NCERT Solutions Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 2: Journey of a River

NCERT Textbook — Our Wondrous World

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

21 – 37 18 37 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 47 pages

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US · OUR WONDROUS WORLD

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 2: Journey of a River
Chapter 2 of Our Wondrous World continues Unit 1, Life Around Us. This time the river herself tells the story.
She is the Godavari. She begins in the Brahmagiri Hills at Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra, gathers streams
and tributaries as she grows, feeds towns, fields and forests, is held back by more than 900 dams, is hurt by
waste and dirty water, floods when the rain is too much, and finally spreads into a delta at the Coringa
Mangrove Forests before joining the Bay of Bengal. The chapter carries 7 Activities, three Write boxes, one
Discuss box, several questions asked inside the running text, and the closing Let us reflect set of 8 items.
There is no separate exercise at the end — the questions are spread through the chapter.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Our Wondrous World (Class 5) 21 – 37

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

18 37

MEDIUM

English

In-text Question — Page 21
Where I Begin, Where I Flow

Q1 I have no feet, but I travel far, / Through fields and forests, under moon and star. / I
quench your thirst and help plants grow, / From mountain to sea, I quietly flow.
Who am I?

A river. In this chapter the river who is speaking is the Godavari.
Read the riddle again, one line at a time. Every line is a clue.

THE LINE WHAT IT TELLS YOU

“I have no feet, but I travel far” It moves without legs — water flows. The Godavari travels
1,465 kilometres.

“Through fields and forests, under moon It passes farms and forests, and it never stops, not even at night.
and star”

“I quench your thirst and help plants People drink its water and farmers use it for their crops.
grow”

“From mountain to sea, I quietly flow” It begins high in the mountains and ends in the sea. That is a
river's journey.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why it can only be a river: A cloud travels too, but it does not quench thirst on the
ground or start in a mountain and end in a sea. A canal is made by people and does
not begin on a mountain. Only a river does all four things in the riddle.

Meet the speaker: “I am Godavari. My journey begins high up in the Western Ghats
at Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra.” The whole chapter is her story, told in her own
words.

In-text Questions — Page 22
Look at the image given below and answer the following

Q1 Name the states that Godavari flows through.

The map on page 22 names five states: Maharashtra, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh.
Follow her with your finger from the top-left of the map down to the sea.

1. Maharashtra — she is born here, in the Brahmagiri Hills at Trimbakeshwar.
2. Telangana — she flows east across this state. The Sriram Sagar Project and the Kawal Tiger
Reserve are marked here.
3. Chhattisgarh and Odisha — these two are on the northern side of her basin. The Indravati
and the Sabari come down from here and join her.
4. Andhra Pradesh — her last state. The Polavaram Dam and the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary
are marked here, and here she meets the Bay of Bengal.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Trimbakeshwar
Indravati
Origin: Brahmagiri Hills, Sabari
Chhattisgarh
Maharashtra Odisha

Telangana Bay of
Bengal
Manjira
Andhra Pradesh

Five states are named on the map. The river runs from the
top-left corner to the sea.

A simple sketch of the Godavari's journey, drawn from the labels on the map on page 22.

Why she goes east and not west: She is born in the Western Ghats, which are a
high wall of hills close to the west coast. From there the land slopes gently down
towards the east, all the way to the Bay of Bengal. Water always runs downhill, so
she must travel east right across the country.

Q2 Name a dam and a wildlife sanctuary along the length of Godavari.

A dam: the Polavaram Dam. A wildlife sanctuary: the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary.
The map marks more than one of each, so any of these is a correct answer.

Page 3 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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MARKED ON THE MAP WHAT IT IS WHERE

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Sriram Sagar Project A dam that stores the Godavari's
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aPolavaram Dam A dam near the end of her journey Andhra Pradesh

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Kawal Tiger Reserve A protected forest for tigers Telangana

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Coringa Wildlife A protected mangrove Andhra Pradesh
Sanctuary delta

Pench National Park A protected forest in her basin
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Maharashtra – Madhya Pradesh

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Whyemboth are built on the same river: A dam is built to hold her water so people
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depend on her water have a safe home. One serves people, the other serves wildlife
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— and both are possible only because the river is there.

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Did you know? The Hirakud dam in Odisha, on the Mahanadi, is one of the longest
earthen dams in the world — it stretches over 25 kilometres.

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Q3 Which other small rivers join Godavari in its journey?

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Three smaller rivers are named on theomap m g l a
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A small river that joins a bigger river
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TRIBUTARY WHERE IT IS SHOWN ON THE MAP WHAT IT DOES

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Manjira On the left, joining from the south-west side Adds water in the upper part of her

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Indravati In the middle, coming down from the
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Sabari Lower down, coming from the Odisha side Joins her before she reaches Andhra

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why tributaries matter: The Godavari starts as a thin stream. She could never
reach the sea on her own. Every tributary pours its water into her, so she becomes
wider, deeper and stronger as she goes. Think of one child walking to school, and
more friends joining at every corner until it is a big group.

Try this: Hold your hand out flat with the fingers spread. Your fingers are the
tributaries, your wrist is the main river. All the water that falls on your fingers ends
up flowing down your wrist.

In-text Question — Page 24
The Many Ways I Support Lives

Q1 Since ancient times, people have always built their homes near rivers or water
bodies. Can you guess why?

Because a river gives people everything they need to live — water to drink, water for
crops and animals, fish to eat, and an easy road for boats. Long ago there were no pipes and
no tankers. If you wanted water, you had to live where the water was.

Drinking, cooking and washing. Fresh water was needed every single day, and it had to be
carried by hand. Living close to the river meant a short walk.
Farming. Crops need water again and again. Land near a river is flat and its soil is soft and
rich, so it grows food well.
Animals. Cows, buffaloes and goats must drink daily, and grass grows green near water.
Food from the water. Fish from the river were an easy and steady food.
Travel and trade. Before roads, a boat on a river was the fastest way to carry people and
goods.
Work. Potters need clay, washermen need water, boatmen need a river. All these jobs are
river jobs.

Why it is still true today: Look at any big Indian city and you will usually find a river
beside it — Delhi on the Yamuna, Varanasi and Patna on the Ganga, Nashik and
Rajahmundry on the Godavari, Surat on the Tapti. Water still comes from the river; it
just comes through pipes and canals now, so we do not see the river doing its work.

Page 5 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Think about it: If your home gets water from a tap, ask an adult where that water
comes from. Very often the answer is a river or a dam many kilometres away.

In-text Questions — Pages 25–26
How people depend on the Godavari

Q1 List three ways in which people are dependent on the river Godavari.

Three ways, from the chapter itself:

1. For water at home. The water for houses and schools in the towns and villages around her
comes from her. People drink it, cook with it and wash with it.
2. For growing food. Her water reaches the fields through canals and pipes, so farmers can
grow their crops.
3. For work and earning. She supports many livelihoods — fishing, boating, farming, and
factories that need water to make things.

Two more, if you want them: she gives water to make electricity at her dams, and she brings
visitors for ecotourism.

Why this is called “depending on” the river: Depending means you cannot
manage without it. If the Godavari stopped flowing for even a week, the taps, the
fields, the fishing boats and the factories along her would all stop together. That is
what dependence means.

Remember: “When you open a tap, it is hard to imagine the journey that water has
taken.” That one sentence from page 27 is the whole idea of this chapter.

Q2 In which occupations are people engaged near the river Godavari?

Mainly farming, fishing and boating — and along with them, work in factories and work
with visitors. An occupation is simply the work a person does to earn a living.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

OCCUPATION WHAT THE PERSON DOES HOW THE RIVER HELPS

Farmer Grows paddy and other crops in Gives water for irrigation
the fields beside the river through canals and pumps

Fisherman Catches fish with a net or a line The river and its delta are full of
fish

Boatman / ferry worker Rows or drives boats carrying The river is the road
people and goods

Factory worker Works where things are made Factories need a lot of water

Ecotourism guide, boat-safari Takes visitors to see the river, the People come because the river
and rafting worker forest and the birds and its wildlife are beautiful

Washerman, potter, sand and Washing, making pots, collecting All of these need river water or
brick worker river sand river soil

Why so many different jobs in one place: A river gives more than one kind of gift.
It gives water, it gives soil, it gives fish, and it gives a smooth path to travel on. Each
gift makes a different kind of work possible, so many families can earn from the
same river.

Q3 Which crops do you see growing near the Godavari?

