The document discusses the water cycle and sources of water. It explains that water comes from surface sources like oceans, rivers and lakes as well as ground sources like wells and ponds. It describes how rainwater percolates into porous soil and rock, getting stored in interconnected spaces within these materials. Some rocks and clay are more porous and permeable than others, affecting how much water they can store. The stored groundwater fills up the spaces and forms an underground water table. Maintaining porous and permeable materials is important for replenishing groundwater supplies.

1. Water Cycle

2. • Sources of water can be classified as surface
water and ground water.
• Oceans, rivers, lakes and backwaters are the
sources of fresh water. The water level in
these are very shallow.
• Wells, ponds, tube wells. etc are the sources
of ground water.

3. • Rain drops percolate into tiny pore spaces of
the soil and get collected there. There are
numerous pore spaces into the soil.
• Porosity is the term for the porous material.
Clay is an example for porous materials.
• Under normal conditions these pores will be
filled with air. These pores will be filled with
water when rain occurs.
• Some rocks are also porous. Such rocks can
absorb more water.

4. • But water will be available only at places where
the pores in the rocks are inter-connected. This
is due to the fact that water can move through
these pores. These quality of rocks is known as
permeability.
• All porous materials need no have permeability.
For example, clay has high porosity but low
permeability. This means that it will not permit
water to pass through. these why paddy fields
have water.
• Nature has arrangements to store rain water for
rainless periods.
• Water scarcity will be the result if we disrupt the
chances of water to percolate into ground.

6. • The soil moisture increases with depth.
• Water filled in these pores of the rock fills up the
pit through percolation.
• The abundance of water is because of the fact
that all the pores in this zone is filled with water.
• The surface of the water-rich part beneath the
ground is known as water table.
• The water stored beneath the ground is the
Underground water