Water Supply

Meaning of Water:

Water is a colourless liquid without taste or smell. Water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. The proportion of hydrogen to oxygen is about two to one by volume.

Water is an essential element for all living things, and it is something we cannot survive without. Water is found on Earth from two sources: groundwater and surface water. 

Main Sources of Water:

1. Surface Water:

Surface water refers to all the freshwater water bodies present on the Earth’s surface, such as streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands, as well as other bodies of water like oceans and seas.

2. Groundwater:

Groundwater is fresh water found beneath the Earth’s surface in rocks and soil pore spaces that are saturated and can transmit water, called aquifers.

Aquifers are underground formations, typically found beneath the Earth’s surface, where groundwater is stored and moves through the pore spaces and fractures within rocks and soil. These pore spaces act like tiny chambers filled with water, allowing the groundwater to flow and be extracted.

Groundwater can be extracted using a water well and a pump, often motor-driven, to bring the water to the surface.

Groundwater originates when rainfall and snow/ice travel through the soil and into cavities and fractures within the Earth’s bedrock.