In the picture on page 25, the crop being grown is paddy — that is, rice.
Look at the picture carefully. This is how you can tell:

1. The field is flooded — there is a thin sheet of water standing over the soil. Paddy is grown in
standing water.
2. The plants are thin green shoots standing in the water, planted in rows.
3. The farmers are bent over, pushing small bunches of seedlings into the mud. This is called
transplanting, and it is done only for paddy.
4. Bundles of spare green seedlings are lying ready on the field.
5. A man is standing in the river and lifting water into the field with a basket, and a hose pipe
runs from the river to the field. The river is watering the crop.

Other crops grown in the Godavari's basin: sugarcane, banana, coconut, cotton, maize, pulses
(dal) and groundnut. The delta area in Andhra Pradesh is famous for rice and coconut.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why so much rice here: Rice needs a great deal of water and flat land with soft, rich
soil. A river gives all three — plenty of water, flat plains, and soil that the river itself
has spread over the land. That is why the land near a big river is usually the best rice
land in a state.

Q4 Which crops grow in your region? Where does the water for irrigation come from?

This answer depends on where you live, so first here is how to find out, and then a model
answer you can change to fit your own place.
How to find out:

1. Ask a farmer, a grandparent, or the vegetable seller in your market which crops are grown in
the fields around your town or village.
2. Ask which crop is grown in the rainy season and which one after it. Most places grow two
different crops in a year.
3. Ask the second question separately: where does the water for the fields come from? A canal?
A well or borewell? A tank or pond? Or only the rain?
4. Write your answers in two short lists. Take a walk and see the fields yourself if you can.

Sample answer: “In my region the main crops are paddy in the rainy season and wheat and
gram in the winter. Farmers also grow mustard, and vegetables such as brinjal, tomato and okra
near the village. The water for irrigation comes from a canal that carries water from the dam on
our river, and from tube wells in the fields. In the rainy season the rain itself is often enough, so
the canal is used mostly from November onwards.”

KIND OF PLACE CROPS USUALLY GROWN WHERE IRRIGATION WATER COMES FROM

River plain or delta Paddy, sugarcane, banana Canals from a dam on the river

Dry inland area Jowar, bajra, cotton, pulses Wells, borewells, farm ponds; mostly rain

Hilly area Maize, millets, vegetables Small streams and spring channels

Coastal area Rice, coconut, groundnut Canals, tanks and rain

Why the two questions go together: A crop is chosen to match the water available.
Where there is a canal, farmers can grow thirsty crops like paddy and sugarcane.
Where there is only rain and a well, they grow crops that need less water, like bajra
or gram. Water decides the crop.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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Activity 1 — Page 26
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Make a poster on the ways rivers help people
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ACTIVITY

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Make a poster in your classroom showing all the ways rivers help people. Include
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drawings of homes, farms, boats, fishermen and more.
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How to make the poster, step by step:

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1. Take a chart paper and turn it sideways (landscape). Write the title in big letters at the top:

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“Our River Gives Us Life”.
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3. At the top-left draw hills and a small stream coming out of them. Label it Origin.
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4. Draw one or two small streams joining the river. Label them Tributaries.
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5. At the bottom-right draw the river splitting into many small streams before the sea. Label it
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6. Now fill the two banks with small drawings. Keep them simple and label each one.

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7. Colour the water blue, the fields green and the houses brown. Do the colouring last.
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What to draw on the banks — and the label for each:

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Houses with a woman filling a pot at a tap Water for our homes
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Green fields with a canal running into them Water for our crops

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A fisherman throwing a net from Fish and a living

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A boat carrying sacks and people Travel and transport

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A dam wall with a lake behind it and a power line Stored

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Water for making things

Cattle drinking, birds, fish, a crocodile
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A temple with people taking a dip, a festival crowd Festivals and faith

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Visitors in a raft with helmets and life jackets Ecotourism

A dustbin on the bank and a child picking up a wrapper Keep me clean!

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What makes a poster good: big clear pictures, few words, and every picture
labelled. A poster is read from three metres away, so nothing on it should be small.
Leave the bottom strip empty for one slogan, for example: “Every drop counts — keep
our river clean.”

Why this activity is worth doing: When you have to draw all the ways a river helps,
you notice how many there are. Water, food, work, travel, electricity, festivals and
wildlife all come from one river. That is why the chapter says people have always
built their homes near rivers.

In-text Question — Page 26
Dams — Storing My Water, Changing My Flow

Q1 But have you ever wondered what happens to me when a dam is built? What
happens to the forests, animals and the people living near me?

When a dam is built, the river is stopped and a huge lake forms behind the wall. The land
that goes under that lake is lost — forests, animal homes and villages together. The
people who lived there have to leave their homes and shift somewhere else.
Here is what happens, in order.

1. A giant wall — the dam — is built right across the river.
2. The water cannot go forward, so it collects behind the wall in a big water body called a
reservoir.
3. The reservoir keeps filling and spreads sideways over the land beside the river.
4. Forest, fields and villages on that land go under water.
5. Below the dam the river becomes thin and weak, because most of her water is being held
back.

Page 10 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHO OR WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM
WHAT

The river Her flow is blocked. Below the dam she carries much less water than before.

The forests Large stretches of forest go under the reservoir and are lost.

The animals They lose their home and their feeding grounds, and have to move away. Fish can no longer
swim up and down past the wall.

The people Their houses, fields and villages are flooded. Many families have to leave and settle
elsewhere, away from the place they know.

The people far They gain — they get stored water for drinking and farming even in the dry season, and
away electricity.

Dam wall
Trees and homes that went under water

Reservoir — water stored here
Only a little water goes on

A dam gives water to many, but the land behind it is lost.
Side view of a dam: a full reservoir on one side, a thin river on the other.

Why a dam is both good and hard: The same wall does two opposite things at
once. It saves water for the dry season and makes electricity — that helps thousands
of people. But it also drowns land that belonged to forests, animals and villagers.
That is why the river says the water in your tap has come to you through “many
sacrifices”, and why wasting it is wrong.

Write — Page 27

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Problems after a dam is built

WRITE

Q1 What problems can arise after a dam is built? How can they be solved?

The main problems are: land and forest go under the reservoir, families lose their homes,
animals lose their home, the river below the dam gets very little water, and fish can no
longer swim up and down the river. Each of these has something that can be done about it.

PROBLEM AFTER WHY IT HAPPENS HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED
THE DAM IS BUILT

Villages and farms The reservoir spreads Give every family a proper new house and equal
are flooded over the land beside the farmland before the water rises, near their old area,
river and fair money for what they lost. Move them early,
not at the last minute.

Forests are lost The trees go under the Plant a new forest of the same size somewhere near,
water and protect it. Keep the reservoir as small as it needs
to be.

Animals lose their Their feeding and resting Keep a protected forest and safe animal paths around
home grounds are drowned the reservoir, so wildlife can move to new ground.

The river below the Most of the water is held Let a fixed amount of water out from the dam every
dam almost dries up back by the wall day, all year. The river below needs water to stay
alive.

Fish cannot swim The wall blocks their path Build a fish ladder — a set of shallow steps of water
past the wall up and down the river beside the dam that fish can climb.

Children lose their The whole village is Build the school, the health centre, the road and the
school and friends shifted water supply in the new place first, before the families
move.

The reservoir slowly The river drops the mud Plant trees on the hills upstream. Trees hold the soil
fills with mud it carries as soon as its so less mud reaches the reservoir.
water stops moving

Not enough water for Everyone wants the Fix a clear sharing plan — how much for farms, how
the town far stored water at the same much for homes, how much for the river — and
downstream time follow it.

Page 12 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why the problems are worth solving, not just accepting: The dam is built so that
many people can have water in the dry season. It is not fair if a few families pay the
whole price for that. A good dam project plans for the people and animals it
displaces before the first stone is laid — not afterwards.

Remember what the river says: “When you open a tap, it is hard to imagine the
journey that water has taken and the many sacrifices that were made so you could
have it.” That is why she asks us never to waste it.

Write — Page 28
What Pollutes Me and Why it Matters

WRITE

Q1 Where do the plastic wrappers and bags that we litter end up?

Almost all of them end up in a drain, and the drain carries them into a river, and the river
carries them to the sea. Very little of it stays where it was dropped.
Follow one toffee wrapper, step by step.

