DROP BY DROP

DROP BY DROP

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE CLASS III

Madho lives in Bajju- a small village in Rajasthan. It is hardly

a village ! All you see is sand all around. One can see some houses when the sand does not blow.

 Everyone in Madho’s family is upset. Every summer there is water scarcity in his place. This year, it is worse. It did not rain at all. His mother and sister have to walk a longer distance to fetch water as the nearby pond has also dried. Each day they spend hours just to get four pots of water. While walking on the hot sand their feet burn and blisters just cannot be avoided.

When the train carrying water comes they are very happy. Madho’s father goes to fetch water in his camel-cart. But this does not happen often.

People keep waiting days and days for water. Some people collect rain water. This is done by a special method  by making tanks (tanka). Do you know, what a tanka is and how it is built?

1To build a tanka, a pit is dug in the courtyard and it is made pucca. The tanka is kept covered with a lid. The roof of the house is made sloping so that the rainwater collected here flows through a pipe into the tanka.

A sieve is attached to the mouth of the pipe so that no dirt goes into the tanka. This water is used for drinking after it is cleaned.

Just like Madho, Sonal also faces water scarcity in her house. She lives in Bhavnagar. Water is supplied only for half an hour in a day. All the people of the area depend on only a single tap ! Can you imagine what happens ?

Sonal is determined to take water from the tap. Whenever she gets a chance she fills her bucket even if it is just drop by drop. Let us find out how many drops will fill a bowl or a mug.

Water scarcity can be defined as a lack of sufficient water, or not having access to safe water supplies.Water is a pressing need in many areas of the world.

That scarcity is spreading as water is needed to grow and process food, create energy, and power industry for a continually growing population. climate change is a key contributing factor.

Clean, potable water is an essential ingredient of a healthy human life, but 1.2 billion people lack access to water according to recent estimates from the International Water Management Institute cited in the worlds water.

Storing and Moving Water

Understanding where your water comes from will help you understand what you can do to mitigate the effects of drought. Your water supply might be from surface or from groundwater. Conserving water is the best way for us to make sure that we all have water even when we are in drought.

Dams

To make sure that they have enough water throughout the year, people build dam  to store water when they need it.then a dam is built on a river, a large lake, called a reservoir, is made. The reservoir “stores” the water for people’s use. Reservoirs can provide fish and wildlife habitat and also are often great places for us to boat and fish. They also can be used to produce power.

Groundwater and Wells

Another source of water is groundwater (water found below the surface of the earth). aquifers are like underground lakes. Just like lakes above the ground, aquifers can be different sizes. Some are very small and some are very large, like the Ogallala Aquifer.

people drill wells into aquifers so they can bring water to the surface to use. Water in aquifers can be just a few feet below the earth’s surface or hundreds of feet deep. The water that is closer to the surface is easier for us to use, but it can also be more easily polluted than the water that is much deeper. 

Canals and Pipelines

Water canals and pipelines have been built in many places to make sure that as many people as possible have access to water supplies. Canals and pipelines are used to transport water from reservoirs and wells to farmers for irrigation and cities for drinking water. Canals like the Central Arizona Project and the Los Angeles Aqueduct carry billions of gallons of water each year to areas that do not have enough water. 

Desalination

We need fresh water for drinking, for our daily activities, and for growing our food. But almost all of the water on the surface of the earth is salt water from the oceans and seas. In fact, 97 percent of all water on earth is salt water.

People have been trying to find a way to use ocean water in place of fresh water for many years. With new technology, turning seawater into water that we can drink and use is becoming much easier and much cheaper. 

Desalination, or removing salt from seawater, is still expensive, but some cities in the United States and other countries are building desalination plants to help them meet their water needs. 

Cleaning of water

To clean water we should have sewage treatment plants. when it, can be used again at home, agriculture in industry etc. so again the process is started.

Different methods of saving water

Daily we use 20% water in kitchen, 20% in garden, 20% in laundry% and 40% of water in our bath rooms.

Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. A running tap can use six litres of water per minute. Use the minimum amount of water needed for a bath by closing the drain first and filling the bath only 1/3 full. Stopper bath before turning water. The initial burst of cold water can be warmed by adding hot water later.

Make your garden water efficient. Less watering doesn't have to mean less gardening! Start opting for plants that don't mind going without a drink for a while. Your garden centre will be able to recommend plants that need less water.

Don't leave the tap running to clean dishes or vegetables. Use a bowl of water instead. A running tap uses 6 litres of water per minute.

Take shorter showers - we recommend four minutes. On average a shower uses 10 litres of water a minute. Fully load your washing machine. A full load uses less water than two half-loads.

Only flush the toilet if you need to. On average, each flush uses 7 litres of water. Keep a jug of water in the fridge. Planning ahead means there is no need to run the water until it gets cold.

Verify that your home is leak-free, because many homes have hidden water leaks. Fix leaking taps. A dripping tap can waste more than 60 litres of water per week.

Order a water butt. Collect rainwater to use on your plants and lawn. Never put water down the drain when there may be another use for it such as watering a plant or garden, or cleaning.Store drinking water in the refrigerator rather than letting the tap run every time you want a cool glass of water.

You have given some suggestions to re-use water. People use these methods only under conditions when there is a scarcity of water. Do you know, one of the reasons for the scarcity of water is because people waste it. Just think, how good it would be if everyone got water !

THANK YOU,

N.NANDITHA