Rainwater Harvesting Reading Answers

Jan 31, 2023

Rainwater Harvesting Reading Answers contains sample answers about the crafty nature of crow. Rainwater Harvesting Reading Answers comprising 13 different types of questions. IELTS Rainwater Harvesting Reading Answers contains two types of questions, namely- answer in one word and yes/no/not given. Candidates are required to read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly and answer the given questions using one word for each answer from the passage. Candidates are supposed to answer whether the stated statements match with the claims of the author or not, write not given if it is not stated in the passage. To gain proficiency, candidates can practise from the IELTS Reading practice papers

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Rainwater Harvesting Reading Answers

For two years southern Sri Lanka suffered a prolonged drought, described by locals as “the worst in 50 years”. Some areas didn’t see a successful crop for four or five consecutive seasons. Livestock died, water in wells dropped to dangerously low levels, children were increasingly malnourished and school attendance has fallen. An estimated 1.6 million people were affected.

Muthukandiya is a village in Moneragala district, one of the drought-stricken areas in the “dry zone” of southern Sri Lanka, where half the country’s population of 18 million lives. Rainfall in the area varies greatly from year to year, often bringing extreme dry spells in between monsoons. But this drought was much worse than usual. Despite some rain in November, only half of Moneragala’s 1,400 tube wells were in working order by March. The drought devastated supplies of rice and freshwater fish, the staple diet of inland villages. Many local industries closed down and villagers headed for the towns in search of work.
The villagers of muthukandiya arrived in the 1970s as part of a government resettlement scheme. Each family was given six acres of land, with no irrigation system. Because crop production, which relies entirely on rainfall, is insufficient to support most families, the village economy relies on men and women working as day-laborers in nearby sugar-cane plantations. Three wells have been dug to provide domestic water, but these run dry for much of the year. Women and children may spend several hours each day walking up to three miles (five kilometers) to fetch water for drinking, washing, and cooking.
In 1998, communities in the district discussed water problems with Practical Action South Asia. What followed was a drought mitigation initiative based on a low-cost “rainwater harvesting” technology already used in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the region. It uses tanks to collect and store rain channeled by gutters and pipes as it runs off the roofs of houses.
Despite an indigenous tradition of rain-water harvesting and irrigation systems going back to the third century BC, policy-makers in modern times have often overlooked the value of such technologies, and it is only recently that officials have taken much interest in household-level structures. Government and other programmes have, however, been top-down in their conception and application, installing tanks free of charge without providing training in the skills needed to build and maintain them properly. Practical Action South Asia’s project deliberately took a different approach, aiming to build up a local skills base among builders and users of the tanks, and to create structures and systems so that communities can manage their own rainwater harvesting schemes.
The community of Muthukandiya was involved throughout. Two meetings were held where villagers analysed their water problems, developed a mitigation plan and selected the rainwater harvesting technology. Two local masons received several days’ on-the-job training in building the 5,000-litre household storage tanks: surface tanks out of Ferro-cement and underground tanks out of brick. Each system, including tank, pipes, gutters and filters, cost US$195 – equivalent to a month’s income for an average village family. Just over half the cost was provided by the community, in the form of materials and unskilled labour. Practical Action South Asia contributed the rest, including cement, transport and payment for the skilled labour. Households learned how to use and maintain the tanks, and the whole community was trained to keep domestic water supplies clean. A village rainwater harvesting society was set up to run the project. To date, 37 families in and around Muthukandiya have storage tanks. Evaluations show clearly that households with rainwater storage tanks have considerably more water for domestic needs than households relying entirely on wells and ponds. During the driest months, households with tanks may have up to twice as much water available. Their water is much cleaner, too.
Nandawathie, a widow in the village, has taken full advantage of the opportunities that rainwater harvesting has brought her family. With a better water supply now close at hand, she began by growing a few vegetables. The income from selling these helped her to open a small shop on her doorstep. This increased her earnings still further, enabling her to apply for a loan to install solar power in her house. She is now thinking of building another tank in her garden so that she can grow more vegetables. Nandawathie also feels safer now that she no longer has to fetch water from the village well in the early morning or late evening. She says that her children no longer complain so much of diarrhoea. And her daughter Sandamalee has more time for school work.
In the short term, and on a small scale, the project has clearly been a success. The challenge lies in making such initiatives sustainable and expanding their coverage. At a purely technical level, rainwater harvesting is evidently sustainable. In Muthukandiya, the skills required to build and maintain storage tanks were taught fairly easily and can be shared by the two trained masons, who are now finding work with other development agencies in the district.
The non-structural elements of the work, especially it’s financial and organizational, present a bigger challenge. A revolving fund was set up, with households that had already benefited agreeing to contribute a small monthly amount to pay for maintenance, repairs and new tanks. However, it appears that the revolving fund concept was not fully understood and it has proved difficult to get households to contribute. Recovering costs from interventions that do not generate income directly will always be a difficult proposition, although this can be overcome if the process is explained more fully at the outset.
The Muthkandiya initiative was planned as a demonstration project, to show that community-based drought mitigation through rainwater harvesting was feasible. Several other organizations have begun their own projects using the same approach. The feasibility of introducing larger tanks is being investigated.
However, a lot of effort and patience are needed to generate interest, develop the skills and organize the management structures needed to implement sustainable community-based projects. It will probably be some time before rainwater harvesting technologies can spread rapidly and spontaneously across the district’s villages, without external support.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-6:
Answer the questions below
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Question 1: What is the major way for local people make barely support of living in Muthukandiya village?

