Gifts of Nature
Water — a precious gift
Follow rainwater from the sky to the tap: where it goes when it lands, how it reaches a home, what it is stored in, and what happens to it afterwards.
Rain stops, the sun comes out, and the puddles go. Where did that water go? Some of it soaked into the soil and is creeping along underneath towards a stream. Some ran off into a stream that will join a river. Some is sitting in a pond, or a lake, or has reached the sea. Follow it far enough and it turns up again in your tap.
The water in a well
Rain that sinks into the soil does not stop there. Some of it is held underground, in the gaps between the rocks and the soil. That is where a well reaches down to. So a well is not a container somebody filled — it is a hole dug deep enough to meet water the rain put there.
Have a play
Where rainwater ends up, above the ground and below it.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
Surya turns on a tap at home and wonders where the water was five minutes ago. How would you find out?
Follow the pipe backwards from the tap. It goes up.
Water arriving at a tap has come along a pipe, so the pipe is the thread to pull.
Try it together
Now think about water that is hard to get, together.
Not everyone turns a tap and finds water waiting.
1.In places with little rain and no big lake or river nearby, what do people have to do to fetch water?
Have a go
Your turn. Rain falls on hard ground and runs off without soaking in. Which of these does the chapter say the water gathers in?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.