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On the occasion of World Water Day (22nd March) the need to conserve water is reinforced in different ways.

(a) People obtain groundwater through Wells and tubewells. 

(b) Three forms of water are solid, liquid and gas.

Swimmers float in Dead sea because the increased salt content makes it dense.

The rain water can be used to recharge the groundwater is known as rainwater harvesting. The rain fall is the main source of water, so we should not waste the rainwater.

Following factors are responsible for depletion of water table : 

1. Increasing population – as a result of increasing population, all the facilities such as houses, shops, roads, offices, pavements etc increase to fulfill the increasing demands. This, in turn decreases the open area for seepage of water into the ground. 

2. Industrialization – Most of the stages of manufacturing processes in industries require water. If the number of industries increases, then the water required by them will also increase. Therefore, increase of industries contributes to the depletion of water table. 

3. Agricultural activities – India is an agricultural country and agriculture is impossible without water. The water for agriculture is mainly utilized from ground water, rain water and canal water. As there is no rainfall in many places, agriculture cannot be entirely dependent on rain water. Also, canal water is available in a few places only. Therefore, ground water is the main source of water for agricultural activities and this causes depletion of water table.

a. The volume of the beaker containing water is greater.

b. Due to the anomalous expansion of water.

c. The volume of water in the bottle filled with water is increased and the bottle is broken.

a. The unbalanced attractive force on the surface of a liquid causes the liquid surface behaves like a stretched membrane. This is surface tension

b. When we add soap to water it reduces the surface tension of water and water can enter into the fine threads of the fabric.

To maintain a garden, water is necessary. Therefore to minimize the use of water, we can apply the drip irrigation method. In this method, water is supplied directly to the base of the plants using narrow pipes, there by reducing the loss of water and also minimise the use of water.

Water, one of the basic needs of our . life, is easily available and we never know its ( importance. In this way, it is common. But if we think seriously about water, it is the basis ( of all life. Every animal and every plant contains a substantial proportion of free or combined water in its body.

It is an essential part in all ) physiological activities. Thus, although water is the ) commonest of liquids, it is the most uncommon ‘l of liquids with amazing properties which are responsible for its unique power of maintaining animal and plant life.

In city, people get water from water tanks, hand pipes and bore wells. 

In rural area, people get water from wells, canals, ponds and rivers.

The poem ‘Water’ attempts to depict the struggle, the anguish, the suffering and humiliation suffered by the Dalits to get their rightful share of water, which is an elixir of life, and a natural resource. The poem incidentally throws light on the multiple facets of water. The poem highlights instances when ‘water’ is used as the instrument of discrimination, as a life-giver, a life taker and a multinational market commodity also.

Water can be a source of retributive justice. It can not only give life but can also devour life. The water that could not serve to quench the thirst of parched throats became the killer tsunami wave which swallowed the whole village after village. Water is so powerful that it treats the ‘poor’ as its playthings. Sometimes, many villages suffer from drought and become dry deserts killing poor people. It may also come in the form of floods and drown them.

Water is the elixir of life and without water, no life can exist on this earth. Naturally, water is a life-giver. When a panchama goes to a village tank and is made to wait all day for a pot of water, one can imagine the misery and the hardships the Dalits have to suffer when they are denied their rightful share of water. 

Like the panchama, the Wada girl is also made to face humiliation by being forced to collect the water dropped from above and getting drenched in the process.

Water functions like a life-giver. The poem presents one incident where water would have been a life-giver. In Malapalle, several thatched huts would have been saved if only there was one pot of water to douse the fire. On the whole, one can infer that water is no mean matter but an omniscient phenomenon, because it is now being sold as mineral water in bisleri bottles all over the globe.

By harnessing our rivers, we can prevent ) the waters which now mostly run to waste and it can be used for irrigation and other purposes. With the systematic planting of suitable trees in every possible or even impossible areas, we can directly or indirectly raise hidden wealth of our country. They would check soil erosion, conserve the rainfall and supply cheap fuel. Bunds (Dams) will be great help for irrigation and producing hydroelectricity.

Water is a witness to centuries of social injustice.

To deal with the problems of shortage of water, the conservation and utilization of water are the two major solutions. Then construction of bunds (dams) to check the flowing away water is one of the permanent solutions. Preventing tree¬felling and planting appropriate types of vegetation can bring us rain and we can safely overcome the problem of shortage of water.

Water stands as a witness to the generations-old strife between the village and the Wada.

