Too Much Water, Too Little Water
Questions with the (*) sign are open-ended questions.
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Discuss
How can unclean or dirty water harm our body?
     Unclean or dirty water contains germs that can many diseases to our body.
Have you ever got dirty or unclean water in your area? What was the reason for this?
     Yes, sometimes we get dirty or unclean water due to the leakage in water pipeline.
Do you know anyone who has fallen sick because of such water? Talk about this.
     Yes, many of my friends had fallen sick because of such water.
When the guest came to Suguna’s house, they offered him a cold drink, because they thought he should not drink such water. What do you think Suguna’s family must be doing for their own drinking water?
     Suguna’s family must be filtering and boiling the drinking water.
The guest said he did not take cold drinks. Why do you think he said this?
     Cold drinks are not of much use to our bodies. Therefore, he might refuse to drink cold drinks.
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Read and Write
Have you ever faced a shortage of water in your house? When? What did you do then?
     Yes, when water supply is disrupted we have to face a shortage of water. In case of such shortage we call private water tanker.
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Have you ever played in water? Where and when?
     Yes, I had played in water. I played in river, lakes and water parks also.
Are there times when you are not allowed to play in water? What are the reasons for this?
     Yes, sometimes I was not allowed to play in water. The reasons for this are
i). deep water
ii). during monsoon and winter seasons
iii). in the sea water
iv). when the water is not clean or dirty.
Have you seen wastage of water in your area? Discuss.
     Yes, many times I have seen wastage of water in my area.
The water park had a lot of water to play in but the nearby village people did not have water even to drink. Think about it and discuss.
     Water parks are run by private persons. They run it for making profit and therefore they manage the regular water supply to the park.
     The water is supplied to the village people by the local body. Sometimes they have limited resources and sometimes poor management cause shortage of water supply.
If you go to a water park, find out from where the water comes to the park.
     They have big borewells, supply from private water tankers and water pipelines.
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Write in your notebook
Why was Raziya worried when she read the newspaper?
     As the water from the gutter is mixed the water became dirty and it may cause diseases if we drank such water. Therefore Raziya got worried after reading the newspaper.
Raziya asked that all the water that was filled the previous day should be thrown. Could this water have been used for something else? What kind of things?
     Yes, that water could be used for other activities like washing clothes, utensils and vehicles. Even we can use that water for plants.
In what way did she plan to clean the water?
     She planned to boil the water and make it clean.
Do you know of different ways to clean the water? Describe them.
     We can clean water by filtering, boiling and adding chlorine to water.
Suppose, Raziya had not read the news and everyone had drunk the water without boiling it, what could have happened? Discuss.
     Most of them would have fallen sick.
Where Deepak lives, everyone has to stand in a queue to fill water from the common public tap. In Raziya’s house, water comes all day from the tap. Why is this?
     Deepak lives in the slum area and they don’t have individual water conncetion, whereas Raziya lives in building where she get water in her house from the overhead water tank.
(*) Raziya read news about the water in the newspaper. Have you read any news about the water in the newspapers? What kind of news?
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Do and Discuss.
(*) Look through the newspapers of the last one month. Look for all news items related to water. Cut them out. Stick all the cuttings together on a big piece of paper to make a big collage.
(*) Talk about what you have collected. Discuss in the class.
Water Survey in School.
Make three groups of students in your class. One group will find out about the arrangements of drinking water in the school.
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The second group will find out about the arrangement of toilet in the school.
The third group will find out about illness affecting children in the class.
The questions given below will help the groups to collect information.
Group 1
Observe and Note –
Put a (√ ) in right box or boxes
Where does the water in your school come from?
Tap √           Tank            Handpump                 Any other
 In your school, from where do you take water to drink?
Tap √       Tank √         Handpump                Any other
If there is no tap, matka or handpump, then how do you get drinking water?
     We get water from the water tanker.
Is there water in all the taps or handpumps?
     Yes.
Is there any tap which is leaking or dripping?
      No.
Are all the matkas filled with water and are they covered?
     Yes.
Are the matkas and other water containers cleaned regularly?
     Yes.
How is water made safe for drinking?
     Overhead water tank has filter and tank is cleaned at regular intervals.
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Is there a long-handled ladle to take water from the matka or container? How many ladles are there per container?
      Yes. One ladle for each matka.
Is the place around the drinking water–taps or matkas cleaned regularly?
      Yes.
Think and Discuss
Why do the drinking water places get dirty?
     Water is spilled while it is taken for drinking.
What can we do to keep these places clean?
     Drinking water places should be cleaned regularly. Care should be taken to keep such places dry.
Find out and write in your notebook
How often (once a day, once in two days, etc.) are the containers or matkas and ladles cleaned? Who cleans them?
      They are cleaned every day by the peons.
How many children are there in your school? How many taps, matkas or handpumps are there? Are these sufficient for children?
      There are nearly 1000 children in my school. There are in all 25 taps, matkas in the school.
Who cleans the places near the water?
     Peon.
Where does the water that is spilt go?
     In the sewer lines.
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Talk about it
What can be done to keep the toilets clean?
     To keep the toilets clean they should be washed and cleaned regularly.
What can each of us do for this?
     We should maintain cleanliness in the toilets.
Have you seen toilets at bus stands or railway stations? How are they different from the toilets at home?
      The toilets at the home are clean whereas toilets at bus stands or railway stations are not clean and smelt bad.
