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.”
Too Much Water, Too Little Water

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.
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 Looking Around

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?”

ReadandWrite
Ö Have you ever faced a shortage of water in your house? When?

Ö What did you do then?

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Too Much Water, Too Little Water

Ö Have you ever played in water? Where and when?

Ö Are there times when you are not allowed to play in water?

What are the reasons for this?

Ö

Ö The water park had a lot of water to play in, but the nearby
village did not have water even to drink. Discuss.
Ö If you go to a water park, find out from where the water
comes to the park.

Can We Drink This?

Cuffe Parade, Mumbai
The lift stopped at the 26th 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 and Deepak was
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
149
water pipes, in this area. It says that many people are sick
 Looking Around

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!”

Writeinyournotebook
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?

150 Ö Raziya read news about the water in the newspaper. Have
you read any news about water in the newspapers? What
kind of news?
Too Much Water, Too Little Water

DoandDiscuss
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
Salt
tears.
When a person has diarrhoea and Sugar Water

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 151
water in the school.
 Looking Around

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.
The questions given below will help the groups to collect
information.
Group 1
Observe and Note –
Ö Put a ( 9) in right box or boxes
Ö Where does the water in your school come from?
Tap Tank Handpump Any other
Ö In your school, from where do you take water to drink?
Tap Tank Handpump Any other

Ö If there is no tap, matka or handpump, then how do you get

drinking water?

Ö Is there water in all the taps or handpumps?

Ö Is there any tap which is leaking or dripping?

Ö Are all the matkas filled with water and are they covered?

Ö Are the matkas and other water containers cleaned regularly ?

Ö How is water made safe for drinking?

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Too Much Water, Too Little Water

Ö Is there a long-handled ladle to take water from the matka

or container ? How many ladles are there per container ?

Ö Is the place around the drinking water–taps or matkas

cleaned regularly?

ThinkandDiscuss
Ö Why do the drinking water places get dirty?

Ö What can we do to keep these places clean?

Findoutandwriteinyournotebook
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?

Group 2
Observe and Note –
Ö Put ( 9 ) in the box and write wherever it is required –
Ö What are the toilet arrangements in your school?
Built toilet Open area
Ö How many toilets are there?
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 Looking Around

Ö Are there separate toilets for girls yes no

and boys?
Ö Is there water in the toilets? yes no
Ö Where does the water come from?

Ö the tap yes no

Ö filled containers yes no
Ö has to be brought from home yes no
Ö Is there water for washing hands near yes no
the toilet?
Ö Do you wash your hands after using yes no
the toilet?
Ö Is there any tap that is leaking or yes no
dripping?
Ö Are the toilets kept clean? yes no

Findoutandwrite
Ö How many boys and girls are there in your school?

Girls Boys
Ö How many toilets are there for girls, and how many for boys?

Girls Boys
Ö If there are no taps, who brings the water for the toilet? From
where does the water have to be brought?

Ö Who keeps the place clean?

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Too Much Water, Too Little Water

Talkaboutit
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?
Group 3
Talk with the children in your class and fill in the table given
below. In the last few months, how many children in the class
have suffered from any of these? Write the names of the children
in the correct columns.

S. No. Diarrhoea Vomiting Loose motion Yellow urine, Stomach ache

Loose and vomiting Yellow skin,
motions Fever

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Discuss with your teacher what you have found out from
your survey. Now make a report with your findings and
suggestions. Read your report in the assembly. Put it up on the
notice board.

For the teacher: The table lists common symptoms that children may
know about. If these are caused by cholera, then you can discuss them
with reference to this. It is not important that children should know the 155
names of all the diseases.
 Looking Around

Children show the Way

Too little water, or no water… this was nothing new for the people in
the Holgundi area of Karnataka. The wells would have some water only
in rainy days. In the past three years, there was not even enough rain.
Everything had dried up there. There was no water for drinking, for
growing crops, or for animals. People had to leave their village and go
to nearby towns for some work. Children had to leave school to go with
the elders.

The village panchayat was worried. All the members discussed what
could be done. This panchayat had some special members – children.
The children’s panchayat was called Bhima Sangh.

“Has our village always had water shortage?” the children asked the
elders. “No, it was not so before,” replied village people. Some of the
elders recalled that up on the hill, there used to be a water tank. The
tank would fill with water when it rained. There used to be fish in the
tank, and greenery around it. Those days, even the village wells and
the pond used to have enough water. On hearing this, the Bhima Sangh
decided that they would first look for that tank.

The tank was on the hill. They found that the tank was full of mud
and stones now. How could water fill? The tank had many cracks. How
could the water remain in the tank? There were no trees and grass –
how could there be greenery?

The children said, “We must clean the tank and make the area green
again.” For this, it was important to first understand how things had
been before and why they had changed now. This would help them to
plan for solving the water problem. And, that too, not only for one year,
but for the years ahead.

156 For the teacher: Encourage children to locate Karnataka on the map of
India.
Too Much Water, Too Little Water

The panchayat took help from some experts. Together, they made a
plan and together they worked for it.

The tank was first properly cleaned. The cracks were repaired. Grass
and trees were planted all around the tank. As the tank was on a hill, a
lot of rain water used to flow down the slopes. With this water, soil also
would flow away. So the children made a small dam on the slope, to
stop the water and soil.

Then everybody waited for the rains to come. When it rained, the
tank filled up with the water. The children put some fish in the tank.
They kept guard to make sure that nobody stole the fish or harmed the
plants. One monsoon went by, then another. Things got better every
year. The tank filled a little more, the plants grew, the fish multiplied.
After two or three years, the tank remained full of water even after the
rains had stopped. The wells and ponds in the village had water again.
There was greenery once again. The people did not have to leave their
village for work.

The hard work of Bhima Sangh had shown results. The children
had shown the way! Those children are now grown up. But the Bhima
Sangh continues, and every year more children are proud to become its
members and work together; to always lead the way.

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