Answer: Crop production
Supporting Sentence: Each family was given six acres of land, with no irrigation system. Because crop production, which relies entirely on rainfall, is insufficient to support most families.
Keyword: Major way, local people, support, living
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Lines 2-3
Explanation: A six-acre plot of land without an irrigation system was given to each family, according to paragraph B. This area was primarily used by the locals of Muthukandiya village for the growing of crops, which served as their main source of subsistence. Therefore, the answer is crop production.

Question 2: Where can adult workers make extra money from in the daytime?

Answer: sugar-cane plantations
Supporting Sentence: Because crop production, which relies entirely on rainfall, is insufficient to support most families, the village economy relies on men and women working as day-laborers in nearby sugar-cane plantations.
Keyword: Adult workers, extra money, daytime
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 3
Explanation: According to paragraph B, the primary means by which the locals made a living in the community was through crop production. Adult employees, however, had to labour on sugar cane plantations during the day in order to supplement their income. Thus, the right answer is sugar-cane plantation.

Question 3: What has been dug to supply water for daily household life?

Answer: three wells
Supporting Sentence: Three wells have been dug to provide domestic water, but these run dry for much of the year.Women and children may spend several hours each day walking up to three miles (five kilometers) to fetch water for drinking, washing, and cooking.
Keyword: Dug, supply water, household life
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Line 4-5
Explanation: According to paragraph B, three wells have been dug to supply water to the average family. Locals must spend hours every day trekking up to three kilometres to get water from them because they are dry for the majority of the year. Hence, the answer is three-wells.

Question 4: In which year did the plan of a new project to lessen the effect of drought begins?

Answer: 1998
Supporting Sentence: In 1998, communities in the district discussed water problems with Practical Action South Asia. What followed was a drought mitigation initiative based on a low-cost “rainwater harvesting” technology already used in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the region
Keyword: Plan, new project, effect, drought
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 1-2
Explanation: According to paragraph C, locals in the district spoke with Practical Action South Asia about their water issues in 1998. What came next was a drought relief programme based on a low-cost "rainwater harvesting" technique. It was already in use in Sri Lanka and other countries in the region. Therefore, the right answer is 1988.

Question 5: Where do the gutters and pipes collect rainwater from?

Answer: roofs of houses
Supporting Sentence: It uses tanks to collect and store rain channeled by gutters and pipes as it runs off the roofs of houses
Keyword: Gutters, piper, collect, rainwater
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 3
Explanation: According to paragraph C, the "rainfall harvesting" method is low-cost and employs gutters and pipelines to collect rainwater from roofs of homes. Hence, the answer is roofs of houses.

Question 6: What helps the family obtain more water for domestic needs than those relying on only wells and ponds?