The poem ‘Water’ by Swaroopa Rani presents the struggle, the humiliation, the anguish and the suffering undergone by the Dalits to obtain their rightful share of water, which is a natural resource. The speaker cites ‘water’ as the witness to the practice of untouchability.

Water has been a witness to the plight of the Dalits who have been fighting for their right to their share of water. She declares that this water has been witness to the age-old strife between the upper caste people and the Dalits. The speaker expresses the agony of the panchama who waits for water the whole day and the humiliation of the Wada girl, who has to collect the water thrown at her from a distance and in this act how she has to bear the humiliation caused by the water that falls on her. The speaker mentions an incident in which a Dalit woman comes to the rescue of a Dalit boy who is about to be thrashed by Kamma landlords.

The speaker also mentions how they craved for a glass of water with parched throats. The speaker confesses regretfully and nostalgically how they awaited the day of their bath in a week while the other people in the village enjoyed the luxury of bathing twice a day. Finally, the speaker recalls how several thatched huts in Malapalle got reduced to ashes for want of a pot of water to douse a rising fire.

‘Water’ is now a multinational market commodity as mentioned in ‘Water’.

The speaker in ‘Water’ would remember her childhood, when she sees the water.

In earlier times, when the varna system was in practice, the ‘panchamas’ or the untouchables were not allowed to touch or fill their pots with water. Whenever a Wada girl went to collect water from a pond or a tank, the people of other varnas used to pour water from a higher level at a distance, into the pot of the Wada girl. Naturally, on such occasions, some water would invariably fall on the body of the girl. This would cause a lot of humiliation to the girl.

(a) the bane of the caste system.

(a) social injustice.

The speaker in ‘Water’, when she sees water, is reminded of how her Wada would thirst all day for a glass of water.

(c) it is a symbol of struggle against discrimination.

Uses of water in a house: 

For drinking, bathing, washing, cleaning of vessels, toilets etc. For 

agriculture: 

Water is essential for germination of seeds, irrigation of crops, 

Others: 

Water helps to maintain our body temperature constant. Water is used to generate electricity. Water is used in many industries.

water has played a role of vast significance in shaping the course of earth’s history and (continues to play the leading role in the drama of life on the surface of our planet. Every animal and every planet contains a substantial proportion of free or combined water in its body.

Water is an essential part in all physiological activities. It has amazing properties which are responsible for its unique power of maintaining animal and plant life. Hence we can say that water is the most potent and the most powerful thing.

The poem ‘Water’ by Challapalli Swaroopa Rani highlights the humiliation, anguish, agony and suffering caused to the Dalits by the upper caste people denying them their rightful share of water.

Incidentally, the poet makes an attempt to trace the journey of water which begins as a source of purity, available in ponds and tanks in villages and towns. Though all living creatures have a right to share it, the upper caste people deny it to the Dalits for the only reason that they are ‘avarnas’ or Dalits, and thus impure. In the last part of the poem, the speaker says that water, which began as a symbol of purity, has become a commodity in Bisleri bottles as mineral water, being sold in multinational markets. She mocks at the wisdom of the people who biasedly denied Dalits free access to water, an elixir of life.

In the second half of the poem, the speaker narrates her personal experiences. The speaker says that whenever she sees water, she recalls how the people in her part of the village (Wada) would suffer from severe thirst all day, not being able to get even a glass of water. She recalls sadly how they (the Dalits) would look forward to their weekly bath day, as if it was a wonderful festival day, while the upper caste people in the entire village enjoyed bathing luxuriously twice a day. Here the speaker intends to highlight the fact that while the Dalits were ‘deprived’ of water and were given water only once a week, the other people had so much water that they bathed luxuriously twice a day.

The speaker recalls her childhood when they had to walk miles and miles to fetch water from the big canal and carry back heavy pots with the muscles and veins in their necks straining and bursting.

The speaker narrates a fire accident in Malapalle. It was a locality where the Dalits lived in thatched huts. When their thatched roofs caught fire, the huts were completely destroyed in the fire for want of a pot of water to douse the fire.

When the speaker sees water she would remember how people in her Wada would thirst all day for a glass of water. Secondly, when she sees water she is also reminded of how they would eagerly welcome their weekly bath days as if it was a wondrous festival and also remember how the entire village bathed luxuriously twice a day. The speaker also would recall her childhood when she would walk miles on end to go to the big canal and carry back heavy pots with the muscles and veins on her neck straining and bursting. Finally, the sight of water would also make her recall how thatched roofs in Malapalle were burnt to ashes for want of a pot of water to douse the fire.

