“Water: A True Elixir” is a comprehensive exploration of the vital role that water plays in sustaining life on Earth. This informative work delves into the various aspects of water, including its chemical properties, significance in ecosystems, and its essential role in human health and development. Read More Class 11 English Summaries.
Water- A True Elixir Summary
Water- A True Elixir Summary in English:
This essay underlines the need of water conservation. Ninety-seven percent of water available on earth is salty ocean water. The remaining three percent water is fresh water, but most of it is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. Only one percent of water is available which is fit for drinking.
Besides this, the Earth’s water supply is fixed. No new water is being made. So we must preserve the quality of water available to us. Water is the basis of all life. We can live without food for a number of days. But we cannot live without water for a day even.
A great writer and scientist, C.V. Raman, has truly said that water is the real elixir of life available on earth. Without it, no life is possible. Today there is a great necessity of conserving water.
Forests play à vital role in the conservation of water.
In the forests, water seeps gently into the ground as vegetation breaks the flow of water. This groundwater in turn feeds wells, lakes and rivers. In ancient India, people believed that the forests were the ‘mothers of rivers. So they worshipped the forests. But modern man, in his greed, has cut down the trees and the forests.
Water is not only the real elixir of life, it is also a source of beauty and joy. Little streams trickling down the rocks give joy to our soul. And big rivers dancing down the hills present beautiful scenes to our eyes. Various water bodies like lakes, brooks, rivers, waterfalls, oceans have received rich tributes from many writers and poets.
The great writer and scientist, C.V. Raman, compares water in a landscape to the eyes in a human face. Eyes lend a unique beauty to the human face. Similarly, water in a landscape adds a unique beauty to the landscape.
However, this precious gift is in danger today. Rising populations, growing industrialization and expanding agriculture have, no doubt, increased the consumption of water. But besides consuming, we are also wasting it. We are using it for wasteful purposes.
Moreover, by cutting down our forests, we have disturbed the water cycle also. As a result, the water level is sinking year after year. And if this continues, a day will come when life would become impossible on this earth. To prevent that, we will have to conserve every drop of water.
The food bowl of India, the state of Punjab, is drying up very fast. It is on the verge of an economical disaster. The number of tubewells has grown up from 1.2 lakh in 1970 to about 13 lakh now. So the ground water decline rate has reached an alarming level.
Summary of Water- A True Elixir
And due to the excessive decline in water table, nitrate presence in water has gone up by 10 times in the past four decades. In 1972, it was 0.5 mg / litre. But now it has increased to 5 mg/litre. And the excessive use of pesticides and insecticides by the farmers is multiplying the problem. And in the coming 20-25 years, water in Punjab will not remain fit for drinking.
The groundwater level in Punjab is, no doubt, falling due to over-exploitation of water resources. It is going down by 60 cm every year. But besides this, the major share of water is taken by rice-wheat cropping system. It may be noticed that 1 kilogram of rice consumes about 3500 litres of water for its growth. So there is a great need to change the present cropping pattern which is continually lowering the groundwater levels.
The technologies related to soil and agronomic management should be adopted to save water. For using available water resources properly, water users’ associations should be constituted. Various technologies for enhancing artificial groundwater recharge should also be adopted. In short, we should conserve every drop of water to make this earth liveable for our coming generations.
Water- A True Elixir Translation in English
Water is one of the most important gifts of Nature to Man. It is as essential to life as air. Life is not possible without air or water. But with the advation of civilization, it sometimes goes unnoticed that air and water, the two lifelines of this universe, are being polluted every day.
A day might come when this level of pollution increases so much that life becomes impossible. In that situation, air would become toxic to be breathed in and water would become poisonous.
Are we not thus robbing or disinheriting’ our future generations from their legitimate right to live We must set things right before it is too late. If the present generation does not read the writing on the waif, it would be willfully closing its eyes and pushing the future of mankind into jeopardy and extinction.
The author, Dr D. V. Jindal, is a senior lecturer, PES (I), retired from SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana. Having been a member of various academic bodies at various levels, he is presently a member of the External Faculty, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. A Ph.D. in Phonetics from Panjab University, Chandigarh, he is an author of several books on language and literature.
Water covers about 75 percent of our planet, so it appears plentiful. However, 97 percent of that water is salty ocean water, which we cannot drink. Of the 3 percent that is fresh water, most is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. As a result, only 1 percent of the Earth’s water may be available for drinking.
Moreover, the Earths water supply is fixed : no new water is being made. We have the same amount of water now as there was when the earth was created. This is the water we have, and we must preserve its quality. Water is the foundation of food and life. Next to air, water is our most precious resource. We cannot live without water.
C. V. Raman has rightly said, “’Man has through the ages sought in vain the imaginary elixir of life, the divine amrita, a draught of which was thought to confer immortality. But the true elixir of life lies near to our hands.
For it is the commonest of all liquids, plain water !” That is why most of our civilizations and important cities grew on the banks of big rivers only. Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems that prevailed in those days.
