Article on water-an exlixir of life
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All forms of life - plants, animals and humans - need water.
Plants take in water through their roots to make food by photosynthesis.Animals need water to drink and bathe.Fish and amphibians live and breed in water.Humans need water to drink, cook, bathe and clean their surroundings.About 5000 years ago, the first civilizations developed on the banks of rivers.
Egyptian civilization on the banks of the Nile.Mesopotamian civilization on the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates.Harappan civilization on the banks of the Indus.Chinese civilization on the banks of the Yangtze.People invented ways to raise, carry, move and store water. The wheel was first invented to turn clay into pottery which, when baked, made it possible for people to collect, store and transfer water in prehistoric times.
HOW MUCH WATER DO WE USE?
Less than 1% of the water on earth is available for our use 6 billion people are dependent on this water 300 million liters of fresh water are used daily in Chennai city alone In India, nearly 90 % of the water is used for irrigation.We require about 150 to 250 liters of water per person per day.WATER, as everyone knows, is one of the five elements of the Universe.
The survival of any organism including human being is inconceivable without it. Hence, Tiruvalluvar said, "the world cannot exist in the absence of water".
The need for water has increased manifold these days due to increase in population, agricultural and horticultural operations, industries of various kinds and setting up of amusements parks in metropolitan centres.
The availability of water has steeply decreased on account of successive failure of monsoons, neglect of small and minor irrigation tanks and over-exploitation of ground water sources.
Consequently, the following ideas deserve consideration:
Rainwater harvesting, linking of inter-state rivers to avoid surplus water going waste into the sea and sharing it on a rational basis and controlling the supply of safe drinking water by metering the domestic connections by the local bodies.
Regulating power supply to pumpsets for agricultural use so that more water than what actually is required is not pumped out.
Halting the depletion of forest wealth and increasing forest cover.
Modernising irrigation canals to arrest seepage, periodical desilting of tanks and ponds and restoring the supply channels.