1. You drop it on the road or on the school ground.
2. The wind blows it into the roadside drain, or the first rain washes it in.
3. The drain empties into a nala, and the nala empties into a river.
4. In the river the wrapper floats along with thousands of others. Look at the picture on page
29 — the water is covered with bottles, packets and bags.
5. Some of it sinks, gets caught in the mud and stays there for years. Some is swallowed by fish,
cattle or turtles who mistake it for food.
6. The rest is carried all the way to the sea, where it can float for a very long time.

Why plastic is such a problem: A banana peel rots away in a few weeks. Plastic
does not rot. It only breaks into smaller and smaller pieces, and those pieces stay in
the water and the soil for years and years. An animal that swallows a plastic bag
cannot digest it, and its stomach stays blocked. Plastic in a drain also chokes the
drain, so the road floods in the next heavy rain.

Page 13 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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What you can do: carry a cloth bag to the market, carry your own water bottle and

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steel tiffin, say no to a straw, and never throw a wrapper anywhere except in a bin.
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Sample answer: “At home we use a readymade bathing soap and a readymade shampoo, a bar

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water goes down the drain of the bathroom and the kitchen sink. From there it joins the drain

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outside the house, then the big drain of the colony, and finally it reaches a nala or a river.”

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How to find your own answer:

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1. Look in the bathroom, near the
cleaning thing you find.
2. Mark each one natural (ash, reetha, lemon, neem, mud, sand) or readymade (soap bar,
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shampoo bottle, detergent powder, floor cleaner, dish liquid).

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3. Now follow the water. Pour a mug of water down the sink and go outside to see where it

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READYMADE

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Bathing soap, shampoo Readymade Bathroom drain → colony drain → nala → river

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Readymade Washing area drain → colony drain → nala →
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Floor cleaner, dish liquid Readymade
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Kitchen sink → drain → nala → river

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why this matters so much: Soapy water does not just disappear. Unless a town has
a treatment plant that cleans it first, it reaches the river exactly as it left your house.
And soap dissolves — it mixes into the water completely and cannot be seen. That is
why page 30 warns that even water which looks clean may still carry things that hurt
living beings.

An easy change: use only as much soap or powder as is really needed, choose
products marked eco-friendly, and never pour leftover cleaner straight down the
drain.

Discuss — Page 28
Water bodies then and now

DISCUSS

Q1 Ask your parents or elders, about the condition of water bodies near your home
when they were your age. What is the status of those water bodies today?

How to do this properly:

1. Choose one elder — a grandparent, a parent, or an old neighbour who has lived in the area
for a long time.
2. Ask them to name the water bodies near your home when they were ten years old: the river,
the pond, the stepwell, the tank, the canal, the village well.
3. Ask these five questions and write the answers in a notebook:

Was the water clear? Could you see the bottom?
What did people use it for — drinking, bathing, washing, cattle, crops?
What lived in it — fish, turtles, frogs, birds?
Did it have water all through the year?
Did anyone throw waste into it? Who looked after it?

4. Now go and look at the same water body yourself. Answer the same five questions for today.
5. Make a two-column chart: Then and Now. Compare, and present it in class.

Page 15 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

QUESTION THEN (ABOUT 40 YEARS NOW
AGO)

How the water looked Clear; the bottom could be seen Greenish or grey; often smells

What it was used for Drinking, bathing, cattle, crops Mostly cattle and washing; nobody drinks it

Life in the water Many fish, frogs, turtles, birds Few fish; some birds; more mosquitoes

Water through the Water even in summer Dries up or falls very low in summer
year

Waste Very little; people kept it clean Plastic, drain water, sometimes building
rubble

Who looks after it The whole village, together Often nobody in particular

Sample answer: “My grandmother says that when she was my age the pond behind our street
was full of clear water all year. Women washed clothes at one corner, cattle drank at another,
and children caught small fish. Every year before the rains the village cleaned the pond
together. Today one side of the pond has been filled up for houses, a drain empties into the
other side, and the water is green and smelly. There are no fish. In May it is almost dry. She says
nothing changed suddenly — it changed slowly, a little each year, because everyone thought it
was somebody else's job to look after it.”

What the comparison teaches: Water bodies rarely die in one day. They die slowly
— one drain, one filled-up corner, one dumped load of waste at a time. That is also
the good news: they can be brought back the same way, a little at a time, if people
decide to look after them again.

Activity 2 — Page 29
What our waste would do to a river

ACTIVITY

Q1 Make a list of things that we throw into the waste bin at home or school. If these
things were thrown into a river or a pond, how would each of these items harm the
animals, plants and people who live nearby, and use this water?

How to do it:

Page 16 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. For two days, note down everything that goes into the bin at home and at school. Do not
touch the waste — just look and write.
2. Sort your list into three groups: things that rot (kitchen waste), things that do not rot (plastic,
glass, metal), and harmful things (batteries, medicines, broken bulbs, leftover paint).
3. For each item ask three questions: Does it float or sink? Does it rot away? Does it mix into the
water?
4. Then write the harm it would do. The filled table below shows what a complete answer looks
like.

THING THROWN IN HARM IT WOULD DO IN A RIVER OR POND
THE BIN

Plastic wrappers, carry Do not rot for years. Float and cover the water. Fish, turtles and cows swallow
bags, bottles them and their stomachs get blocked. They choke drains and cause flooding.

Kitchen waste — peels, Rots and uses up the air dissolved in the water, so fish find it hard to breathe.
leftover food The water starts to smell. It also attracts flies and rats.

Glass pieces and broken Sink and stay sharp for ever. They cut the feet of people, cattle and birds
bulbs walking in the shallow water.

Old batteries, medicines, The most dangerous of all. They release chemicals that dissolve in the water and
paint, pesticide tins cannot be seen. They poison fish, and people who drink the water fall ill.

Soap water, detergent, Dissolves completely, so the water looks clean but is not. It harms fish and makes
floor cleaner plants grow in the wrong way.

Paper, cardboard, old Soak up water, sink and rot slowly. They make the water muddy and cover the
notebooks plants at the bottom.

Cloth, rubber slippers, Do not rot. They collect at bends and near bridges and block the flow of the
thermocol water.

Metal tins and cans Sink, rust and leave sharp edges. Rusty metal spoils the water quality.

Puja waste — flowers, Comes in large amounts together. Flowers rot and use up air; the oil spreads a
cloth, oil, ash film on top and stops air from entering the water.

Sanitary and medical waste Carries germs. It makes the water unsafe to touch, and is dangerous for the
people who clean the river.

The idea behind the activity: A bin at home has a bottom. A river does not.
Everything you put in a river stays in it or travels down it to somebody else. The
waste that leaves your hand is drunk by an animal or a person somewhere
downstream. That is why the river in the chapter says, “I wish I could tell them to
help keep me clean.”

Page 17 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What to do instead: keep two bins — wet waste (peels, food) and dry waste (plastic,
paper, metal). Wet waste can become compost for plants. Dry waste can be given for
recycling. Batteries and medicines should never go into either; they need a separate
collection point.

Activity 3 — Pages 29–30
Sugar and oil in two glasses of water

ACTIVITY

Q1 Take two clear glasses of water. Add a spoonful of sugar in one and a spoonful of
cooking oil in the other. Stir both well and observe. What do you observe? Which
one appears clear?

What you will see: the sugar disappears completely and that glass looks clear, like plain
water. The oil does not mix at all — it breaks into small yellow drops and then floats back
to the top as a shiny layer. The glass with the sugar appears clear.
How to do it:

1. Take two clean glasses. Fill both about three-fourths with clear water. Keep them side by side.
2. Add one spoonful of sugar to the first glass.
3. Add one spoonful of cooking oil to the second glass.
4. Stir each glass well for about half a minute, with a clean spoon.
5. Now leave both glasses still for two minutes and look at them again from the side, against
the light.

