Too Much Water Too Little Water

What to Drink?

Nallamada, Andhra Pradesh

        Suguna was reading her book, when she heard someone at the door. She saw that there was a visitor from the city. Appa welcomed the guest. He told Selva to bring a cold drink for him. The guest said, “I do not take cold drinks. I will just have a glass of water.” Appa said, “ These days we are not getting water that is fit for drinking. It does not even look clean. It would be better if you do not drink this water. We do not have a choice, so we drink it.”

Discuss

Ö How can unclean or dirty water harm our body?

Ö Have you ever got dirty or unclean water in your area? What was the reason for this?

Ö Do you know anyone who has fallen sick because of such water ? Talk about this.

Ö 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?

Ö The guest said he did not take cold drinks. Why do you think he said this?

Water Games

Bazaar Gaon, Maharashtra

There was a big water park near Bazaar Gaon. One day Rohan and Reena went with their parents to the water park. There were many water- fountains. Reena said, “Look Rohan, there are so many rides in the water.” “And look at all these big ponds,” Rohan said. Splash! Splash! Splash! Both turned around. They saw a long thick water hose going zoom, zoom, zoom.

         Children were sliding down a big tall slide and landing in water with a loud splash. Rohan got into a swing high above – whoosh!, Within a second, he had landed in the water. Reena gave a shriek of surprise!

         Just then they heard a lot of noise and loud voices from outside the park. Everyone ran towards the main gate. There was a crowd of people, carrying empty buckets and pots. A small child carrying an empty bottle was clinging to his mother. Rohan’s mother went to one of the women in the crowd. “What is the matter?” She asked.

             The woman replied angrily, “You ask what is the matter ? Our wells have no water. We get our water only when the tanker comes once a week. Today, even that has not come. And here, there is so much water everywhere – just

for you all to play and enjoy. Tell me, what should we do?”

Can We Drink This?

Cuffe Parade, Mumbai

        The lift stopped at the 26^th floor. Deepak loves going in the lift. Today was a holiday in school. Deepak had gone with his mother to Raziya Madam’s house. His mother worked there. The house was quiet and cool, and shining clean. Raziya was reading a newspaper. She smiled when she saw Deepak. “Is it a holiday today?” she asked. She switched on the TV soon lost in the world of cartoons.

         Raziya called out, “Pushpa, it says in the newspaper that the gutter water has got mixed with the water in the drinking water pipes, in this area. It says that many people are sick with diarrhoea and vomiting because of this. Why don’t you throw away the water that was filled yesterday? Put some fresh water to boil, for drinking. Also take home some boiled water for your family.” Deepak was happy to hear this. He thought, “At least today I will not have to stand in a queue for hours to get water for our house. It is a real holiday for me!”

Write in your notebook

Ö Why was Raziya worried when she read the newspaper?

Ö 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?

Ö In what way did she plan to clean the water?

Ö Do you know of different ways to clean the water ? Describe them.

Ö Suppose, Raziya had not read the news and everyone had drunk the water without boiling it, what could have happened?

Discuss

Ö 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 in the tap. Why is this?

Ö Raziya read news about the water in the newspaper. Have you read any news about water in the newspapers? What kind of news?

Do and Discuss

Ö 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 paper to make a big collage. Talk about what you have collected. Discuss in the class.

        Have you ever suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting ? How did you feel? When we have diarrhoea and vomiting, we lose a lot of water from our body. This can be dangerous, if we do not take care. It is important that we make up for the water that we lose from our body. We should drink a lot of water when this happens. We should also mix some salt and sugar in the water.

         For this, mix one teaspoon sugar and a pinch of salt in one glass of boiled and cooled water. Taste it to make sure that there is not too much salt. The water should not taste more salty than our tears.

            When a person has diarrhoea and vomiting, the water must be sipped slowly by them. Light food must be taken. Babies should continue to take their mother’s milk as this is good for them. It is also necessary to take some medicines – they can also be home-made remedies. If the diarrhoea does not stop, it is important to get the advise of a doctor.

Water Survey in School

Make three groups of students in your class.

Ö One group will find out about the arrangements of drinking water

Ö The second group will find out about the arrangement of toilet in the school.

Ö The third group will find out about illness affecting children in the class.

Think and Discuss

Ö Why do the drinking water places get dirty ?

Ö What can we do to keep these places clean?

Find out and write in your notebook

Ö How often (once a day, once in two days, etc.) are the containers or matkas and ladles cleaned? Who cleans them?

Ö How many children are there in your school? How many taps, matkas or handpumps are there? Are these sufficient for children?

Ö Who cleans the places near the water?

Ö Where does the water that is spilt go?

Talk about it

Ö What can be done to keep the toilets clean?

Ö What can each of us do for this?

Ö Have you seen toilets at bus stands or railway stations? How are they different from the toilets at home?