Answer: rainwater storage tanks
Supporting Sentence: Evaluations show clearly that households with rainwater storage tanks have considerably more water for domestic needs than households relying entirely on wells and ponds. During the driest months, households with tanks may have up to twice as much water available.
Keyword: Obtain, domestic needs, wells and ponds
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Last few lines
Explanation: According to the evaluations, families using rainwater storage tanks have more water for their domestic purposes, as stated in paragraph E. They have nearly twice as much water as families who primarily rely on wells and ponds, even during the driest months. Hence, the answer is a rainwater shortage tank.

Questions 7-13:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 7-13 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement is true
NO if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

(Guide: In this task type, the candidates are required to study the passage properly then answer the questions marked from 7-13. Each question’s answer will either be true or false or not given.)

Question 7: Most of the government’s actions and other programs have somewhat failed.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: The relevant information regarding the statement is not given in the passage.

Question 8: Masons were trained for the constructing parts of the rainwater harvesting system.

Answer: YES
Supporting Sentence: Two local masons received several days’ on-the-job training in building the 5,000-litre household storage tanks: surface tanks out of Ferro-cement and underground tanks out of brick.
Keyword: Masons, trained, constructing, rainwater harvesting system
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Line 3
Explanation: The 5,000-litre domestic storage tanks were constructed by two local masons who were trained on the job for several days, according to paragraph E. Brick-built underground tanks and ferro-cement surface tanks. Thus, the answer is yes.

Question 9: The cost of rainwater harvesting systems was shared by local villagers and the local government.

Answer: NO
Supporting Sentence: Each system, including tank, pipes, gutters and filters, cost US$195 – equivalent to a month’s income for an average village family. Just over half the cost was provided by the community, in the form of materials and unskilled labour. Practical Action South Asia contributed the rest, including cement, transport and payment for the skilled labour.
Keyword: Cost, shared, local villagers, government
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Lines 4-6\
Explanation: According to paragraph E, installing a single rainwater harvesting system will run you about US$195. The locals in the area contributed to the setup costs, with approximately half of the total cost coming from materials and unskilled labour. Cement, transportation, and compensation for trained labour were covered by the remaining funds from Practical Action South Asia. Therefore, the answer is no.

Question 10: Tanks increase both the amount and quality of the water for domestic use.

Answer: YES
Supporting Sentence: Evaluations show clearly that households with rainwater storage tanks have considerably more water for domestic needs than households relying entirely on wells and ponds. During the driest months, households with tanks may have up to twice as much water available. Their water is much cleaner, too.
Keyword: Tanks, amount, quality, domestic
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Last 3 lines
Explanation: The quality of water for use in residential tasks can be improved, according to paragraph E, thanks to storage tanks. Evaluations also reveal that even during the driest months, households with rainwater harvesting systems had almost twice as much water available. Furthermore, it mentions how much cleaner water is. So, the answer is yes.

Question 11: To send her daughter to school, a widow had to work for a job in a rainwater harvesting scheme.

Answer: NO
Supporting Sentence: Nandawathie, a widow in the village, has taken full advantage of the opportunities that rainwater harvesting has brought her family. With a better water supply now close at hand, she began by growing a few vegetables. The income from selling these helped her to open a small shop on her doorstep.
Keyword: Daughter, school, widow, rainwater harvesting system
Keyword Location: Paragraph F
Explanation: The widow in the village is described in paragraph E as having fully benefited from rainwater harvesting. Firstly, by planting a limited number of vegetables before developing a tiny business. It is obvious that the widow did not need to work for a position in the rainwater harvesting system in order to pay for her daughter's education. Therefore, the answer is no.

Question 12: Households benefited began to pay part of the maintenance or repairs.

Answer: YES
Supporting Sentence: A revolving fund was set up, with households that had already benefited agreeing to contribute a small monthly amount to pay for maintenance, repairs and new tanks. However, it appears that the revolving fund concept was not fully understood and it has proved difficult to get households to contribute.
Keyword: Households, benefited, pay, maintenance
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Lines 1-2
Explanation: According to paragraph H, a revolving fund was established so that households that had already benefited from it may make a small monthly payment. The upkeep, repairs, and installation of new tanks are covered by this. Thus, the answer is yes.

Question 13: Training two masons at the same time is much more preferable to training a single one.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: The relevant information regarding the statement is not given in the passage.

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