Page 18 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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co m
m.
WHAT I LOOK GLASS 1 — SUGAR GLASS 2 — COOKING OIL
AT
m as e
. c o a g l
s e m
While stirring The white grains get smaller and smaller The oil breaks into many small round
a
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drops

Just after No grains left at all Tiny drops spread all through, water looks

m
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stirring cloudy

Water is completely clear se
m
a
agl
After two All the drops have risen and joined into a
minutes shiny layer on top

Is anything No — but taste one drop and it is sweet, so
co m
Yes — you can clearly see the oil floating

em.
visible? the sugar is still there

m l as
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Which appears
a g
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The glass with sugar Not clear — oil is visible on top

l a
clear?

ag
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Why it happens: Sugar dissolves in water. That means its tiny grains break up and
a s
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spread evenly through the water, so small that your eyes cannot see them any more.
agl
l a se
Oil does not dissolve. Oil is also lighter than water, so after stirring, all its drops
a g
slowly rise and join together on top. The sugar is hiding in the water; the oil is only
sitting on it.

co m
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m as e
.co
Why the chapter does this experiment: to prove one warning — clear water is not
a g l
a s em the same as clean water. Harmful chemicals and soapy water dissolve just like the

agl sugar. You cannot see them, but they are there, and they can hurt living beings.
se m
com g l a
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Q2 Can you list a few things that: Dissolve in water

m

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Things that dissolve in water — they mix in completely and disappear from sight:

m as e
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1. Sugar — the water turns sweet but stays clear.
a g l
a s em2. Salt — the same; taste is the only proof it is there.
agl 3. Glucose powder and sugar candy (mishri).
.c
4. Lemon juice and vinegar.
s e m
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5. Milk powder, drinking chocolate, coffee powder.

s e
6. Detergent powder and liquid msoap — they dissolve and make the water frothy.
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7. ORS powder and most medicines that are meant to be taken in water.
8. Fertiliser and urea — this is why fertiliser from the fields gets carried into a river so easily.

co m
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.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

9. Alum (phitkari), used to clean drinking water.

Water + sugar → water still looks clear → but the sugar is still in there

How to test any new thing: put a small spoonful in half a glass of water, stir for a
minute, and let it stand. If nothing is left at the bottom and nothing floats on top,
and the water is clear, then it has dissolved.

The important lesson: the harmful things in a river — soap, chemicals from
factories, fertiliser from fields — belong to this list. They dissolve. That is exactly why
a river can look clean and still be unsafe to drink.

Q3 Can you list a few things that: Do not dissolve in water

Things that do not dissolve in water — they can still be seen after stirring, either floating on
top or lying at the bottom:

1. Cooking oil — floats and makes a shiny layer on top.
2. Sand and mud — sink to the bottom.
3. Chalk powder — makes the water milky, then settles.
4. Small stones and pebbles — sink at once.
5. Plastic pieces, wrappers and bottle caps — float and never rot.
6. Wood, thermocol, dry leaves — float.
7. Iron filings, pins and nails — sink and rust.
8. Wheat flour (atta) — makes a paste, then settles at the bottom.
9. Ghee and butter — float, like oil.

GROUP EXAMPLES WHERE IT GOES IN THE
GLASS

Lighter than water Oil, ghee, thermocol, plastic, dry leaves, Floats on top
wood

Heavier than Sand, mud, chalk, stones, iron pins, atta Settles at the bottom
water

Page 20 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why they behave like this: These things do not break up into tiny bits that can
spread through the water. They stay as they are. So the only question left is weight
— anything lighter than water floats, anything heavier sinks. Nothing here
disappears.

Good news and bad news: Things that do not dissolve are easier to remove from a
river — a net or a filter can take them out. Things that dissolve are the hard ones,
because no net can catch them. That is why it is better to stop them from entering
the river at all.

Activity 4 — Page 30
Two pictures of a river

ACTIVITY

Q1 Look at the two images given below. Which river looks healthy and why?

The river in the first picture — the one labelled ‘River with clean water’ — is the healthy
one.
Compare the two pictures point by point.

WHAT TO PICTURE 1 — CLEAN PICTURE 2 — ‘GREEN BLANKET’
LOOK AT RIVER

The water Open blue water, and you Almost fully covered with a thick green mat; only a
surface can see ripples on it few small patches of water show through

Colour of the Deep blue and clear Green all over, like a lawn laid on the river
water

Can sunlight Yes No — the green cover blocks it
reach inside?

Can air reach the Yes, the whole surface is Hardly at all — the surface is sealed by plants
water? open to the air

The banks Green trees on both sides Trees are there, but the river itself has disappeared
under green

Healthy? Yes No

Page 21 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why open water means a healthy river: Fish and other water animals breathe air
that is dissolved in the water. That air enters through the open surface. Water plants
inside the river also need sunlight. When the surface is open, air and sunlight both
get in and life below stays healthy. When a thick green mat covers everything, both
are shut out — so the second river is in trouble even though green usually looks like
a healthy colour.

Q2 How do so many plants grow in water?

Because fertiliser from the fields gets washed into the river, and fertiliser is plant food.
With so much extra food, the water plants grow much faster than normal and multiply
until they cover the surface.
Step by step, this is how it happens:

1. A farmer spreads fertiliser on the field to help the crop grow.
2. Rain falls, or the field is watered.
3. Some of the fertiliser dissolves in that water and runs off the field into a drain or a stream.
4. The stream carries it into the river.
5. The tiny plants already living in the river now get an enormous amount of food.
6. They grow very fast and spread until they cover the whole surface — the 'green blanket' the
chapter talks about.

Why extra food is a problem, not a gift: A little fertiliser is good for a crop, because
the crop is harvested and taken away. In a river nothing takes the plants away. They
just keep growing on top of each other. Dirty drain water and soapy water do the
same thing, because they also carry plant food into the river.

How to stop it: use only as much fertiliser as the crop really needs; leave a strip of
grass or trees between a field and a river to catch the run-off; and clean drain water
before it enters a river.

Page 22 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 What do you think happens when too many plants grow in a river?

The green cover slowly chokes all the life inside the river. Fish find it hard to breathe, and
the water becomes unsafe for people to drink. That is exactly what the chapter says on page
30.
Here is the chain of events:

1. The plants spread over the whole surface like a thick blanket.
2. Sunlight can no longer reach the water below, so the plants growing under the water die.
3. Air from above cannot mix into the water, because the surface is sealed.
4. The dead plants rot, and rotting uses up whatever air is left in the water.
5. Fish and other water animals cannot breathe. Many die.
6. The water starts to smell bad and turns unfit to drink.
7. Boats cannot move easily, and mosquitoes breed in the still water under the mat.

Green blanket: both are
Open surface: air and sunlight get
shut
in out

Left: fish healthy. Right: no air, no light — fish struggle to
breathe.

The same river with an open surface and with a green blanket over it.

Why “choking” is the right word: Everything alive in the water needs air, just as you
do. The plants on top act like a lid on a box. Nothing can come in, so everything
below slowly runs out of air. The river is not killed by a poison here — it is
smothered.

Page 23 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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co m
m.
What can be done: stop the fertiliser and drain water from entering; remove the

m as e
l
weed mat regularly; and keep some part of the surface always open, so air can get
in.
m .co a g
l a se
a g

co m
ag
Write — Page 31
m .
Protecting the water bodies near you
as e
WRITE a g l

co m
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Can you list three things you can do to protect the water bodies near you? 1. ____ 2.

as
Q1

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____ 3. ____
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a Three things a Class 5 student can really do:

om a s
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1. Never throw any waste into the water or on its bank. Carry your wrapper home or put it

a s em
in a bin. Ask your friends to do the same.

a gl so less has to be taken out of the river. Turn the tap off
2. Save water at home and at school,
while brushing, use a mug instead of a running tap, and get leaking taps repaired with an
adult's help.
co m
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3. Join or start a cleaning and tree-planting drive at the pond or the river bank near you,
m l as
.co g
with your class and a teacher — pick up the plastic, and plant trees along the bank.

m a
l a se
Three more you can add to your list:

ag Use less soap and detergent, and choose eco-friendly ones, so less of it reaches the water.

se m
com a
Do not put puja flowers, oil, ash or old idols into the river; use the collection bin kept for
them.
. a g l
m
ase
agl
Make a small painted sign at the water body — “Please do not throw waste here” — and tell
younger children why.

. c om
Why small actions are worth it: A river is not spoiled by one person's bucket of
m also be saved the
waste. It is spoiled by thousands of small acts every day. So itecan
s
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o way — by thousands of small good acts every day. a
l one wrapper matters
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m exactly as much as anyone else's. agYour
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ag
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Did you know? The Namami Gange programme is helping clean the Ganga so that
. co
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it stays healthy for people, fish and birds. Big programmes like this only work if

g l as
ordinary people stop adding waste in the first place.
a

co m
m .
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.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Activity 5 — Page 32
Match the Columns — flood problems and what they affect

ACTIVITY

Q1 Match the Columns. Note: One problem could affect more than one thing. (i) Dirty
water (ii) Broken roads (iii) Lost crops (iv) No electricity (v) Spread of diseases (vi)
Damaged homes (vii) Schools shut — with — (a) Shelter for people (b) Safe drinking
(c) Learning (d) Travel and transport (e) Lights, fans and phones (f) People's health
(g) Food supply

The matching:

(i) → (b), (f) (ii) → (d) (iii) → (g) (iv) → (e) (v) → (f) (vi) → (a) (vii) → (c)

The note under the heading says one problem can affect more than one thing, so dirty water is
matched to two — and one or two of the others reach a second answer as well.

