Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions.

Imagine you are in a quiz show on television and the host says, ‘Write down six non-domestic uses of water in two minutes?’ What would you write?

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If in two minutes you wrote ‘irrigation, industry, mining, power generation, aquaculture, recreation’, you were right!

The following statements relate to water supply from a drinking water treatment plant in a large town. Fill in the blanks, using the words given below, and then put the statements in the right order.

distribution mains; river; cut in water supply; service reservoirs; lake; safe for human consumption; transmission mains.

  1. Water is taken from the treatment plant to ………………………… by …………………………
  2. Raw water is abstracted from a ………………………… or a …………………………
  3. Water is stored at home in case of a …………………………
  4. Water is taken from the service reservoirs to consumers by …………………………
  5. Water undergoes treatment so that it is …………………………

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The completed statements, in the correct order, are as follows:

  1. Raw water is abstracted from a river or a lake.
  2. Water undergoes treatment so that it is safe for human consumption.
  3. Water is taken from the treatment plant to service reservoirs by transmission mains.
  4. Water is taken from the service reservoirs to consumers by distribution mains.
  5. Water is stored at home in case of a cut in water supply.

Which of the following would not help in improving the water supply situation in low-income countries? Give your reasons.

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The following would not help:

Ensuring that the local water office always has new members of staff so that they are enthusiastic. It is better to have staff who stay on in their jobs as they will gain experience and manage the system well.

Reducing the interaction between the different organisations involved so that less time is wasted. Interaction between stakeholders is important because they need to coordinate their activities with each other.