SOURCES OF WATER

             SOURCES OF WATER

Life on earth would not have been possible without the presence of water. Water covers the biggest portion of the earth. The earth is therefore just a small portion of the planet earth. Aside its dominance in terms of proportion on the earth surface, it is also fund below the earth surface and also in the air as vapour. The human body need water to survive. Water constitutes about 70%  of the human body. The body of all plants and animals also contain water.

Water has many sources. The bible says God created water Genesis 1verse 6 and verse 9-10; (And God said, let there be a firmament in the water above and the water below) verse 9 (let the water below be gathered together into one place) verse 10 He called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters, he called sea. Christians throw more light on this issue and even state another point that God makes the rain fall. Moslems have divergent views about the sources of water .

According to Muslims, the Qur’an talks about the matter and also referred to the source of water: Surat Al-Mu’’minun-verse 8(And we sent down from the sky water (rain) in (due) measure, and we gave it lodging in the earth,and verily, we are able to take it away. This verse stipulates that the water inside the earth such as the groundwater is the rains, and this is scientifically proven. Another verse is Surat A-Hijr- verse 22 (We send the wind fertilizing then cause the water to descend from the sky and we give it to you to drink and its not you who are the owners of its store). According to the Qur’an, water is stored inside the earth from the water of rain. This is scientifically proven.

We have natural sources of water and artificial or man-made sources of water. Example of natural sources of water are;  Rainwater, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and springs. Dams, wells, tube wells, hand-pumps, canals, etc are artificial or man-made sources of water.

There is an exception to the above. That is, lakes as mentioned earlier are a natural source of water but there are instances where some lakes are made artificially. An example is the Volta Lake in Ghana.

 

This is a picture of the volta lake in Ghana. It is an artificial lake made to provide hydro-electric power.

Rain water collects on the earth in the form of surface water and underground  water. Surface water refers to water present on the surface of the earth. Examples are lakes, rivers, oceans,streams, etc. Water in the lakes and rivers come from the rain and melting of snow from the mountain. Rivers flow into the sea

When it rains, some rain water seeps through the pores in the soil unto the non-porous rocks below the earth surface. This is called underground water. Underground water can be obtained by digging wells, sinking tube wells, etc.

 

This is a picture of rain drops falling on the ground.