Life Around Us
Journey of a river
Follow a river from its beginning in the hills to its delta at the sea, and say how a dam, a flood and pollution each change what the river does for the people around it.
The Godavari tells its own story in this chapter. It begins high up in the Western Ghats, at Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra, as a stream small enough to step across. Rainwater and other streams join it along the way and it grows wider and stronger, until at last it reaches the Bay of Bengal. It is the second longest river in India, after the Ganga, and southern India calls it Dakshina Ganga.
Two words for the shape of a river
The small streams that join a river on its way are its tributaries. Where the river finally meets the sea it stops being one channel and spreads into many small ones, and that fan of streams is a delta. The Godavari's delta is the Coringa Mangrove Forests, where its freshwater meets the salty sea.
Perennial and seasonal
A river that flows through the whole year is a perennial river; the Godavari is one. A river that flows when the rainy season fills it and runs dry for the rest of the year is a seasonal river.
What a dam does, and what it costs
A dam is a giant wall that blocks a river's flow and stores the water behind it in a large water body called a reservoir. That store is what lets people drink, water crops and make electricity through a dry season. It also floods the land that was there before, so animals lose their homes and people living there have to shift elsewhere. Both of those are true at once.
Have a play
One river, from the hills to the sea, with each part of its course named.
Tap any part of the picture.
Worked example
Since ancient times people have built their homes and cities near rivers. What was in it for them?
Start with the thing nobody can do without: the river supplies drinking water, and water for cooking and washing, to the towns and villages along it.
Water is heavy and awkward to carry far. Living beside the supply is easier than carrying the supply to where you live.
Try it together
Work out how a farmer's fertiliser ends up making it hard for a fish to breathe.
A river runs past fields where fertiliser has been spread on the crops. Then it rains.
1.The rain washes over the fields and runs down into the river. What has it carried in with it?
Have a go
Have a go on your own. Visiting a forest or a river to enjoy its beauty, watch the birds and learn about nature without harming it has a one-word name in this chapter. What is it?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.