Where the Tap Begins
Written by Studio AM.
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Turn a tap and water may arrive almost at once. In a city supplied by a river reservoir, its journey may have begun far away.
Rain does not fall on a city and stay there. It falls on hills, roofs, fields, and forests, and gravity pulls it downhill into small streams. Those streams join into larger ones. The area of land that drains to a shared point, such as a river is called a watershed, and it can be hundreds of times larger than the city itself.
Somewhere along that river stands a wall of concrete or earth, built across the valley. Behind it the water backs up into a long lake. This reservoir is a store of water created by a dam. Rain is uneven, and some months bring floods while others bring nothing. It can store water during wetter periods for use during drier ones.
This is one way a city obtains its water. Other systems draw from underground water or lakes. Whatever the source, a water supply needs enough water to meet demand before it can be treated and delivered.
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly about?
The answer is B: How a city's water is collected from a watershed and stored in a reservoir.
The passage describes rain draining through a watershed and being stored behind a dam as one type of city water supply.
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Question 2 of 4
According to the passage, what is a watershed?
The answer is A: The area of land that drains to a shared point, such as a river.
The second paragraph defines a watershed as the land draining toward a shared point.
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Question 3 of 4
In this passage, a "reservoir" is best understood as
The answer is C: a store of water held back so it can be used later
The passage describes this reservoir as a store of water created by a dam.
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Question 4 of 4
How can a reservoir help during a dry period?
The answer is B: the useful thing a reservoir does is hold water from wet months for dry ones
The reservoir can keep water from wetter periods for use when less rain falls.
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