(c), (d), (e) and (f).

(b) village and Wada.

‘Some taking bath once a week and others twice a day’ connotes that the Dalits were able to take a bath only once in a week because they had no free access to public water and only when they had stored enough water for all of them to take a bath, would they take a bath on that day. On the other hand, the village people had free access to water and so they would take a bath twice a day.

At the Chadar tank in Mumbai.

In the poem ‘Water’, the speaker recalls the ‘role’ played by water as an agent of social change. Incidentally, she uses the context of the poem to highlight the travails and tribulations suffered by the people in wadas, with particular reference to the practice of untouchability in Andhra Pradesh.

In the first five stanzas, she mentions the various instances of the practice of untouchability witnessed by ‘water’. She states that ‘water’ knows that ‘untouchability’ never disappears because the quarrel over allowing the Dalits to collect water from a village tank or pond between the upper caste people and the Dalits, has been smouldering for several generations.

The speaker cites a biblical incident in which Jesus, the Jew, goes to a Samaria woman, in a town called Sychar, and asks the woman for a drink. The Samaria woman belongs to an inferior race and Jesus, the Jew belongs to a superior race. Here the speaker intends to highlight the fact that ‘water’ is essential to all, be it a Samaria woman or Jesus the Jew. The idea is reiterated in the next two lines. Even among the untouchables, there were sub-castes. ‘Leather’ refers to cobblers and the ‘spool’ refers to weavers. The speaker means to say whether one is a cobbler or a weaver both of them need water.

She next mentions the agony of the ‘Panchama’, considered an untouchable and hence not allowed to draw water from a public well. It is unfortunate that he has to wait near a well until a shudra arrives to give him water.

The speaker mentions the case of a Wada girl (an untouchable) who has to receive water poured by someone from a distance and from a higher level. On such occasions, some water is bound to fall on the body of the girl. The girl has to suffer this humiliating act for the sake of water.

Lastly, the speaker mentions the courageous act of Karamchedu Suvartamma who opposed the Kamma landlords when they were about to beat up a Dalit boy for asking them not to wash dirty buckets in the drinking water tank in Madigapalle. This act of lifting the vessel in self-defence later resulted in a ghastly attack by the upper caste people on the Dalits.

Water became a matter of dispute when the upper caste people indifferently and intentionally polluted the drinking water of the Dalits in Karamchedu. In the Mahad municipality in Mumbai even though the municipality had passed a resolution allowing the Dalit community access to the public tank, the local upper caste people prevented them from using the water.

Subsequently, Dr Ambedkar went in a rally to the pond, drank a handful of water from the tank, and asserted the right of the Dalits to use water from a public place, like everyone else.

(b) balancing the water pots on the head.

The poem ‘Water’, besides chronicling a few typical and poignant situations which portray the anguish, the humiliation, and the helplessness of the Dalits in their struggle for procuring ‘water’ for their everyday needs, also challenges the reader’s moral conscience and rationality by highlighting the paradoxical and biased role played by water in modern life. The speaker probably wishes to question the wisdom of the upper caste people, who have now comfortably accepted the role of water as a marketable commodity. Incidentally, the speaker highlights the self centeredness of the upper caste people for using ‘water’ as a source of comfort and luxury.

While the upper caste people of the entire village bathed luxuriously twice a day all through the week, the Dalits who lived in wadas were given water only once a week. Only on that day, the Dalits used to take their weekly bath. Though water is the universal source of life and was available in plenty, yet the Dalits were denied water on account of the practice of untouchability. This is true even today. Thus one can argue that water is a luxury for one class and a struggle for another in our society.

‘Water’, by Challapalli Swaroopa Rani, is a reflective-narrative poem. The speaker, in the persona of a ‘Dalit’, reminisces and chronicles a few typical but poignant situations which express the anguish and helplessness of a Dalit when he or she goes to a public pond or tank to collect water for their daily needs.

In the first five stanzas, the speaker cites ‘water’ as the witness to the practice of untouchability. The poet states in a casual, matter-of-fact tone that ‘water’, which knows where the ground is inclined along which it has to flow, knows that ‘untouchability’ never disappears, because the quarrel or conflict over allowing the Dalits to collect water from a village tank or pond, between the upper caste people and the Dalits, has been smouldering for several generations.