FLOOD WHAT IT AFFECTS WHY THEY GO TOGETHER
PROBLEM

(i) Dirty water (b) Safe drinking, and Flood water mixes with drains and dirt, so there is
(f) People's health nothing safe left to drink — and drinking it makes people
ill.

(ii) Broken (d) Travel and transport Buses, cars and cycles cannot pass. Help, food and
roads medicines cannot reach the village.

(iii) Lost crops (g) Food supply The standing crop is destroyed in the field, so there is less
grain and prices rise.

(iv) No (e) Lights, fans and Power lines are switched off or damaged, so there is no
electricity phones light, no fan and no way to charge a phone.

(v) Spread of (f) People's health Standing dirty water breeds mosquitoes and germs, so
diseases fever, diarrhoea and skin illness spread.

(vi) Damaged (a) Shelter for people Walls fall and roofs leak, so families have nowhere to stay
homes and must move to a relief camp.

(vii) Schools (c) Learning Classes stop — and often the school building is being
shut used as a relief camp.

Page 25 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why one flood causes so many different problems: Water goes everywhere. It
gets into the drains, the fields, the wires, the roads and the houses, all at the same
time. So a single flood attacks drinking water, food, health, travel, electricity, shelter
and school together — and it is the same families who have to face all seven at once.

Look at the picture above the activity: on the left, land with only tree stumps —
the rain runs straight off it and causes flooding. On the right, land with big trees —
they slow the rain down and help the soil soak the water up. Planting trees is one
real way to reduce floods.

Activity 6 — Page 33
Flood Safety Tips — Before, During the Flood, After

ACTIVITY

Q1 Flood Safety Tips — read and learn the chart of things to do Before a flood, During
the Flood, and After it.

The chart on page 33 has three columns and fifteen tips — five for each stage. Here is the
whole chart, with the reason for every tip, so that you remember it instead of only reading it.

BEFORE WHY

Stay informed through the local news A warning usually comes hours before the water does.
Knowing early gives your family time to act calmly.

Prepare an emergency bag with food, In a hurry there is no time to search. One ready bag means
medicines and flashlight items you can leave in a minute.

Know the process to evacuate and safe The usual road may be under water. Evacuate means to
alternative routes leave a dangerous place and go somewhere safe.

Leave before flooding starts Moving through water is far more dangerous than moving
before it arrives.

In flood prone areas, keep useful items at Sandbags keep water out of the door, a ladder takes you to
home (sandbags, ladder, rope, etc.) the roof, a rope helps people hold on.

Page 26 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

DURING THE FLOOD WHY

Disconnect electricity and Water carries electric current, and a leaking gas pipe can catch fire. Switch
gas both off at the main point.

Do not walk or drive in flood Flood water is muddy, so you cannot see an open drain or a broken road under
water it, and even knee-deep moving water can knock a person over.

Get to a higher ground Water always fills the lowest place first. Height is safety.

Follow evacuation orders The people giving the order can see the whole picture — how fast the water is
rising and where it will reach.

Free cattle and lead animals A tied animal cannot save itself. Untie it and take it to higher ground.
to a safer place

AFTER WHY

Avoid contact with flood water and Flood water is mixed with drain water and germs, and there
swimming may be sharp things and snakes in it.

Do not touch power lines A fallen wire may still be live, and wet ground carries the
current a long way.

Do not go home or to disaster areas until Weakened walls and roofs can fall long after the water has gone
it is declared safe down.

Communicate to your family that you are It stops others from taking risks to come and look for you.
safe

When back at home, clean and disinfect The mud left behind carries germs. Cleaning and disinfecting
surfaces, and items stops illness from spreading.

The one rule behind all fifteen tips: in a flood, water is not just wet — it is deep,
fast, dirty and full of hidden dangers, and it also carries electricity. So the safe thing
is always to get away from the water early and stay away from it late.

Learn it as three words: Before — prepare and leave. During — switch off, go up,
obey orders. After — do not touch, do not return early, clean well.

Activity 7 — Page 34

Page 27 of 47

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Role-play as Sarpanch or Municipal Corporator

ACTIVITY

Q1 Read the flood safety tips given in Activity 6 and organise a role-play where you are
the Sarpanch or Municipal Corporator of your village or city. Discuss what actions
you will take to — prevent flooding; prevent damage caused by flooding; keep
elderly people and people with disability safe; keep animals safe.

How to organise the role-play:

1. One student is the Sarpanch (or Municipal Corporator). Others take roles: a farmer, a
shopkeeper, a teacher, a doctor, an elderly person, a person who uses a wheelchair, a cattle
owner, a police officer.
2. Arrange the chairs in a half circle. This is the gram sabha or ward meeting.
3. The Sarpanch opens the meeting: “The rains begin next month. Today we decide what our
village will do.”
4. Each role speaks for one minute about what worries them.
5. The Sarpanch then announces the plan under the four headings below, and one student
writes it on the board as the minutes of the meeting.

The plan the Sarpanch announces:
1. To prevent flooding

Clean every drain and culvert in the village before the rains, so water can flow away.
Desilt the village pond and the canal, so they can hold more rainwater.
Plant trees along the river bank and on the bare slopes — trees slow the rain down and help
the soil soak up water.
Stop building and dumping rubble in the low ground and the natural water path.
Repair weak spots in the river embankment now, not in July.

2. To prevent damage caused by flooding

Keep sandbags, ropes, ladders, torches and two boats ready at the panchayat bhawan.
Mark the school on high ground as the relief centre; store rice, drinking water, ORS and
medicines there.
Set up a warning system — a loudspeaker and a WhatsApp group with the block office.
Tell every family to keep documents, grain and important things on a high shelf or upper
floor.
Fix and announce the evacuation route, and hold one practice drill before the monsoon.

3. To keep elderly people and people with disability safe

Make a list, house by house, of everyone who cannot move quickly by themselves.
Give each such person two named helpers who live close by — a buddy system.

Page 28 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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Move them out first, before the water starts rising, not at the last moment.
co m
Make the relief centre reachable — a ramp, a ground-floor room, a working toilet, chairs.
e m.
m l as
.co a g
Keep their regular medicines, spectacles, hearing aid, walking stick or wheelchair with their
bag.
a s em
l
gAnnounce
a on the door — so that a person who cannot hear or cannot see is not left out.
the warning in more than one way — by loudspeaker, by phone, and by knocking

com
. ag
4. To keep animals safe

se m
l a
Untie all cattle before the water arrives. A tied animal cannot save itself.
ag shelter, and stock fodder and drinking water there.
Fix one high, dry field as the cattle
Paint the owner's name and phone number on a tag around each animal's neck.

co m
m.
Ask the veterinary doctor to visit the shelter after the flood, because animals fall ill in wet,

m
crowded conditions.
o l a se
. a g them free and untied.
Do notcleave dogs, goats or poultry behind; take them along or leave
se m
g l a
a Why a role-play works better than a lecture: When you have to speak as the

s
Sarpanch, you find out that a plan is only useful if it says who does what and when.
m a
.co agl
“We will help the elderly” is not a plan. “Ramesh and Sita will bring Dadi to the school

se m
a
as soon as the loudspeaker sounds” is a plan.

a g l

m
Say this at the end of the meeting: the best flood work is done in the dry months.
. co
m
Once the water is at the door, only escape is possible — not preparation.

m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a Q2 Have a Disaster Emergency Kit Ready.

se m
com g l a
m . a
e
as ready and in one known place, that your family can pick
g l
An emergency kit is one bag, kept
up and carry in a minute. a
Everyone at home should know where it is.

m
How to make it:

. co
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1. Take a strong bag with a shoulder strap, or a backpack. A waterproof one is best.
m
m l as
.co g
2. Put the things in the list below into it. Put papers and matchboxes inside a sealed plastic

em a
s
pouch.
l a
ag
3. Keep the bag on a high shelf near the door — high, so it stays dry; near the door, so it is

.c
m
quick to reach.

m a s e
co agl
4. Check it twice a year. Change the food and water, and test the torch.

m .
as e
a g l

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT TO PUT IN WHY IT IS NEEDED

Drinking water in sealed bottles, and ORS packets In a flood there is water everywhere and none of it is
safe to drink.

