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www.GOALias.blogspot.combodies. The water is drawn fromnearby lakes, rivers, ponds orwells. The water is suppliedthrough a network of pipes.Many villages do not have sucha water supply system. Therepeople fetch water directly fromthe sources. Often women andchildren have to walk severalkilometres to fetch water(Fig. 16.6). The children suffera lot. They cannot attendschool regularly since theyspend hours in fetching water.Women have toperform a number ofhousehold chores. If they havealso to spend time to fetch waterit adds to their burden.A large number of people draw waterfrom wells, tube wells or hand pumps.From where do these sources get water?16.3 GROUNDWATERAS AN IMPORTANTSOURCEOF WATERIf we dig a hole in the ground near awater body we may find that the soil ismoist. The moisture in the soil indicatesthe presence of water underground. Ifwe dig deeper and deeper, we wouldreach a level where all the space betweenparticles of soil and gaps between rocksare filled with water (Fig. 16.7). Theupper limit of this layer is called thewater table. The water table varies fromFig. 16.6 Women fetching waterplace to place, and it may even changeat a given place. The water table may beat a depth of less than a metre or maybe several metres below the ground. Thewater found below the water table iscalled groundwater. What is the sourceof this groundwater?The rainwater and water from othersources such as rivers and ponds seepsthrough the soil and fills the emptyspaces and cracks deep below theground. The process of seeping of waterinto the ground is called infiltration.The groundwater thus gets rechargedby this process. At places thegroundwater is stored between layers ofhard rock below the water table. This isknown as an aquifer. Water in theaquifers can be usually pumped out withthe help of tube wells or handpumps.Have you ever been to a site whereconstruction work is going on? FromATER: : A PRECIOUSWATERATER197RECIOUS RESOURCE197