.edu/instruct/citations/.

a). Make a reference list of all information sources you used in your paper and place it at the end of the paper.

For a book, indicate author’s name, book title, publisher, year it was published, and pages cited.

Example: R. W. Christophersen 2010, Elemental Geosystems 6th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, p. 326-327.

For a journal article, indicate author’s name, article title, journal title, year published and volume number, article pages.

 Example: Malle, S. (2008). Economic Transformation in Russia and China. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 49 (4), pp. 410-444

For a website, give a complete web address and its title or topic.

Example: Physical Geography, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_geography, accessed April 15, 2022

b). In the text, you must cite your reference sources at the end of each paragraph where this source was used even if you were not quoting it directly.

Examples: (Smith 2019) or (Smith and Johnson 2017) or (Smith et al. 2017)

*Water productivity indicates how much economic output is produced per cubic meter of fresh waterabstracted (in $ GDP** per cubic meter). It serves as a measure of the efficiency of water use (the higher the value, the more efficiently water is used in both industrial and agricultural sectors).

**GDP = Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year.

***The World Bank subdivides world’s economies into four income groups — high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low. This assignment is based on GNI (Gross National Income) per capita in current US Dollars. Latest thresholds determined as of July 1, 2021, for classification by income are as follows:

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