Food that does not spoil — biscuits, roasted chana, There may be no cooking and no shop open for two
gud, dry fruit or three days.

Torch with spare batteries, and a candle and Electricity goes off first, and it is usually dark when
matchbox people have to move.

First-aid box, and the regular medicines of everyone A chemist may be shut or unreachable for days.
at home

Whistle A whistle is heard much farther than a shout, and it
does not tire you.

Mobile phone, charger and a power bank To hear warnings and to tell your family that you are
safe.

Copies of Aadhaar, ration card and school papers in Papers are needed to claim help — and paper is
a plastic pouch destroyed by water.

Some cash in small notes Card machines and ATMs do not work when the
power is off.

A change of dry clothes, a towel, soap and a plastic Staying wet for long makes people ill.
sheet

Rope, a small knife, and a pair of rubber slippers For tying things, opening packets, and protecting the
feet.

Spectacles, hearing aid, walking stick — the spare Without these, an elderly person cannot manage at
set all.

A card with the phone numbers of the family, the Numbers saved only in a dead phone are of no use.
hospital and the police

Why one ready bag beats a long list: During a real emergency there is noise,
darkness and very little time, and people forget even simple things. A bag that was
packed calmly a month earlier does the remembering for you.

In-text Questions — Page 35

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

When a River Runs Dry!

Q1 What would you do if you had no water in your home for an entire day?

I would use whatever water is already stored very carefully, fetch more from the nearest
safe source, and stop every use that can wait for a day.
My plan for the day, in order:

1. First, count what we have. Check the drum, the buckets, the pots and the water bottles,
and keep them covered.
2. Keep the drinking water separate. Set aside a filled pot only for drinking and cooking.
Nobody touches it for anything else.
3. Fetch more. Go with an adult to a handpump, a neighbour's tap or the municipal tanker,
with buckets and a cycle or a cart.
4. Cook simply. One-pot food like khichdi. Use the water in which vegetables were washed for
the plants.
5. Bathe with a mug and a small bucket, not a shower or a running tap.
6. Reuse water twice. Water used to wash rice or vegetables goes to the plants. Water used to
rinse clothes goes to the floor or the toilet.
7. Postpone what can wait. No washing of clothes, no washing of the scooter, no washing of
the courtyard today.
8. Boil or filter any water that is not from a safe source before drinking it.

USE WHAT I DO ON A NO-WATER DAY

Drinking Keep a separate covered pot; drink in small glasses, do not fill and throw

Cooking Cook one simple dish; do not wash vessels again and again

Bathing One small bucket and a mug

Toilet Use the water already collected from rinsing clothes

Washing clothes Skip it for a day

Plants and animals Give them the reused water — they must not be forgotten

What one day teaches you: On an ordinary day water is invisible — you just open a
tap. On a day without it you suddenly count every mug. That is why the chapter asks
you to imagine it. A river that runs dry does exactly this to a whole town at once.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q2 What if there was no water for a week? How would you bath, drink, cook or clean?
Where would you go to find water?

A whole week is a very different matter. One day can be managed from what is stored at
home. For a week the family would have to bring water in every single day from outside —
and would have to be very strict about how each drop is used.

NEED HOW I WOULD MANAGE FOR A WEEK HOW MUCH WATER IS
REALLY NEEDED

Drinking Only water from a safe source — a working handpump, About 3 litres a person a day.
a tanker, a water ATM — boiled or filtered. Keep it in a This is the one need that can
covered pot with a ladle. never be reduced.

Cooking Simple one-pot food. Reuse the water in which dal or About 5 litres for the family
vegetables were washed. Wipe vessels with a cloth per meal
before washing them, so less water is needed.

Bathing A bucket bath with a mug, and on some days only a 15 litres instead of 40
wet-cloth wipe. Wash the hair less often.

Cleaning Sweep the floor and wipe with a damp cloth instead of Whatever has already been
and toilet washing it. Use the rinse water from clothes for the used once
toilet.

Clothes Wash only what is really needed, all together, in one Once in three days instead of
tub, and reuse the rinse water. daily

Animals Animals must get their drinking water. Plants get the A cow needs 30–40 litres a day
and plants used water, early in the morning.

Where I would go to find water:

1. The municipal or panchayat tanker — find out its timing and stand in line with clean
covered containers.
2. A handpump, borewell or public tap that still has water, or a neighbour's borewell.
3. A water ATM, where you get clean water by putting in a card or a coin.
4. The school, temple or panchayat bhawan — such places usually have a tank.
5. A well, pond or canal, only for washing and the toilet — and never for drinking without
boiling or filtering.
6. Tell the ward member, sarpanch or municipal office. A whole week without water must be
reported, not just endured.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why a week is so hard: Water is heavy. Twenty litres weighs twenty kilograms. A
family needs far more than that every day, so somebody — usually a woman or a
child — spends hours carrying it. School and work stop. And when the safe sources
run out, people start drinking unsafe water, and that is when illness begins. This is
exactly why the chapter says families sometimes have to leave their homes
altogether and move to a place where water is available.

Did you know? In 2019 Chennai had to run special water trains from other districts
because its reservoirs dried up. In 2022 heavy rain flooded homes and roads in
Bengaluru. Too little water and too much water both make life very hard.

Let us reflect — Page 37
Closing questions

LET US REFLECT

Q1 Find out which river(s) flow through your state. (a) What are they used for? (b) Are
there any dams on them?

How to find out: look at the map of your state in an atlas or on a wall map at school, and find
the blue lines. Ask your teacher or an elder for the names, and ask which dam supplies water to
your town.

Page 33 of 47

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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STATE MAIN RIVERS A DAM ON THEM

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Maharashtra
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Godavari, Krishna, Bhima, Tapi
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Jayakwadi on the Godavari
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Telangana Godavari, Krishna, Manjira
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Andhra Pradesh Godavari, Krishna, Penna Polavaram Dam on the Godavari

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Odisha Mahanadi, Brahmani, Sabari

Ganga, Yamuna,g l a
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Madhya Pradesh Narmada, Chambal, Betwa
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Assam Brahmaputra, Barak Kopili hydel project

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Karnataka Kaveri, Krishna, Tungabhadra Krishna Raja Sagara on the Kaveri

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Punjab Sutlej, Beas, Ravi Bhakra dam on the Sutlej

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(a) What the rivers are used for. Drinking water for towns and villages; irrigation of fields
through canals; water for factories; fishing; transport by boat; making electricity at dams;
festivals, fairs and holy dips; and ecotourism such as boating and bird watching.
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(b) Dams on them. Yes — almost every large Indian river has dams. The chapter itself says

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more than 900 dams store the Godavari's water alone. A dam stores water for the dry season,
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supplies

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drinking in our town, for irrigating paddy fields through canals, for fishing, and for making

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electricity. Yes, there are dams on them — the Sriram Sagar Project is on the Godavari, and the
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water in our taps comes from it.”

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Why every state's answer is different: The rivers of a state are decided by the

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blocked. So no two states have the same answer — but every state has the same

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three uses: drinking, farming and work.
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Ask your grandparents or parents to share any story or festival related to rivers in
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your region and present it in the class.

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How to do this well:

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

1. Sit with a grandparent or an elder and ask: “Is there a story or a festival about our river?” Ask
them to tell it slowly.
2. Write down four things: the name of the story or festival, when it happens, what people do,
and why the river matters in it.
3. Ask for one small personal memory — “What did you do at this festival when you were my
age?” This is the part the class will enjoy most.
4. Prepare a two-minute talk. Draw one picture to hold up. Begin with the story, not with a
definition.

River festivals of India you could talk about:

FESTIVAL WHERE WHAT PEOPLE DO

Godavari Pushkaram Along the Godavari, especially Once in twelve years, huge crowds
Nashik and Rajahmundry come to take a holy dip.

Chhath Bihar, eastern UP, Jharkhand People stand in the river at sunrise and
sunset and offer thanks to the Sun.

Ganga Dussehra / Ganga Haridwar, Varanasi, Rishikesh Lamps are floated on the water and the
Aarti river is worshipped in the evening.

Kumbh Mela Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, Millions gather at a river to bathe; it is
Ujjain the largest gathering in the world.

Nauka Race / boat races Kerala, Assam, Odisha Long boats race on the river with
drums and singing.

Cheti Chand, Bhagirathi Sindhi community; Walking around a river, or telling how
tales, Narmada Parikrama Uttarakhand; Madhya Pradesh the river came to Earth.