The idea is reiterated citing another instance of untouchability. The poet cites a Biblical incident in which Jesus, the Jew, goes to a Samaria woman (in a town called Sychar) and asks the woman for water. The Samaria woman belongs to an inferior race and Jesus, the Jew belongs to a superior race. Here the speaker seems to say that ‘water’ is essential to all, be it a Samaria woman or Jesus the Jew; similarly, water is essential for both the upper caste people and the untouchables. The same idea is reiterated in the next two lines. Even among the untouchables, there were sub-castes. ‘Leather’ refers to cobblers and the ‘spool’ refers to weavers. The speaker means to say that whether one is a cobbler or a weaver both of them need water. This fact is known to ‘water’, but why are people so cruel to give access to water to one and deny access to the other. Here, the ‘other’ refers to the untouchables.

A Panchama does not have the right to draw water from a public well because he is untouchable. It is cruel and unfortunate that he is made to wait near the well until a Shudra arrives. Here again, it is ironical that the ‘Panchama’, who does not belong to varna, has to wait for a Shudra who is supposed to belong to the fourth rank in the social hierarchy. A Shudra, according to the ‘varna’ scheme, is an unskilled labourer and he does all the physical tasks as directed by the other upper caste people. Naturally, only when a Shudra comes to a pond to fetch water for an upper caste person can he give some water to the Panchama. It also means that the other upper caste people who normally do not fetch water from a well will not be able to give water to a Panchama. The speaker is once again referring to the cruelty of the varna system’ and the practices associated with untouchability.

The speaker cites another cruel instance of untouchability. Normally, whenever a person belonging to one of the four varnas happens to give some water to an ‘untouchable’ (here it is a girl], he/she takes care to see that the giver and the receiver stand apart from each other and pours water from a distance and from a higher level. On such occasions, some water is bound to fall on the receiver. Here, the receiver being a girl, waterfalls all over her. The speaker wants the reader to imagine the humiliation of the girl when someone throws water at her or on her. Here, the speaker is highlighting the cruel practice of untouchability.

The speaker recalls a heinous incident that happened in a place called Karamchedu. It is reported that, when two Kamma youths were washing dirty buckets (that had been used to feed their buffaloes) in the drinking water tank in Madigapalle, a Dalit boy objected to it, which angered the youth. Consequently, when the youths were about to beat up the boy, Munnangi Suvartamma, a Dalit woman, tried to protect the boy from the attackers. She lifted the vessel that she was carrying, to drive away from the attackers. This act of lifting the vessel in self-defence later resulted in a ghastly attack by the upper caste people on the Dalits.

The phrase ‘many a circus feat’ refers to the Wada women walking with heavy pots of water on their heads, miles and miles, from a big canal. This indicates the strain, the anguish and the humiliation suffered by Dalits to fetch water for their daily needs. On the contrary, the phrase, ‘dances its way into the Pepsi man’s bottle’ refers to water being sold as a multinational market commodity. Here the phrase ‘dances its way’ shows the ease and the surreptitious ways in which ‘water’ is sold for a price when it is known all over the country that tens of thousands of poor people and Dalits even today, walk miles to fetch drinking water. For the Dalits and the poor, water is a necessity and ‘Pepsi’ is an item of luxury. This reflects how the poor become victims of discrimination.

In the poem ‘Water’ the speaker highlights how ‘water’ becomes a symbol of discrimination against the Dalits.

(a) Since the Dalits do not have free access to water, they cannot take a bath as and when they like. They can take a bath only after they have stored up adequate water for all the members of the family. Normally, this used to happen only once a week in those, days.

(b) The Dalits were prohibited from fetching water from a pond or tank in a village. Naturally, when they needed water they had to go to the pond with their pot and wait until a shudra arrived and gave them water. Secondly, when the village people gave them water, they used to pour water from a distance into the pots carried by the Dalits and some water would fall on their body. This caused a lot of anguish and humiliation to the Dalits.

(c) The speaker speaks about ‘water’ as a natural social agent. Water is essential for life. It can give life but also can devour lives. The water that refused to quench parched throats became the killer tsunami wave and swallowed village after village. This way ‘water’ worked as a symbol of Nature and showed its fury against people who discriminated against the Dalits.

Aim: 

To demonstrate condensation of water. 

What do we need?: 

A glass, water, and ice cubes.

How to do?: 

• Take a glass half-filled with water. 
• Wipe the glass from the outside with a cloth. 
• Add some ice cubes into the water. 
• Wait for one or two minutes. 
• Observe the changes that take place on the outer surface of the glass.

What do we see? : 

• Water drops appear on the outer surface of the glass.

What we learn?: 

• The cold surface of the glass cools the air around it. 
• The surrounded water vapour condenses and forms water droplets on the surface of the glass.

