Water –its character and importance
Drinking water
Cooking water
Cleaning water
Bathing water
So many uses from the water
So, don’t waste the water unnecessary
Water is essential for life. No life would be possible without water. All living beings use water and depend on water for their life. We cannot live without water for more than a few days. Animals need water to drink. Plants need water to grow.
All living objects contain of water. Our blood contains lot of water. So does saliva which helps us in digesting our food. Percentage of water is 65 in the Man body. Percentage of water is ninety eight in water-melon. There is o living object on earth which does not contain water in it. Even a large number of living objects live in water. In nature, water is available in plenty. Two-thirds of earth’s surface is covered with water.
Importance of water
Water is used in the form of water, ice and steam. Water is required for drinking, coking, irrigation, washing, cleaning, and cooling and for generating electricity. Water is also used for transporting men and goods. Ships and boats move on lakes, rivers and seas. Sometimes, water is used for putting out fire. Water is, thus, essential for life.
Sources of water
Water is available in abundance to man. Two –thirds of surface of earth is covered with water. We obtain water from a number of sources: wells, ponds, springs, lakes, rivers, sea, hand-pumps, tube –wells and filtered water supply. The most important source of water is rain. Wells, rivers, lakes, ponds, tanks and springs receive their water from rain.
Pollution of water
All water is not safe to drink. In fact, no natural sources of water give us pure water. Normally, the water obtained from natural sources contains two types of suspended materials-living and non-living. The living objects found in water include roundworms, bacteria, water fleas, small insects and several eggs of mosquitoes. The non-living suspended materials in natural water are dust and soil.
apart from these impurities, washing dirty clothes, cleaning dirty utensils, throwing of human and animal wastes, bathing ourselves and animals 5the water. Thus, the indiscriminate and improper use of tanks, ponds, rivers, lakes and uncovered wells etc. polluted their water.
Water- borne diseases
We know that the water we obtain from natural sources is not always safe to drink. It contains living and non-living impurities. Apart from this, indiscriminate use of tanks, well etc. for washing dirty clothes, cleaning dirty utensils, dumping of garbage, bathing ourselves or animals near the source of water, droplets of birds and waste products of animals pollute the water of the natural sources. Dust and dirt also pollute the water of uncovered well, rivers lakes etc. sometimes; the water of springs also gets choked by mud. Such water as available from natural sources is not fit to drink to do bath.
Many diseases are caused by the use of polluted water. The diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery spread mainly through water and are known as water –borne diseases. They can spread very easily amongst a large number of people in a very short time. We can protect ourselves from such diseases by observing the rules of personal hygiene and by using the purified water. The best way to combat these diseases is to get inoculated against these diseases periodically.
Methods of purification of water
The water obtained from natural sources contains two types of suspended materials-living and non-living. The living objects found in water include bacteria, roundworms, water fleas, small insects and several eggs of mosquitoes. They produce and spread several diseases in men and animals. In order to purity the water, the best and the easiest way is to boil it for a period of twenty minutes. Boiling of water will kill all germs of infection. After boiling, the water should be cooled down and stored in clean containers. We can also use potassium permanganate to purity water. Potassium permanganate is a germ-killer.
The non –living objects found in water such as stone, sand, chalk, mud etc., may be kept out of water by the process of decantation and filtration. If we allow water to stand for some time in a container, the impurities will settle down at the bottom and we will be able to pour out the water without disturbing the impurities. The process of filtration can also be used to remove the impurities of the water.
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