Sample answer: “My grandmother told me about the Godavari Pushkaram. It comes once in
twelve years. She said that when she was small, her whole family walked to the ghat before
sunrise. The bank was full of lamps and people singing. Her mother told her that the river is like
a mother who feeds the fields, so once in twelve years everyone comes to thank her. My
grandmother says the water was so clear then that she could see her own feet standing in it.
She is sad that it is not so clear now.”

Why these stories matter in a science chapter: Long before anyone measured
river water, people had already worked out that a river must be protected — and
they protected it with festivals, stories and rules about what may not be thrown into
it. Looking after a river is not a new idea. It is a very old one that we have partly
forgotten.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q3 Ask an elder in your family: (a) What was the condition of rivers when you were a
child? (b) What has changed since then?

How to do the interview: ask one elder these six questions, and write their exact words in your
notebook. Then read both answers side by side.

1. Which river or pond was closest to your home?
2. How did the water look, and could you drink it?
3. What did you use it for?
4. What lived in it — fish, turtles, birds?
5. Did it have water in summer as well?
6. Who threw waste into it, and who cleaned it?

QUESTION (A) WHEN THE ELDER WAS A (B) WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE
CHILD THEN

Clearness of the Clear enough to see the bottom; Greenish or grey, often smells; nobody
water people drank it drinks it now

What went into it Very little waste; some cattle Drain water, plastic, soapy water,
washing sometimes factory waste

Fish and other life Plenty of fish, frogs, turtles; many Far fewer fish and birds; more mosquitoes
birds came

Water in summer Flowed through the year, though Falls very low or dries up; sand is dug out
thinner in May of the bed

The bank Trees, grass, open ground, a ghat Houses and shops built right up to the edge;
with steps less open ground

Who looked after it The whole village cleaned it together Often nobody; people think it is the
before the rains government's job

Groundwater near The well filled up on its own every Borewells go deeper and deeper each year
it year

Sample answer: “My grandfather says that when he was ten, the river near our town was clear
and cool, and the whole family bathed in it. He caught small fish with a cloth. In the evening,
birds sat on the sandbank. Today, he says, three drains fall into the river inside our town itself.
The water is grey after the first drain. Plastic gets stuck in the reeds. There are almost no fish
left near the town. He says the river did not change by itself — we changed it.”

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

What such interviews prove: Nobody had to invent this information — it is sitting
in your own family. A river's decline happens within one person's lifetime, which
means it is caused by people, and therefore can also be stopped by people.

Q4 Why do you think people built houses and cities near rivers in the past? Are rivers
still important today in the same way?

People built near rivers because a river gave them everything at one place — drinking
water, water for crops and animals, fish, rich flat soil, and a road for boats. And yes, rivers
are just as important today — but most of us no longer see it, because the water now
reaches us through pipes and canals instead of in a pot.
Then — why the river decided where a city grew:

1. Water had to be carried by hand, so people lived within walking distance of it.
2. Crops needed water again and again, and river plains have soft, rich soil.
3. Cattle needed to drink every day.
4. Fish from the river were steady food.
5. There were no roads. Boats carried goods and people, so trade grew where the river was.
6. The river also gave clay for pots, sand for building, and reeds for baskets.

Now — what has changed and what has not:

WHAT WE THEN NOW
NEED

Drinking water Carried in a pot from Still river or dam water — but it comes through a pipe, so we
the river forget where it is from

Water for crops Fields right beside the Canals from dams carry it hundreds of kilometres
river

Travel By boat on the river Mostly by road and rail — this one has really changed

Electricity Not needed A large part is made at dams on rivers

Work Fishing, farming, Farming, fishing, factories that need water, and ecotourism
boating

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

The honest answer to the second half of the question: Rivers are more important
than ever, because there are far more of us to feed and far more factories to run.
What has changed is only our view of the river. When water arrived in a pot, everyone
could see how precious it was. When it arrives through a tap, it feels endless — and
that is exactly why it gets wasted and polluted.

Check it for yourself: name five big Indian cities and find their rivers — Delhi and
the Yamuna, Kolkata and the Hooghly, Patna and the Ganga, Ahmedabad and the
Sabarmati, Rajahmundry and the Godavari. Almost none of them grew away from a
river.

Q5 If you could create one new rule to protect rivers in your city or village, what would
it be?

My one rule: “No drain and no waste may enter the river — every drop of dirty water must
be cleaned before it reaches the water, and any waste thrown in must be picked up by the
one who threw it.”
Why I chose this rule and not another:

1. The chapter names three things that spoil the river — waste, plastic and dirty water. All three
enter through the same door: the drain and the bank.
2. If you shut that one door, the river begins to heal by itself, because a flowing river cleans
itself when nothing new is added.
3. It is a rule anybody can check. You do not need a machine — you only need to walk along the
bank and look.

How the rule would work in practice:

Every drain would have to end in a treatment tank or a reed bed, not in the river.
Bins and a collection point for puja waste at every ghat, and a fine for throwing waste in the
water.
A ‘river monitor’ from every school class, who checks one stretch of the bank each month
and reports.
Factories to show, once a year, that the water they let out is clean.
A board at the ghat showing whether the water is safe for bathing that week.

Other good rules you could choose instead:

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River
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RULE WHAT IT WOULD ACHIEVE

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No construction within 50 metres of the
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The river keeps room to spread in a flood, and the bank stays

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bank green

gl and protect a line of trees along both
aPlant Slows run-off, holds the soil, gives birds a home
banks

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Every building must harvest its rainwater
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One community river-cleaning day every Makes the river everybody's responsibility
month
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What makes a rule a good rule: it must be easy to understand, easy to check, and

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it must fix the cause and not the symptom. Picking plastic out of the water is good;
stopping it from ever reaching the water is far better.
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Think about a time when you wasted water. What could you have done differently?
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em answer: “Last summer I left the tap running while I brushed my teeth, and I did it every

a s
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Sample
a morning for weeks. The water just ran into the drain while I stood there with the brush. One day
my grandmother put a mug under the tap to show me how much was going away — the mug
se m
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filled four times in the time I took to brush. What I could have done differently is simple: wet the
m a
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brush, close the tap, brush, and open the tap only to rinse. Now I use one mug of water and the

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tap stays shut. My little brother has started doing the same.”
Common ways we waste water — and what to do instead:

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WHERE WATER GETS WASTED WHAT TO DO DIFFERENTLY

Tap left running while brushing or soaping Close the tap. Use a mug. This alone saves several litres a
hands day.

A long shower, or filling the whole bucket and Bathe with a mug from one bucket, and fill only what you
using half need.

A dripping tap that nobody repairs Report it the same day. A slow drip can waste a bucket in a
day.

Overflowing overhead tank Fit a float valve or an alarm, and switch the motor off on
time.

Washing the scooter or the courtyard with a Use a bucket and a cloth. Sweep the courtyard instead of
running hose washing it.

Throwing away half a glass of drinking water Pour only what you will drink; give the leftover to the
plants.

Watering plants in the hot afternoon Water early in the morning or in the evening, so less of it
dries away.

Throwing away the water used to wash fruits Keep it in a bowl and use it for the plants — the chapter
and vegetables itself suggests this.

Why this question is asked at all: It is easy to blame factories and cities. But the
chapter has just shown you how far the water travelled and what people gave up so
that it could reach your tap. Once you know that, wasting a mug of it feels different.
Noticing your own habit is the first real step; the second is the mug.

Q7 Can you design a simple water filter using everyday materials? What would you
include and why?

Yes. A simple filter is a layered column: cloth on top, then cotton, then fine sand, then coarse
sand, then small gravel, then pebbles at the bottom. Dirty water is poured on top and comes
out clearer at the bottom.
How to make it:

1. Take an empty plastic bottle and ask an adult to cut off the bottom.
2. Turn the bottle upside down — the cap end faces down. Make a small hole in the cap, or
leave the cap off and cover the mouth with a piece of cloth tied on.
3. Stand this upside-down bottle in a glass or a jug.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4. Now put in the layers, in this order, from the bottom (the neck) upwards: small pebbles, then
coarse sand, then fine sand, then a thick pad of cotton, and a folded piece of clean cotton
cloth on top.
5. First pour clean water through it once, to wash the sand. Throw that water away.
6. Now pour muddy water slowly on the cloth and watch the water that collects below.

Muddy water in

Cloth

Cotton

Fine sand

Coarse sand

Pebbles

Clearer water out
A bottle filter: the biggest bits are caught at the top, the finest at the bottom.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

LAYER WHY IT IS THERE

Cloth (on top) Catches leaves, insects and big floating bits, and stops the sand from being
churned up.