The Indus Valley Civilization, that flourished along the banks of the river Indus and other parts of western and northern India about 5,000 years ago, had one of the most sophisticated urban water supply and sewerage systems in the world. The fact that the people were well acquainted with hygiene can be seen from the covered drains running beneath the streets of the ruins at both Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
In the forests, water seeps gently into the ground as vegetation breaks the flow of water. This groundwater in turn feeds wells, lakes, and rivers. Protecting forests means protecting water ‘catchments’. In ancient India, people believed that forests were the ‘mothers’ of rivers and worshipped the sources of these water bodies.
Water- A True Elixir short Summary
Water is a source of beauty and joy. It adds to the beauty of nature. It may be a little stream trickling down the rocks or a waterfall, big or small. It is a joy to the eyes and a freshening breath of beauty to the mind. Brooks and rivers dancing down the hills on their majestic journey to the sea in their serpentine ways add a touch of novelty to the scene.
Small tanks, lakes or big oceans earn rich tributes from sensitive poets. A great writer wrote : “Water in a landscape may be compared to the eyes in a human face. It reflects the mood of the hour, being bright and gay9 when the sun shines, turning to dark and gloomy when the sky is overcast.”
Over the years, rising populations, growing industrialization, and expanding agriculture have pushed up the demand for water. Efforts have been made to collect water by building dams and reservoirs and digging wells.
Some countries have also tried to recycle and desalinate (remove salts) water. Water conservation has become the need of the day. While the availability of water can turn millions of acres of uncultivated land into areas teeming with life and vegetation, the absence of water can convert fertile lands into dry, barren lifeless tracts of death.
Conservation of water in the agricultural sector is essential but depleting water table and a rise in salinity due to overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is something serious. The food bowl of India, the state of Punjab, is fast drying up. It is on the verge of an ecological disaster.
The number of tubewells has grown up from 1.2 lakh in 1970 to about 13 lakh now and the groundwater decline rate has reached an alarming level. The worst affected districts are Sangrur and Moga where the water table is below 50 feet.
Water- A True Elixir essay
The Punjab Irrigation Minister admitted on the floor of the house in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha (29.06.12) that groundwater was continuously declining in 85% areas of the state. Worse, nitrate presence in water has gone up by 10 times in the past four decades. Another M.L.A. said, “The quality of water in 1972 was such that it had 0.5mg / litre of nitrate.
As of now, it has increased to 5mg / litre. And going by the excessive use of insecticides and pesticides by our farmers, it is expected to reach 10 mg / litre in the next 20 years. This means that water in the Punjab will cease to be potable for humans and animals in the next 20-25 years. Presence of nitrate up to 10 mg / litre renders it unfit for drinking.”
High levels of arsenic, nitrates and heavy metals in water are causing severe health problems across the whole of the Punjab. High nitrate levels in water can result in a reduced oxygen supply to vital tissues such as the brain. The state should, therefore, make a comprehensive policy on the issue on a top-priority basis. Departments of soil conservation, irrigation, electricity and agriculture should work in cohesion to meet this challenge.
According to the findings of the National Geophysical Research Institute, due to the over exploitation of water resources, the groundwater levels are going down by 60 cm every year.
The Punjab has, in less than 30 years, used up groundwater reserves built up over the last 105 years. In order to reach the water table, farmers are forced to dig deeper and deeper into the ground and use more power to pump out water. Even residents in cities using hand pump water are having to dig deeper than they did, say, 10 years ago.
The excessive decline in the water table is resulting in low discharge of tubewells, deepening of pits and tubewells, replacement of low-cost centrifugal pumps with costlier submersible pumps and increased energy cost, thereby affecting the socio-economic condition of small and marginal farmers of the state.
In the state, major share of water is taken by rice-wheat cropping system. It may be noticed that 1 kilogram of rice consumes 3500-4000 litres of water for its growth (depending upon its variety, sowing time, area, etc.). Therefore, it is the requirement of the present situation that the traditional cropping pattern should be changed immediately.
Moreover, there is a need to strictly switch over to the technologies related to soil and agronomic management that save water without a loss in crop yields leading to higher productivity per unit use of water. These technologies include planting and transplanting time of crops, irrigation scheduling and new irrigation methods, (e. g. sprinkler, drip, furrow, etc.) For using available water resources effectively and efficiently , water users’ associations / societies should be constituted.
Various measures technologies for enhancing artificial-5 groundwater recharge should also be adopted. We must hear the warning bells and act before it is too late. Every drop of water is precious and needs to be saved wherever and in whatever way it is possible.
Every day in rural communities and poor urban centres throughout India, hundreds of millions of people suffer from a lack of access to clean, safe water. Women and girls especially bear the burden of walking miles at a time to gather water from streams and ponds full of water-borne diseases that are making them and their families sick.
What each of us does in the world, how we live, does make a difference. We should learn the value of clean, safe water. We should take steps to protect it and to get it to the people who lack access to it today.
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