Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460): Theme 3.6 – Water – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover Topic 3.6 Water in the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022). The topic is examined in Paper 1 Geographical Themes. Questions 3, 4 and 7 practise the data and calculation skills tested in Paper 2, and question 9 practises enquiry planning linked to the water-supply enquiry the syllabus suggests for Component 3 Coursework. All places and data in the questions are fictional unless a question asks for your own case study.

Revise first with the water study guide and the water revision notes. For other topics, use the Cambridge IGCSE Geography hub and the IGCSE Geography checklist.

Questions

1. Define the term “desalination”. [2]

2. Methods of water supply.

(a) Describe two differences between a well and a borehole. [2] (b) State two disadvantages of building a large dam and reservoir. [2]

3. The table shows the percentage of water withdrawn for each use in three fictional countries.

Country	Agriculture (%)	Industry (%)	Domestic (%)
Altera (high income)	31	52	17
Bremia (middle income)	64	21	15
Corvane (low income)	88	4	8

(a) Identify the country that uses the largest percentage of its water for industry. [1] (b) Calculate the difference, in percentage points, between the industrial share in Altera and in Corvane. [1] (c) Corvane withdraws 12 km³ of water a year. Calculate the volume used for agriculture. Show your working. [2] (d) Suggest three reasons why Corvane uses most of its water for agriculture. [3] (e) Suggest why the domestic share in Altera is higher than in Corvane. [2]

4. A water company records how full the fictional Teswick Reservoir is at the start of each month. It holds 30 million m³ when full. The percentages are: January 92, February 95, March 90, April 81, May 70, June 58, July 47, August 40, September 44, October 60, November 78, December 88.

(a) Identify the month when the reservoir was lowest. [1] (b) Calculate the fall in stored volume, in million m³, between the start of March and the start of August. Show your working. [2] (c) Suggest two reasons why storage fell between March and August. [2] (d) Suggest two ways the company could reduce the risk of a shortage next summer. [2]

5. Explain why desalination is more widely used in wealthy, dry coastal countries than in low-income inland countries. [4]

6. Read the description of a fictional village.

Kanoro is a village of 900 people in a semi-arid region. Its only shallow well dries up for four months each year. In those months, women and girls walk to a river and back; each round trip takes 75 minutes and each household makes two trips a day. The river is also used by cattle. A clinic 10 km away reports many cases of diarrhoea in young children during the dry season.

(a) Calculate the number of hours a household spends collecting water each week in the dry season. [1] (b) Explain how the lack of clean water affects the people of Kanoro and the village’s potential for economic development. [6]

7. The fictional country Dravia has 42 000 million m³ of renewable fresh water each year. Its population is 30 million and is forecast to reach 40 million. One widely used measure says a country under 1 700 m³ per person per year has water stress, and under 1 000 m³ per person has water scarcity.

(a) Calculate the water available per person per year now. Show your working. [2] (b) Calculate the water available per person per year when the population reaches 40 million. [1] (c) Using the measure, state Dravia’s category now and in the future. [2] (d) Suggest two reasons why water use per person in Dravia may rise as it develops. [2]

8. Explain why some areas with high annual rainfall still suffer water shortages. [4]

9. A student wants to investigate whether problems of an unreliable water supply are being solved in a fictional town, Pell Rock.

(a) Suggest three questions the student could include in a questionnaire for households. [3] (b) Describe how the student could choose a sample of households. [2]

10. For a named country or area you have studied, describe and explain how water is supplied to meet demand. [8]

11. “Large dams are the best way to supply water to rural communities in low-income countries.” How far do you agree with this view? [9]

12. To what extent are water shortages caused by human factors rather than physical factors? Refer to examples. [10]

Answers

1. Removing salt from seawater (or brackish water) [1] to make fresh water fit for drinking or other uses [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Both parts are needed: the process (removing salt) and the purpose or result (fresh water).

2. (a) A well is usually dug by hand whereas a borehole is drilled by machine [1]; a well is shallow while a borehole is deeper, so it reaches more reliable groundwater [1]. [2] (b) Farmland, homes or villages are flooded and people are displaced [1]; very high construction cost [1]. Also accept: sediment trapped behind the dam, so farmland downstream loses fertile silt; high evaporation losses in hot climates; disrupted habitats and fish migration. Maximum two points. [2] Examiner insight: “Describe two differences” needs both sides of each comparison; a statement about wells alone does not score.

3. (a) Altera [1]. [1] (b) 52 − 4 = 48 percentage points [1]. [1] (c) 88% of 12 km³ = 0.88 × 12 [1] = 10.56 km³ [1]. [2] (d) Most people work in farming, so irrigation takes most water [1]; there are few factories, so industrial demand is small [1]; many homes lack piped water, so domestic use is low [1]. [3] (e) More homes in Altera have piped water [1] and higher living standards mean showers, washing machines and gardens that use more water [1]. [2] Examiner insight: In calculations, show the working and give the unit; a bare figure loses the working mark if it is wrong.

4. (a) August [1]. [1] (b) 90 − 40 = 50 percentage points; 50% of 30 million m³ [1] = 15 million m³ [1]. [2] (c) Lower rainfall in the summer months, so less water flows in [1]; higher temperatures increase evaporation and demand for watering gardens and crops [1]. [2] (d) Introduce a hosepipe or sprinkler ban in summer [1]; repair leaking pipes so less treated water is lost [1]. Also accept: water meters so people pay for what they use; transfer from another reservoir; new boreholes. Maximum two points. [2] Examiner insight: For “suggest” answers on a resource, tie each reason to the months shown, not to water problems in general.