Cotton Traps smaller floating dirt and slows the water down so the layers below
have time to work.

Fine sand The main worker. Its gaps are very small, so fine mud gets stuck between
the grains.

Coarse sand Holds back the medium-sized bits and stops the fine sand from washing
down.

Small gravel and pebbles Hold the whole column up and let the clean water drain out freely.

Charcoal (an extra layer, if you Charcoal takes away bad smell and colour. Put it between the fine sand and
have it) the coarse sand.

Why the order matters: The layers get coarser as you go down. The water meets
the smallest gaps at the top and larger gaps below, so dirt is removed in stages
instead of blocking the filter at once. If you put the pebbles on top, the mud would
rush straight down and the filter would do nothing.

An important warning: this filter removes mud and floating dirt. It does not remove
germs, and it does not remove anything that has dissolved in the water — remember
the sugar in Activity 3. Filtered water must still be boiled before drinking.

Q8 Imagine you are planning a new city near a river. What steps would you take to: (a)
keep the river clean, (b) prevent floods during heavy rains, (c) ensure there is
always enough water for everyone, even during summers.

My plan for the new city, under the three headings.
(a) To keep the river clean

1. Build the sewage treatment plants first, before the houses. No drain in the city may empty
into the river without being cleaned.
2. Put every factory on the downstream side of the city, and make each one clean its own water
before letting it out. Test the water every month and put the results on a public board.
3. Provide two bins in every house and street — wet waste and dry waste — and a proper daily
collection, so nothing has to be dumped on the bank.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

4. Ban plastic bags and single-use plastic in the whole city.
5. Make clean, well-lit ghats with steps, bins and a separate tank for puja flowers and offerings.
6. Leave a wide green belt of trees and grass along both banks. Nothing may be built inside it.
7. Set up a citizens' river committee with two members from every ward and one from every
school.

(b) To prevent floods during heavy rains

1. Keep a wide no-building zone on both banks. The river needs room to spread; if we do not
give it room, it takes our houses.
2. Never fill up the low ground, the old ponds or the natural nalas — that is where flood water
is supposed to go.
3. Make ponds and open parks in the low parts of the city, so they can hold water during heavy
rain.
4. Build wide storm-water drains, separate from the sewage drains, and clean them before
every monsoon.
5. Use paving blocks with gaps, gardens and open soil instead of covering every surface with
cement, so rain can soak in.
6. Plant trees on the slopes upstream — trees slow the rain down and help the soil soak the
water up, exactly as the picture on page 32 shows.
7. Set up a warning system, mark evacuation routes, and put the relief centres on high ground.

(c) To ensure there is always enough water, even in summer

1. Make rainwater harvesting compulsory for every building — the roof water goes into a
tank, and the extra into a recharge pit.
2. Keep the city's ponds and lakes alive and desilted; they store rain and recharge the
groundwater.
3. Repair leaks quickly. In many cities a large part of the water is lost from broken pipes before
it ever reaches a house.
4. Recycle used water and use it for gardens, parks and construction, so that clean water is
saved for drinking.
5. Fit water meters and teach every family to use water carefully; put water ATMs in public
places.
6. Plan a fair share between homes, farms and factories, and let a fixed amount of water
always flow down the river itself.
7. Do not draw more groundwater than the rain can put back.

Why the three parts belong together: They look like three different problems, but
they have one common answer — leave room for water. Room in the drains for
dirty water to be cleaned, room on the banks for flood water to spread, and room in
the ground for rain to soak in. A city that takes every last metre from the river ends
up short of water in summer and under water in the monsoon.

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co m
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Draw it: make a simple plan view. The river with a green belt on both sides, the city

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set back from it, the treatment plant before the outlet, the factories downstream,
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Chapter at a glance a
A river starts small and grows as it travels. The Godavari begins in the Brahmagiri Hills of
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the Western Ghats at Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra. The place where a river begins is
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g and stronger. A small
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called its origin. At the start she is only a thin stream. As she moves across the land,

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rainwater

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joining the Bay of Bengal. Only the Ganga is longer. She is also called Dakshina Ganga —
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the Ganga of the south — because she flows through southern India and people treat her

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her water, especially at the time of the Godavari Pushkaram.
Some rivers flow all year, some only in the rains. The Godavari has water in every season.
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A river like that is called a perennial river — perennial simply means 'all through the year'.
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A river that flows only when the rainy season fills it is called a seasonal river. Because the
a
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Godavari is perennial, the people and animals along her banks get water even in the dry

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A river ends by spreading out into a delta. When the Godavari reaches the sea she splits

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freshwater meets the salty sea water.

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through rich forests where
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A river supports people in many ways at once. People have always built their homes near

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caround gla crops with it and use it in
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Dams store her water, but they also change her. A dam is like a giant wall across a river. It

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blocks the flow and stores water in a big water body called a reservoir. More than 900

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dams store the Godavari's water, so people can drink, grow crops and make electricity even
in a dry season. But a
the

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

and home to people. Many families have to leave their homes and shift elsewhere. Two
dams on her course are the Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP) and the Polavaram Dam.
Waste, dirty water and fertiliser pollute a river. Where there are many people and
factories on the banks, waste, plastic and dirty water go into the river. Sometimes the river
does not look or smell clean, yet people still use that water and fall ill. Some harmful things,
like chemicals and soapy water, dissolve — they mix in completely and cannot be seen. So
water that looks clean can still be unsafe. Fertiliser washed off the fields makes water plants
grow very fast until they cover the surface like a 'green blanket'. Under that blanket the
fish find it hard to breathe and the water becomes unsafe to drink.
Too much water and too little water both hurt. When there is very heavy rain, the river
swells, runs faster and deeper, and overflows her banks. Floods damage homes, fields and
roads, cut off electricity, spoil drinking water, spread disease and shut schools. Trees help —
they slow the rain down and let the soil soak the water up; bare land lets water run off fast
and flood. When a river runs dry, families may even have to leave their homes to find water.
In 2019 Chennai ran special water trains because its reservoirs dried up; in 2022 heavy rain
flooded homes and roads in Bengaluru.
Small everyday actions keep a river alive. Make less waste, and use eco-friendly things.
Do not throw plastic into water. Turn the tap off while brushing. Fix leaking taps with an
adult's help. Reuse the clean water left from washing fruits and vegetables to water plants.
Remind others too. Bigger efforts help as well — the Namami Gange programme is
cleaning the Ganga, the National Water Mission helps people across India use water
wisely, and water ATMs give clean water when you put in a card or a coin.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS AN EVERYDAY EXAMPLE

Origin The place where a river begins Page 21, the The Brahmagiri Hills at
Godavari's story Trimbakeshwar

Tributary A small stream or river that joins a Page 21; the map on The Manjira joining the
bigger river page 22 Godavari

Perennial A river that has water all through The Life I Hold, page The Godavari, even in summer
river the year 23

Seasonal A river that flows only when the The Life I Hold, page A village nala that dries up after
river rains fill it 23 the monsoon

Delta The flat land made where a river Page 23 The Coringa Mangrove Forests
splits into many streams before the
sea

Mangrove A salty-water forest that grows Page 23 Coringa, where the Godavari
forest where a river meets the sea ends

Livelihood The work a person does to earn a The Many Ways I Fishing, farming, boating
living Support Lives, page
24

Ecotourism Visiting natural places to enjoy and Page 25 A guided river-rafting or bird-
learn, without harming them watching trip

Dam A giant wall across a river that Dams, page 26 The Polavaram Dam
blocks and stores its water

Reservoir The large water body that fills up Dams, page 26 The lake behind Sriram Sagar
behind a dam Project

Pollution Waste, plastic, chemicals or dirty What Pollutes Me, A drain emptying into a river
water spoiling the river page 27

Dissolve To mix into water completely, so it Activity 3, page 29 Sugar stirred into a glass of
cannot be seen any more water

‘Green A thick cover of fast-growing Activity 4, page 30 A pond fully covered with green
blanket’ plants over the water surface weed

Flood Water rising over the river banks When a River Floods, Water standing in fields and
and spreading over the land page 31 streets after very heavy rain

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 2 Journey of a River AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT APPEARS AN EVERYDAY EXAMPLE

Evacuate To leave a dangerous place and go Activity 6, page 33 Moving to a school building on
somewhere safe higher ground

Water ATM A machine that gives clean water Page 36 A water ATM at a bus stand
for a card or a coin

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