Table of Contents
20. Drop by Drop
Madho lives in Bajju - a small village in Rajasthan. It is hardly a village! All you see is sand all around. One can see some houses when the sand does not blow.
Everyone in Madho’s family is upset. Every summer there is water scarcity in his place. This year, it is worse. It did not rain at all. His mother and sister have to walk a longer distance to fetch water as the nearby pond has also dried. Each day they spend hours just to get four pots of water. While walking on the hot sand their feet burn and blisters just cannot be avoided.
• In the above visual, consciously defined gender role of women has been shown. (fetching water). Discuss on this issue in the class to remove gender discrimination.
When the train carrying water comes they are very happy. Madho’s father goes to fetch water in his camel-cart. But this does not happen often. People keep waiting days and days for water.
Some people collect rain water. This is done by a special method - by making tanks (tanka). Do you know, what a tanka is and how it is built?
To build a tanka, a pit is dug in the courtyard and it is made pucca. The tanka is kept covered with a lid. The roof of the house is made sloping so that the rainwater collected here flows through a pipe into the tanka. A sieve is attached to the mouth of the pipe so that no dirt goes into the tanka. This water is used for drinking after it is cleaned.
Sometimes, Madho is allowed to take water from one of the tankas of the village.
• Think, what are the difficulties people face due to scarcity of water.
• From where do the people in Madho’s village fetch water for drinking?
• Who fetches water in Madho’s house?
• Water collected in the tanka is mostly used for drinking. Why?
• Is rain water collected in your house as well? If yes, how?
• Can there be any other method of collecting water?
• If children share their experiences of local methods of collecting water then they can link the information given in the textbook to their real life.
Just like Madho, Sonal also faces water scarcity in her house. She lives in Bhavnagar. Water is supplied only for half an hour in a day. All the people of the area depend on only a single tap! Can you imagine what happens?
Sonal is determined to take water from the tap. Whenever she gets a chance she fills her bucket even if it is just drop by drop. Let us find out how many drops will fill a bowl or a mug.
• Do activities as shown in the picture and write answers in the boxes.
| 1. How many drops will fill a spoon? | 2. How many spoons will fill a bowl? |
| 3. How many bowls will fill a mug? | 4. How many mugs will fill a bucket? |
Have you seen how we got so much water drop by drop!
• Just think if a tap leaks even drop by drop, how much water would be wasted! These pictures show you something similar.
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• Can you think of ways of saving water? Write your suggestions below:
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• Have you seen water flowing unnecessarily in your home, school or any other place? Where?
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• Look at the pictures on the next page and discuss - Can we use the water that has been used for one purpose for something else?
• In places where there is a scarcity of water, people adopt different methods to save and reuse water. People do this out of necessity. Understanding this, if children adopt certain measures and save water then they can actually understand that ‘Water is for all’.
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• Draw lines using different colours to show which work will be done after the other so that the same water can be re-used. One example has been given.
Washing hands and face
Washing clothes
Washing fruits and vegetables
Mopping the floor
Watering plants
Using in the toilet
Example-
Washing fruits and vegetables -- Watering plants
You have given some suggestions to re-use water. People use these methods only under conditions when there is a scarcity of water. Do you know, one of the reasons for the scarcity of water is because people waste it. Just think, how good it would be if everyone got water !
• Discuss the re-use of water. This would help the children to understand the importance of saving water. It will be useful to listen and adopt suggestions given by the students in this regard.