News
About Us
Contact Us

For Want of a Drink Reading Answers

Bhaskar Das

Jul 30, 2025

For Want of a Drink Reading Answers contain 13 questions and belong to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. For Want of a Drink Reading Answers must be answered within 20 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, question types include: Choose the correct letter, Do the following statements agree with the information, and Write the correct letter.

For Want of a Drink Reading Answers offers a comprehensive overview of Water, essential to life and civilization, which is becoming increasingly scarce due to population growth, agricultural demand, and climate change, creating urgent global challenges in managing its supply and use. To practice similar reading tests, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

Check: Get 10 Free Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

Topic:

A.When the word water appears in print these days, crisis is rarely far behind. Water, as is said, is the new oil: a resource long squandered, now growing expensive and soon to be overwhelmed by insatiable demand. Aquifers are falling, glaciers vanishing, reservoirs drying up and rivers no longer flowing to the sea. Climate change threatens to make the problems worse. Everyone must use less water if famine, pestilence and mass migration are not to sweep the globe. As it is, wars are about to break out between countries over rivers. The language is often overblown and the remedies sometimes ill-conceived, but the underlying truth is clear. Water is indeed scarce in many places, and will grow scarcer. Bringing supply and demand into equilibrium will be painful, and political disputes are sure to increase in both number and intensity in their capacity to cause trouble. To carry on with current practices would indeed be to court disaster.

B.The troubles start with the number of people using the water. When, 50 years ago, the world’s population was about 2.5 billion, worries about water affected relatively few people. Both drought and hunger existed, as they have throughout history, but most people were not threatened by lack of food or water. Then the green revolution, in an inspired combination of new crop breeds, fertilisers and water, made possible a huge rise in the population. The number of people on Earth rose to 6 billion in 2000 and is heading for 9 billion in 2050. The area under irrigation has doubled and the amount of water used for farming has tripled. The proportion of people living in countries chronically short of water, which stood at 8% (500m) at the turn of the 21st century, is set to rise to 45% (4 billion) by 2050. And about 1 billion people go to bed hungry each night, partly for lack of water to grow food.

C.People in temperate climates where the rain falls moderately all the year round may not realise how much water is needed for farming. In Britain farming takes only 3% of all water withdrawals. In the United States, 41% goes for agriculture. For the world as a whole, agriculture accounts for almost 70%. Farmers’ increasing demand for water is caused not only by the growing number of mouths to be fed but also by people’s desire for better-tasting, more interesting food. Unfortunately, it takes nearly five times as much water to grow a kilo of peanuts as a kilo of soya beans, nearly four times as much to produce a kilo of beef as a kilo of chicken, and nearly three times as much to produce a glass of orange juice as a cup of tea. With 2 billion more people around the world about to enter the middle class, the agricultural demands on water would increase even if the population stood still.

D.Most of the Earth’s surface is sea, and the water below it (97% of the total) is salt. In principle the salt can be removed to create supplies of fresh water, but at present desalination is expensive and uses lots of energy. Although costs have come down, no one expects it to provide water for irrigation soon.

E.Of the 2.5% of water that is not salty, about 70% is frozen, either at the poles, in glaciers or in permafrost. All living things, except those in the sea, have about 0.75% of the total to survive on. Most of this available water is stored in underground aquifers or surface lakes and reservoirs or flowing in rivers where it is, with luck, replaced by rainfall and melting snow and ice. There is also, to take note, water vapour in the atmosphere.

F.Many of these conceptual difficulties arise from the unusual aspects of water. It is a commodity whose value varies according to locality, purpose and circumstance. Take locality first. Water is not evenly distributed. Farmers account for 60% of all available fresh supplies and many countries, such as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia and Russia have huge reserves. But in places where the population between them have less than 10% of its water.

G.Even within countries the variations may be huge. The average annual rainfall in India’s northeast is 110 times that in its western desert. And many people have plenty of water, or even far too much, at some times of the year and far too little at others. Most of India’s crucial rain is brought by the monsoon, which falls, with luck, in just a few weeks between June and September. Flooding is routine, and its pattern is becoming harder to predict with climate change.

H.The underground option, once largely ignored, has come to be seen as a miraculous solution: drill a borehole, pump the stuff up and use it until it runs dry, and then drill another. Groundwater has come to the rescue as a replacement for the loss of river and surface water. Groundwater has its benefits. In some places it is replenished in rainfall or surface water recharge. This is serious for millions of people in many cities who often depend on them for their drinking water.

I.All humans, however, need a basic minimum of two litres a day, and for this there is no substitute. No one survives without water. Civilization ruins after a heavy earthquake unless they had access to fresh water to drink. Many people prefer it to any other drink. None of this is new. People have always lived near fresh water or moved to it when the need was urgent. Water has always been seen as sacred or mysterious. Through history, man’s dependence on water has been a means of survival.

