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=WATER: A PRECIOUS RESOURCE=

About 71% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Almost all the water on the earth is contained in the seas and oceans, rivers, lakes, ice caps, as groundwater and in the atmosphere.However, most of this water is not fit for human consumption. The water that isfit for use is freshwater.Water shortage has become a matterof concern throughout the world. It is estimated that in a few years from now more than one third of the people in the world could face water scarcity.The amount of water recommended by the United Nations for drinking,washing, cooking and maintaining proper hygiene is a minimum of 50 litres per person per day. This amount is about two and a half buckets of water per person per day. Is your family getting at least this much of water? If yes, you should consider yourself fortunate because millions of people in our country do not get enough water. What about your friends and their families?

=FORMS OF WATER=

Water circulates through the water cycle it can be found in all the three forms, i.e., solid, liquid and gas—at any given time somewhere on the earth. The solid form, snow and solid ice, is present as ice caps at the poles of the earth, snow-covered mountains and glaciers. Liquid water Liquid is present in oceans, lakes, rivers, and even underground. The gaseous form is the gaseous water vapour present in the air around us. The continuous cycling of water among its three forms keeps the total amount of water on the earth constant even when the whole world is using it.

=GROUNDWATER AS AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF WATER=


 * If we dig a hole in the ground near a water body we may find that the soil is moist. The moisture in the soil indicates the presence of water underground. If we dig deeper and                deeper, we would reach a level where all the space between particles of soil and gaps between rocks are filled with water.
 * The upper limit of this layer is called the water table. The water table water table varies from place to place, and it may even change at a given place. The water table may be at         a depth of less than a metre or may be several metres below the ground. The water found below the water table is called groundwater. What is the source of this groundwater?
 * The rainwater and water from other sources such as rivers and ponds seeps through the soil and fills the empty spaces and cracks deep below the ground. The process of seeping of                 water into the ground is called infiltration.
 * Infiltration the groundwater thus gets recharged by this process. At places the groundwater is stored between layers of hard rock below the water table. This is known as an aquifer. aquifer water in the aquifers can be usually pumped out with the help of tube wells or hand pumps.

=DEPLETION OF WATER TABLE=

Water drawn from under the ground gets replenished by seepage of rainwater. The water table does not get affected as long as we draw as much water as is replenished by natural processes. However, water table may go down if the water is not sufficiently replenished. This may happen due to many reasons.Increase in population, industrial and agricultural activities are some common factors affecting water table. Scanty rainfall is another factor that may deplete the water table.

Increasing population
Increasing population creates demand for construction of houses, shops, offices, roads and pavements. This decreases the open areas like parks, and playgrounds. This, in turn, decreases the seepage of rainwater into the ground.

Increasing industries
Water is used by all the industries. Almost everything that we use needs water somewhere in its production process. The number of industries is increasing continuously. Water used by most of the industries is drawn from the ground day by day. This results in depletion of water table.

=WATER MANAGEMENT=

When the civic authorities supply water through pipes not all of it may reach the destination. You might have seen water supply pipes leaking and a lot of water gushing out of the pipes. It is the responsibility of the civic authorities to prevent such wastage of precious water.Mismanagement or wastage may take place at the level of individuals also. All of us, knowingly or unknowingly, waste water while brushing teeth, shaving, bathing, washing and during many other activities. Leaking taps is another source of huge water wastage. We waste water as though we do not need water the next time.

Drip irrigation
A farmer using water in the field can also use water economically.Drip irrigation is a technique of watering plants by making use of narrow tubings which deliver water directly at the base of the plant.

Rain water harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is a technique of collection and storage of rainwater into natural reservoirs or tanks, or the infiltration of surface water into subsurface aquifers before it is lost as surface run-off.