Geographical Inquiry:
Urban Problems for Perth and New York City

1. Define: 3 Urban Problems:
1) Water Shortages is an urban problem where a location or districts have insufficient water available to meet the needs of the permit system, or when conditions are such to require temporary reduction in total use within a particular area to protect water resourced from serious harm. A Water shortage occurs when the amount of portable water available is less than the amount to sustain current use.
Caused because of:
Limited availability
Uneven supply
Increased demand
Uneven demand
Changing environments
Water wastage

2) Traffic congestion is a condition that occurs as road networks users increase, where specific characteristics increase vehicle queuing. Slow speeds and longer time trips are these characteristics. When traffic demand is great enough the interaction between vehicles slows the speed of the traffic stream resulting in congestion.
Caused by:
50% of congestion being traffic demand exceeding roadway capacity also known as ‘bottlenecks’
25% congestion being work zones/ road work
10% bad weather
5% poor signalling

3) Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment, and specifically into the ecosystems of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. These contaminants may be harmful to the population.

2. Explanation of the extent of the Urban Problem for Perth. Refer to location, causes and Implication
The Perth metropolitan area is located on along the Swan River Estuary, the Indian Ocean coastline North and South, and up east toward the Darling Scarp. The location of Perth, the CBD in particular was situated there historically as it was half way between the two communal cities of Guildford and Fremantle, connecting ion the middle the Central District. A number of springs, lakes and swamps were located all around the very first Perth Settlement. As the population grew, waste and sewage polluted wells created by the colonists. When the water was contributed, the spread of diseases such as typhoid was highly contagious. Other water sources were lead to be found, in the Darling Ranges to the East.
The Victoria Dam, Churchman’s Dam, and Canning Dam, The Mundaring Weir of 1903, allowed enough water to be supplied for Perth. However Dams, weirs and underground supplies rely on heavy rainfall. Perth’s climate of Mediterranean hot and dry summers and wet cool winters meant that for only a period of the year Perth experienced rainfall. With the increasing rate of demand for water, Dams and alternative sources need to be considered for redevelopment.

Causes for Urban Problem:
High demand
Source Reliance on
Rainfall
Climate Variations

In Figure 1.1 you can see clearly the dramatic changes of human interference on the Earth. This is a global scale diagram which presents the Implications of dramatic variations in climate that can be applied to the South West of Australia. Figure 1.2 is the general increase of rainfall in Western Australia. Figure 1.3 implicates that rainfall has declined in the south west. Therefore, there has been an abrupt shift in a short amount of time to change the pattern as viewed in figure 1.4, as you can visually see the drop from the 1970s. The drop in rainfall in the 1970s may be to contribute to the rising demand of water because of Urban Sprawl. The 1970’s corridor plan would have been well under way. Yet meaning the population growth and impact of humans on the environment would lead to Climate change and the increase of temperatures and decrease of rainfall.
Figure 1.5 has the results of dramatic rainfall patterns. There is a Decline in moderate rainfall events Extreme rainfall (10-40 mm), but no evidence of change to extreme (> 40 mm) rainfall events. Figure 1.6 has the results of Drought increasing again from the year of 1970. Some of the driest years on record have been recorded in The South West of WA since 1975.There have been few wet