5. Desalination uses large amounts of energy, so it is expensive [1]; wealthy countries can afford the plants and energy costs [1]; it needs seawater, so it suits coastal countries but not inland ones without long pipelines [1]; dry countries have few rivers or aquifers, so they have fewer cheaper alternatives [1]. [4] Examiner insight: The question names three conditions (wealthy, dry, coastal); a strong answer explains each one.

6. (a) 75 × 2 = 150 minutes a day = 2.5 hours; 2.5 × 7 = 17.5 hours a week [1]. [1] (b) People: river water shared with cattle is likely to be contaminated [1], so children get diarrhoea, as the clinic reports [1]; women and girls spend 17.5 hours a week collecting water, so girls may miss school [1]. Development: time spent carrying water cannot be spent farming or earning income [1]; sick adults and carers lose working days and families pay for travel to a clinic 10 km away [1]; without a reliable supply, crops cannot be irrigated and businesses will not set up in the village [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Use the resource’s details (cattle, 10 km, four dry months); answers that only list general impacts of dirty water score poorly.

7. (a) 42 000 million ÷ 30 million [1] = 1 400 m³ per person per year [1]. [2] (b) 42 000 million ÷ 40 million = 1 050 m³ per person per year [1]. [1] (c) Now: water stress, because 1 400 is below 1 700 [1]. Future: still water stress but close to scarcity, because 1 050 is just above 1 000 [1]. [2] (d) Rising incomes bring more appliances, showers and flush toilets [1]; growth of industry and irrigated farming raises demand [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Classify using the numbers given in the question and state them; “it gets worse” without figures does not earn the mark.

8. Rainfall may be seasonal, so rivers dry up in the dry season [1]; there may be no money to build dams, pipes and treatment works, so water cannot be stored or supplied (economic scarcity) [1]; water may be polluted by sewage or industry, making it unsafe [1]; rapid population growth in cities can outstrip the supply system [1]. [4] Examiner insight: High-rainfall questions reward economic scarcity; answers that only mention drought miss the point of the question.

9. (a) How many hours a day do you have running water? [1]; Has your supply become more reliable in the last five years? [1]; Which organisation, if any, has improved your supply? [1]. Also accept other closed or clear questions linked to the aim, such as where the household gets water when the tap fails. Maximum three questions. [3] (b) Use systematic sampling, for example every tenth house along each street [1], covering different parts of the town so the sample is representative [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Questionnaire questions must link to the enquiry aim and be answerable; vague opinion questions rarely score.

10. Indicative answer using Singapore; the real exam marks this with levels of response, not point by point. Singapore is a small, densely populated island with little land to store rain [1]. About two-thirds of the land is catchment feeding 17 reservoirs [1], including Marina Reservoir behind Marina Barrage, opened in 2008 [1]. It imports water from Malaysia’s Johor River under a 1962 agreement lasting until 2061 [1], because local catchment cannot meet demand of about 430 million gallons a day [1]. Used water is purified by microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light into NEWater, launched in 2002 [1], which can meet up to 40% of current needs, mainly for industry [1]. Five desalination plants turn seawater into fresh water, so supply does not depend on rainfall [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Top-level answers combine named methods, place-specific figures and a reason for each method.

11. Indicative points; the real exam marks this with levels of response, not point by point. For: a large dam stores wet-season water, so supply is reliable in the dry season [1]; it can also provide hydroelectric power and irrigation, which supports development [1]; Lesotho’s Katse Dam earns royalties from water transferred to South Africa [1]. Against: large dams cost a great deal, which low-income governments struggle to fund [1]; they often supply cities and industry rather than scattered rural villages [1]; people lose land and homes, as in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project [1]. Alternatives: boreholes with hand pumps are cheap and close to where rural people live [1]; but they need maintenance and can lower the water table if over-used [1]. Judgement: for scattered rural communities, small-scale boreholes or rainwater tanks run by the community are usually more suitable than large dams, though dams may help regional supply [1]. [9] Examiner insight: “How far do you agree” needs both sides and a reasoned judgement; a one-sided list stays in the lower levels.

12. Indicative points; the real exam marks this with levels of response, not point by point. Physical: low annual rainfall in deserts limits supply [1]; seasonal or unreliable rainfall means rivers and reservoirs dry out [1]; high temperatures increase evaporation [1]. Human: rapid population growth increases demand [1]; irrigation uses most water, especially in low-income countries [1]; over-abstraction lowers the water table so wells dry up [1]; pollution from sewage and industry makes water unusable [1]; lack of investment causes economic scarcity even where rain is plentiful [1]. Example: Singapore has heavy rainfall but too little land to store it, yet human solutions such as NEWater and desalination largely overcome this [1]. Judgement: physical factors set the limits, but human factors decide whether shortages actually happen, so human factors are usually more important [1]. [10] Examiner insight: Questions saying “to what extent” need a clear overall judgement supported by a named example.

Where marks are usually lost

• Giving one side of a comparison, such as describing only wells when asked to compare wells and boreholes.
• Missing units or working in calculations such as volumes and water per person.
• Not quoting figures or months from a graph or table.
• Giving general impacts of dirty water without the scenario’s details.
• Ignoring economic scarcity in questions about high-rainfall areas.
• Case study answers without a named place, dates or figures.
• Extended answers with no judgement at the end.
• Writing “manage water better” without naming a method.

Next steps

Check gaps in the water study guide, then link water to irrigation in food production and to access to services in the development unit. Try a free diagnostic test to find your weakest topics, or Book a free trial class with one of our teachers.

Official syllabus

Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022), Topic 3.6 Water.