Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 334
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 334 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 334
READING PASSAGE – 2
Community Water Treatment
Having inexpensive and safe drinking water is a goal common to all countries. Nevertheless, 1.1 to 1.8 billion people globally lack access to safe water. It has been predicted that two-thirds of the world’s inhabitants could live in water-stressed conditions by 2025, and this will be exacerbated by the demands of the increasing numbers of people needing water, increasing numbers of bigger towns, and climate change.
Without improved sanitation and sustainable supplies of water of sufficient quantity and quality, many countries will suffer from increased poverty and disease, food and energy insecurity and economic dislocations. These problems have the potential to undermine economic development, exacerbate migration pressures, increase civil unrest, reduce trade and export opportunities, and prevent countries from advancing policies and programs.
Safe water is fundamental to solving challenges to human health, economic development, and peace and security. Water problems are unfortunately difficult to solve and the needy and weak, in particular women and girls, can be the most difficult to improve the lot of in many societies.
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Drinking water supplies are safest in the developed world. However, even the safest drinking water sources can suffer adulteration, causing sickness and disease from waterborne germs and require appropriate treatment to remove disease-causing agents. Public drinking water systems use various methods of treatment to provide safe drinking water for their communities. Today, the most common steps in water treatment used by community water systems are uniform in most developed countries.
Coagulation and flocculation are the first two steps in water treatment. Positively-charged chemicals are added to the water and these neutralise the negative charge of dirt and other dissolved particles in the water. When this occurs, the particles bind with the chemicals and form larger particles, called floc. During the next step, floc settles to the bottom of the water supply, due to its weight. This process involves the settling of other solids and is called sedimentation.
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Once the solids have settled to the bottom, the clear water on top will go through to the next stage to go through filters of varying pore sixes and different compositions, such as sand, gravel, and charcoal, and pore sizes, in order to remove dissolved particles, such as dust, parasites, bacteria, viruses, and chemicals. After the water has been filtered, disinfection is performed to kill any remaining parasites, bacteria, and viruses. The water is then stored until it is piped to homes and businesses.
Water may be treated differently in different communities depending on the quality of the water entering the treatment plant. Typically, surface water requires more treatment and filtration than ground water, because lakes, rivers, and streams hold more earth and pollutants and are more likely to be contaminated.
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Even though most countries set standards for public drinking water, many people use a home water treatment. Household water treatment systems are composed of two categories: point-of-use and point-of-entry. Point-of-entry systems are typically installed after the water meter and treat most of the water entering a residence. Point-of-use systems are systems that treat water in batches and deliver water to a tap, such as a kitchen or bathroom sink or an auxiliary faucet mounted next to a tap.
The most common types of household water treatment systems might consist of four components. The first is a filtration system, which is a device that removes impurities from water by means of a physical barrier, chemical, and/or biological process. The second is a water softener, which is a device that reduces the hardness of the water. A water softener typically uses sodium or potassium ions to replace calcium and magnesium ions. The third is a distillation system, which executes a process in which impure water is boiled and the steam is collected and condensed in a separate container, leaving many of the solid contaminants behind.
The fourth is disinfection, which is a physical or chemical process in which pathogenic microorganisms are deactivated or killed. Examples of chemical disinfectants are chlorine, chlorine dioxide, and ozone. Examples of physical disinfectants include ultraviolet light, electronic radiation, and heat.
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Another treatment that public water is subjected to is fluoridation. For example, people in the United States have benefited for 70 years from drinking water with fluoride, leading to better dental health. Drinking fluoridated water keeps teeth strong and reduces tooth decay by about 25 per cent in children and adults. By preventing cavities, community water fluoridation has been shown to save money for families and for the US health care system. Oral health in the United States is much better today than it was many years ago; however, cavities are still one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood.
Community water fluoridation is the most cost-effective way to deliver fluoride to people of all ages, education levels, and income levels who live in a community. Most water has some fluoride, but usually not enough to prevent cavities, but community water systems can add the right amount of fluoride to the local drinking water to prevent them. This has led to community water fluoridation being regarded as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th Century.
Some bottled waters do not have fluoride put in as an ingredient, and some do. Fluoride can occur naturally in source waters used for bottling or be added, but most bottled waters contain fluoride at levels that are less than optimal for good oral health.
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Questions 14 – 18
Complete the summary using the words in the box below. Write your answers in boxes 14 – 18 on your answer sheet.
The Importance of Clean Water
As access to clean and (14)_______________ water is not always going to be possible, 66% of the world could suffer water stress by 2025. This is worsened by a growing population, increased (15)______________ and global warming. If better (16)_______________ and provision of quality water is not possible, various negative social and security effects will be felt by different countries. The worst affected will be the poor and (17)_______________. Females are particularly affected. In spite of the developed world’s water sources, (18)______________ can still occur and treatment is required.
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List of Words
Drought
Hygiene
Consumption
Pipes
Reservoirs
Affordable
Affluent
Contamination
Urbanisation
Vulnerable
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Questions 19 – 21
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each answer.
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Questions 22 – 26
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer of the text?
In boxes 22 – 26 on your answer sheet write:
YES if the statement agrees with the writer’s views
NO if the statement doesn’t agree with the writer’s views
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
22 Surface water contains more sediment than ground water.
23 Domestic filtration can remove both chemical and biological contamination.
24 Water treatments that use condensation are too complex for domestic systems.
25 The cost of water softeners in the US are subsidised by the relevant state.
26 Bottled water does not contain added fluoride.
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ANSWERS
14. AFFORDABLE
15. URBANISATION
16. HYGIENE
17. VULNERABLE
18. CONTAMINATION
19. POSITIVELY-CHARGED CHEMICALS
20. WEIGHT
21. DISINFECTION
22. YES
23. YES
24. NO
25. NOT GIVEN
26. NO
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