Water

Introductio
n
Water occupies two-thirds of our earth. 97% of water available is salt water
found in seas and oceans. About 3% is the fresh water is available on earth.
Most of it is in the form of icecaps.
Just at about 0.003% of fresh water is available as ground water, lakes, streams, rivers, water vapour etc.

Uses Of Water
70% of our body is made up of water. Water is essential for normal functioning of life processes.
Water is used for various activities such in agriculture, industries and domestic purposes. 70% of fresh water is
used for irrigating agricultural fields.
22% of water is utilized by industries. 8% of water is used for domestic requirements.
Domestic activities include cooking, cleaning utensils, bathing, washing clothes and mainly for drinking.

Uses of Water
Water is used in dams to generate electricity.
A large amount of water is used in agriculture
and industries. Water is also a medium of
transport.
 Agriculture Medium Of Transport Generating Electricity
Ponds, wells, streams, lakes and rivers are the different sources of drinking water. Drinking water is called as
potable water. Oceans and seas supply water to other water bodies through water cycle.
A variety of useful salts like sodium chloride, magnesium and potassium are present in saline water.

States Of Water
Water exists in three different states. Water can occur in the solid state.

Solid state can be represented by ice, snow or hail. Water can occur in the liquid state.
Liquid state of water can be represented by river, rain or sea. Water can
occur in the gaseous state. Gaseous state of water can be represented by
water vapour.
Three states of water are inter-convertible.
Solid form of water can be converted into liquid form by heating.
Liquid form of water can be converted into gaseous form by
evaporation. Gaseous form can be converted into liquid form
by the process of condensation. Liquid form can be converted
into solid form by freezing.

Where do we get Water from

Rainwater, oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, ponds and springs are natural sources of water. Dams, wells, tube wells, hand-
pumps, canals, etc. are man-made sources of water.

Rain Water
Rain water collects on the earth in the form of surface water and underground water.

Rainwater present on the surface in the form of river

Surface
Water
Water present on the surface of the earth in the form of oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds and
streams is called surface water. The water in rivers and lakes comes from rain and melting of
snow on mountains. Rivers flow into the sea.

Water present on the surface in the form of river

Underground
Water
Some of the rainwater seeps through the soil on to the non-porous rocks below.
This is underground water. Sometimes due to high pressure, this water sprouts out
in the form of springs.
It can be obtained by digging wells, sinking tube wells, etc.
 Groundwater
Water
Cycle
"The cyclic movement of water from the atmosphere to the Earth and back to the atmosphere through various
processes is called as water cycle".
 Different steps of water cycle include evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation and surface run-off.

The Water Cycle In Nature

A.
Evaporatio
n
The water present on the surface of evaporates by the sun's heat. This process of conversion of water from
liquid state to vapour state is called evaporation.
Evaporation also takes place from wet clothes, fields, ponds, lakes and rivers.

Evaporation Of Water From Wet Clothes

B.
Transpiratio
n
Plants take in water from the soil to prepare their own food and also for
other life processes. They release excess water into air in the form of
water vapour by the process of transpiration.
C. Condensation
The evaporated water is carried away by warm air. As the warm air moves higher from the surface of
the Earth, it starts to cool down. This water vapour condenses to form tiny water droplets which float
in air to form clouds or fog.

Formation Of Clouds
D.
Precipitatio
n
All these droplets collect to form bigger drops of water. Bigger water drops come down as rain by
the process of precipitation. If the air is too cold, the water drops can become snow or hail and
may settle on the top of a mountain.
When these snow or hail melts, they can become part of a
river or a stream. E. Surface run-off
Some amount of rain water is absorbed by the soil and settles down as ground water.
Most of the rain water flows down the hills and mountains to collect into
rivers, lakes or streams. Rain also washes away the topmost layer of the
soil into water bodies.
This circulation of water through all these different factors is called as water cycle.

Oceans
Water cycle plays an important role in maintaining the climate. Oceans absorb heat from the sun.
They provide warmth on the land. Water gets evaporated from the surface of oceans by absorption of heat.
Water vapour releases heat by cooling in the process of condensation. This continuous absorption and release of heat
maintains the constant climate of a particular place.

Natural Calamities
Natural calamities related to water are floods and droughts. These are uncontrolled conditions during which floods and
droughts prevailing affect an area or a region on earth.

a. Floods: The condition during which rain water being everywhere, even submerging
the land is called as flood.
Flood
s
 Floods are caused by rise in the water level in ponds and lakes due to heavy rainfall. The excess rain water flows
on to land causing floods. Floods make the soil water-logged.
Floods affect normal life by disturbing everything which
comes in its way. Floods wash out the living beings such as
plants, fish and other animals etc.
Floods create water-logging in the soil bringing out stored air from the spaces. Organisms like earthworms, ants,
insects, rats, rabbits, snakes living under soil get disturbed by floods.
Floods cause heavy loss to
human life. Floods damage
different types of property.
Floods cause uprooting of trees. Floods wash
away the crops. Floods result in shortage of food
supply.
Floods cause stagnation of water forming the breeding ground for many disease causing organisms. Diseases can
easily spread out during floods. These are called as water-borne diseases.
Floods cause disruption of modes of transport and
communication. Floods also disturb many kinds of
food chains.
b. Droughts: Droughts are the conditions which involve abnormally long period of insufficient or no rainfall.

Drough
ts

Droughts are caused due to lack of rains.

Drought condition results in drying up of wells, lakes, ponds and thereby
creating water scarcity. Droughts result in the evaporation of water from
the soil leaving the soil dry and patchy. Droughts result in mass death of
plants and animals due to dehydration.
Droughts affect agriculture and lessen food production.
Droughts result in death of animals and birds which provide us animal products like milk, meat and eggs. This
scarcity of food results in the famine. Droughts result in forest fires caused by enormous amount of heat from
scorching sun.

Water Conservation
Water is an essential natural resource. These exists no life without water. Water is so precious that it has to be conserved.

Avoiding water wastage is also a kind of water conservation.

Excess rain water running in the river is stored in huge and special structure called as dam.
Dams are huge structures built on rivers to hold back excess water. Dams prevent areas from flooding by
storing large amount of water. Dams provide water for irrigating fields, domestic use and also drinking
water for some areas.
Drinking water should not be wasted to water the plants.
Water bodies should not be polluted in order to get pure water.
Water should not be wasted during irrigation of fields. Modern methods like spraying, sprinkling or
drip irrigation should be used. Water should be used judiciously to avoid wastage.
Destruction of trees should be controlled to increase the rainfall.

Water Conservation
Rainwater
Harvesting
Rain water harvesting includes collection and storing of rain water from the roofs of houses and huge constructions.
This is also called as roof-top rainwater harvesting. Constant use of fresh water from the ground results in water
scarcity. Rain water harvesting increases the level of ground water.

Roof top Rainwater

Harvesting
Technique involved in rainwater harvesting
Rainwater is collected at the
roof top. It is allowed to flow
into pipes.
It is filtered through wire mesh.
It is allowed to pour into an underground tank setup to store rainwater. These tanks contain layers of sand, gravel,
charcoal that will filter the dirt and other impurities from rainwater.
This water seeps back into ground slowly to increase the level of ground water table.
Concrete floor does not allow the rainwater to seep into the ground.