J.Water has provided not just life and food but also a means of keeping clean, a mechanism for removing sewage, a home for other animals, a medium in which to swim, on which to skate and sail, a thing of beauty to provide inspiration, to gaze on and to enjoy. No wonder a commodity with so many qualities and associations has proved so difficult to organise.

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has ten paragraphs, A-J.

Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-J.

1. The aquifers are overdrawn in some areas.

Answer: H

Supporting statement: “drill a borehole, pump the stuff up and use it until it runs dry…”

Keywords: aquifers, groundwater, runs dry

Keyword Location: Paragraph H

Explanation: Paragraph H explains how underground water sources (aquifers) are being used unsustainably, drying out over time as people continue to drill new boreholes.

2. Water is essential for our daily life.

Answer: I

Supporting statement: “All humans, however, need a basic minimum of two litres a day… No one survives without water.”

Keywords: essential, minimum daily requirement, survive

Keyword Location: Paragraph I

Explanation: The paragraph highlights the irreplaceable and life-sustaining role of water for humans.

3. More delicious and processed food contribute to the increasing consumption of water.

Answer: C

Supporting statement: “…people’s desire for better-tasting, more interesting food… it takes nearly five times as much water to grow a kilo of peanuts as a kilo of soya beans…”

Keywords: delicious food, more water needed

Keyword Location: Paragraph C

Explanation: The passage explains that water usage in agriculture is rising due to both population and changing food preferences.

4. Negative effects on the water consumption owe much to the demographic changes.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: “The troubles start with the number of people using the water…”

Keywords: population, demographic, water consumption

Keyword Location: Paragraph B

Explanation: Rising population and the green revolution are cited as key drivers behind water scarcity.

5. The precipitation is unevenly distributed in one nation state or area.

Answer: G

Supporting statement: “The average annual rainfall in India’s northeast is 110 times that in its western desert.”

Keywords: uneven distribution, rainfall, region

Keyword Location: Paragraph G

Explanation: This paragraph focuses on variability of rainfall even within a single country like India.

Questions 6-7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 6-7 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6. The supply of water is finite and the situation is getting worse.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: “Water is indeed scarce in many places, and will grow scarcer.”

Keywords: finite, worse

Keyword Location: Paragraph A

Explanation: The passage clearly states that water scarcity is increasing.

7. Most farmers were vexed by the problems caused by the deficiency of water nearly half a century ago.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “50 years ago… most people were not threatened by lack of food or water.”

Keywords: 50 years ago, not threatened

Keyword Location: Paragraph B

Explanation: The paragraph contradicts the statement by saying water shortage wasn’t a major issue then.

Questions 8-12

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 8-12 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

8. The water consumption in farming may climb up while matching against static population.

Answer: YES

Supporting statement: “…agricultural demands on water would increase even if the population stood still.”

Keywords: static population, increase in demand

Keyword Location: Paragraph C

Explanation: Rising demand for more complex food causes water use to grow even with no population change.

9. Desalination has experienced a series of great breakthroughs in technology.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “Although costs have come down, no one expects it to provide water for irrigation soon.”

Keywords: desalination, not advanced enough

Keyword Location: Paragraph D

Explanation: It admits cost reductions, but says desalination is still expensive and energy-intensive.

10. Most global freshwater resources are in liquid state.

Answer: NO

Supporting statement: “Of the 2.5% of water that is not salty, about 70% is frozen…”

Keywords: freshwater, frozen

Keyword Location: Paragraph E

Explanation: Most freshwater is not in liquid form; it’s frozen.

11. Brazil has more available water than Russia.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: Both are mentioned as water-rich countries, but no direct comparison is made.

12. More important than our daily food and domestic dwellings, water is seen as a human right and a totally free source for everyone.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Explanation: While the text highlights the importance and sacredness of water, it does not discuss it as a human right or free for all.

Question 13

Choose the correct letter.

13. The writer's aim in this passage is

A. to warn that most Western governments have underestimated their chronic shortage of water.

B. to prove that water is a commodity that is too difficult to manage.

C. to make believe that water is another kind of the new oil.

D. to show that water is finite, vital but little understood and looks unmanageable.

Answer: D. to show that water is finite, vital but little understood and looks unmanageable.

Supporting statement: “Water is indeed scarce… Bringing supply and demand into equilibrium will be painful…”

Keywords: finite, vital, difficult to manage

Keyword Location: Paragraph A and throughout

Explanation: The entire article underscores the complexity and importance of water, alongside its scarcity and management challenges.

Check IELTS reading samples:

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

Comments

No comments to show
Practice Paper
Also Check
IELTS Overview
IELTS IELTS Exam Dates
IELTS IELTS Results
IELTS IELTS Writing Task 2
IELTS IELTS Reading
IELTS IELTS Speaking Topics
IELTS IELTS Preparation
IELTS IELTS Listening
IELTS IELTS Exam Pattern
IELTS IELTS Practice Papers
IELTS IELTS Coaching in India
IELTS IELTS Cutoff
IELTS News