Protection of water bodies

The level of ground water is going lower and lowers as people are digging deeper to draw out water. The problem is worse in cities and towns.

 When a river begins its journey from the mountains it is clean and clear. But as it travels down to the plains its color and looks change. It looks dirty and the color turns grey.

 Dust, dirt and all the filth of towns and cities are thrown into the river. Waste from factories, the sewage of the towns and cities are dumped into it. People bate, wash clothes and their animals in the river. The river gets polluted and anyone who drinks its water may get diseases like jaundice, typhoid or diarrhea. Bathing in the polluted water may also cause boils, sores and other skin diseases. Even the fish and other animals in the river die because of high levels of pollution.

 To protect water bodies, waste from factories and houses should not be dumped into rivers, lakes of streams. There should be proper laws to stop factories from polluting water.

 Government should provide community toilets for the homeless. People should be educated to use proper latrines and not excrete in the open. Wells should be covered. Water pipes and sewage pipes should not be laid side by side.

 Water that you drink should be from a clean source like tap, hand pump or well. We must avoid drinking water from ponds, rivers or canals.

 Cleaning water

Sometimes even the water you get from your tap may not be safe to drink. You need to clean or purify it. Dirty water contains germs. If we drink this water we can fall sick. So it is important that we clean the water before drinking it.

 One simple method used at home for making water safe for drinking is boiling. The water should be boiled for at least fifteen minutes.  

 Adding chemicals like bleaching powder or potassium permanganate kills germs present in water.

 Water can be filtered by passing through layers gravel and sand packed in an earthen pot. However, filtration only removes impurities. To kill germs the filtered water should be boiled.

 Purification of water for supply to the towns and cities is done on a large scale in the city water works. This clean water is sent to our houses through huge pipelines. We get this water from the taps in our houses.