In the poem ‘Water’, the speaker recalls several instances taken from the life of the Dalits to highlight the disparity between the Dalits and the upper caste people in their lifestyles. 

The speaker states that water is witness to the Panchama’s plight when he goes to the pond or tank to collect water. Since he does not have the right to draw a pot of water directly from a well, he waits all day near the well until a shudra arrives there and fills his pot. Next, the speaker mentions the humiliation of the Wada girl, when she receives water poured from a distance. Some waterfalls on her body and she felt humiliated.

Later, the speaker articulates the righteous indignation shown by Karamchedu Suvartamma, when she raised her vessel to ward off an attack by the Kamma youths against the Dalit boy who asked them not to pollute their drinking water. These instances illustrate how the Dalits were discriminated against using water from a public well.

The speaker recalls how people in the Wada would thirst all day for a glass of water while the villagers had a lot of water to drink and bathe as and when they wanted. On the other hand, the people in the village enjoyed the bath twice a day, because they had plenty of water, and the Dalits were made to forego water on the pretext of untouchability. Next, the speaker narrates how in her childhood they walked miles and miles to collect water from the big canal and walked back carrying heavy pots of water on their heads, with the veins in their neck straining and bursting.

Finally, the speaker recalls how several thatched huts in Malapalle were reduced to ashes for want of a pot of water to douse the fire.

‘Water’ is a reflective-narrative poem in which the speaker recalls several instances taken from the life of the Dalits to highlight the disparity seen in the lifestyle of the Dalits and that of the upper caste people. Incidentally, the speaker also highlights how the Dalits are discriminated against while using ‘water’ from a pond or a tank. The speaker states that water is a witness to the Panchama’s plight when he goes to the pond or tank to collect water. Since he does not have the right to draw a pot of water directly from a well, he waits all day near the well until a shudra arrives there and fills his pot.

The speaker mentions the humiliation of the Wada girl when she receives water poured from a distance. Some waterfalls on her body and she felt humiliated. The speaker articulates the righteous indignation shown by Munnangi Suvartamma when she raised her vessel to ward off an attack by the Kamma youths against the Dalit boy who asked them not to pollute their drinking water. These instances illustrate how the Dalits were discriminated against while using water from a public well.

The speaker recalls how people in the Wada would thirst all day for a glass of water while the villagers had a lot of water to drink and bathe as and when they wanted. The speaker recalls how they would look forward to that day in a week when they would get an occasion to take a bath.

On the other hand, the people in the village enjoyed the bath twice a day, because they had plenty of water, and the Dalits were made to forego water on the pretext of untouchability. The speaker narrates how, in her childhood, they walked miles and miles to collect water from the big canal and walked back carrying heavy pots of water on their heads, with the veins in their neck straining and bursting. Finally, the speaker recalls how several thatched huts in Malapalle were reduced to ashes for want of a pot of water to douse the fire.

Tap water contains, minerals, air, chlorine and other dissolved impurities that varies from place to place, therefore it is a mixture.

(d) river, lake or well

1. What are the diseases caused by using untreated water? 

2. What are the steps to be taken to treat the untreated water? 

3. What are the different methods used to treat the untreated water?

1. If I see water running off from a public tap immediately I turn off the tap and stop the run of water. 

2. If the control system of the tap is not there, I shall take measures to close the way out of water and report the same to the authorities.

(a) Blue vitriol is blue in color as it contains 5 molecules of water of crystallization (CuSO₄H₂O). When it is heated, it loses water of crystallization and becomes anhydrous CuSO₄ which is grey-white in color.

(b) Washing soda (Na ₂CO₃.10H₂O) is a white crystalline substance and on exposure to air it gets changed the o white powder.

(c) Pure water is neutral to litmus which means that no change in the colour of blue or red litmus solution is observed when 1 treated with water.

(a) Silica gets pouches are very commonly used to absorb moisture and to keep things dry. They are often kept in unused water bottles, with camera lenses etc. to keep them dry. These pouches are ideal to reuse throughout, in places at home where there is an excess of moisture. 

(b) On exposure to air, table salt (NaCl) turns moist and ultimately forms a solution especially during the rainy season because it contains impurities like magnesium chloride and calcium chloride which are deliquescent. Sodium chloride is not deliquescent. 

(c) The cold drink bottles contain carbon dioxide and are bottled under high pressure i.e. they contain a large amount of gas dissolved in them and on opening a bottle we hear a fizzing sound, this is because of the solubility of CO ₂ gas in it and pressure in it.