Safe and Wholesome Water: Definition Criteria
The definition of safe and wholesome water focuses on characteristics vital for health and palatability. Let's analyze the options:
- Free from harmful chemical substances: This is a crucial aspect of water safety. Contaminants like lead, arsenic, or pesticides make water unsafe.
- Pleasant to the taste: While safety is primary, "wholesome" often implies palatability. Water with an offensive taste or odor is generally not considered desirable or fully wholesome, even if technically safe.
- Available at comfortable temperature: Temperature affects the desirability and pleasantness of drinking water but is not a fundamental criterion for determining if water is safe (free from health hazards) or wholesome (meeting general quality expectations). It's a factor of convenience, not safety.
- Free from pathogenic agents: This is the most critical aspect of water safety. Pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa can cause serious waterborne diseases.
Identifying the Exception
Based on the analysis:
- Options 1 (chemicals) and 4 (pathogens) are essential for water safety.
- Option 2 (taste) relates to the "wholesome" aspect, making water acceptable for consumption.
- Option 3 (temperature) is related to user comfort and preference, not a core requirement for safety or wholesomeness.
Therefore, water being available at a comfortable temperature is the characteristic that is NOT a required part of the definition of safe and wholesome water.
Important Questions from Basics of Environment
The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 seeks to implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Which of the following statements is correct about CITES?
1. CITES is an agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in the specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
2. Under CITES, plant and animal specimens are classified into five categories based on the threat to their extinction.
3. The Convention requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.
4. It also seeks to regulate the possession of live animal specimens.
Given below are two statements : One is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R):
Assertion (A): Green hydrogen production will be critical for world community to achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2050.
Reason (R): The energy content of hydrogen gas is much higher than that of coal.
In the light of the above statements. choose the correct answer from the options given below :
For drinking and irrigation purposes, the availability of suitable water out of earth’s total water supplies is about less than
Permafrost is defining characteristic of which biome?
Identify the features associated with Kyoto Protocol.
(A) Heavier burden on developed countries to cut down greenhouse gas emissions.
(B) International emissions trading.
(C) Nationally determined contributions.
(D) Clean Development Mechanism.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
