Q 43 – True or False
(a) freshwater is mainly obtained from surface runoff and groundwater that is continually being renewed and recharged through the oxygen cycle. (False)
(b) Nearly 70 per cent of the freshwater occurs as ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and the Mountain regions of the world. (True)
(c) It is predicted that by 2025, nearly two billion people will live in absolute water scarcity. (True)
(d) A little less than 40 per cent of freshwater is stored as groundwater in the world’s aquifers. (False)
(e) Water stress occurs when water availability is less than 2,000 cubic metres per person per day. (False)
(f) Water scarcity may be an outcome of large and growing population. (True)
(g) To facilitate higher food-grain production water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated areas and dry season agriculture. (True)
(h) Increasing number of industries have made matters worse by exerting pressure on existing freshwater resources. (True)
(i) Sometimes scarcity of water may be due to bad quality of water. (True)