SBI PO English Sectional Mock Test 10

1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given after it. For most of the twentieth century, a city's water problem was understood as a problem of supply. If taps ran dry, the answer was to build a bigger dam, lay a longer pipeline or drill a deeper borewell. Engineers measured success in million litres per day, and politicians cut ribbons at reservoirs that promised to end shortages for a generation. The promise was rarely kept. As cities grew, demand caught up with each new source, and the next project had to reach even farther into the countryside, often at the expense of farmers and forests downstream. A different idea has slowly gained ground: that a city may already receive enough water but wastes much of it. Studies of several Indian cities have found that between a quarter and a half of the water pumped into municipal networks never reaches a paying consumer. Some of it leaks from ageing pipes; some is drawn through illegal connections; some is simply not recorded because meters are absent or broken. Engineers call this 'non-revenue water', and reducing it is far cheaper than building a new reservoir, though it is also far less visible. Rainwater offers a second neglected resource. Most cities receive enough rain in a few monsoon months to recharge their aquifers, yet concrete surfaces send much of it rushing into drains and out to the sea. Restoring old lakes, protecting wetlands and requiring large buildings to capture rooftop runoff can return a part of this water to the ground, where it can be drawn upon during the dry season. None of these measures is glamorous. A repaired pipe does not make for an inauguration ceremony, and a recharged aquifer cannot be photographed. But a city that manages the water it already has may find that it needs to borrow less from its neighbours, and that the next crisis arrives later, if it arrives at all.

   Q1.According to the passage, how was a city's water problem traditionally viewed?

   • A.As a matter of fixing broken meters in homes
   • B.As a result of poor rainfall in monsoon months
   • C.As a problem caused mainly by illegal connections
   • D.As an issue best handled by farmers and forest officials
   • E.As a shortage that could be solved by finding new sources of supply

2. Q2.Why, according to the author, was the promise made at new reservoirs 'rarely kept'?

   • A.Politicians cancelled most projects after the ceremony.
   • B.The reservoirs were built in the wrong places.
   • C.Engineers measured supply in the wrong units.
   • D.Growing demand in expanding cities soon used up each new source.
   • E.Farmers refused to share water with the cities.

3. Q3.Which of the following is NOT given in the passage as a cause of non-revenue water?

   • A.Evaporation from open reservoirs
   • B.Absent meters
   • C.Broken meters
   • D.Illegal connections
   • E.Leakage from ageing pipes

Start the test to answer these. Correct answers and explanations are shown after you submit.