Making Every Drop Count: reading answers and analysis
A history of how people have managed water, from Rome's aqueducts to 20th-century dams and irrigation. The writer weighs the benefits against the damage to health, people and ecosystems, then reports a surprising fall in demand thanks to efficiency and argues that future projects must be smarter and more accountable.
The headings (14-20) cover A and C to H in order, with B given as the example. The YES / NO / NOT GIVEN statements (21-26) also run in passage order, from Rome in A to the new technologies in G.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: There are eleven headings for seven paragraphs, so four are decoys built from words in the text (irrigation, cost, population). Read each paragraph's first two sentences for its main point: C is about health, D about wider damage, F about a drop in demand and G about the reasons for it.
Question 14
Answer: xiParagraph A
Which heading fits Paragraph A?
At the height of the Roman Empire, nine major systems, with an innovative layout of pipes and well-built sewers, supplied the occupants of Rome with as much water per person
Question says → Passage says
ancientAt the height of the Roman Empire
water suppliesdams and aqueducts / pipes and well-built sewers
Why: A traces water engineering back through history and ends with a detailed picture of Rome's nine water systems. That's a description of ancient supplies, heading xi.
The trap: viii (increasing populations) picks up 'towns gradually expanded'. But A doesn't address any concern about population; it describes how old systems worked.
Question 15
Answer: viiParagraph C
Which heading fits Paragraph C?
Preventable water-related diseases kill an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children every day
Question says → Passage says
healthlack access to clean drinking water / do not have adequate sanitation services / water-related diseases
Why: C is 'the dark side': no clean drinking water, poor sanitation and children dying from water-related disease. Every fact is about people's health, so vii fits.
The trap: x (the need to raise standards) is tempting because services are 'inferior'. But C reports the health problem; the call for higher standards comes in H.
Question 16
Answer: vParagraph D
Which heading fits Paragraph D?
More than 20 % of all freshwater fish species are now threatened or endangered because dams and water withdrawals have destroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems
Question says → Passage says
environmental effectsdestroyed the free-flowing river ecosystems / degrade soil quality / pumped down faster than they are naturally replenished
Why: D moves 'beyond jeopardising human health' to damage to fish, rivers, soil and groundwater. Those are environmental effects, heading v.
The trap: iv (irrigation systems fall into disuse) borrows 'irrigation' from D. The passage says some irrigation damages soil, not that the systems stop being used.
Question 17
Answer: iParagraph E, second and third sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph E?
Some water experts are now demanding that existing infrastructure be used in smarter ways rather than building new facilities
Question says → Passage says
Scientists' callSome water experts are now demanding
a revision of policythe way resource planners think about water is beginning to change / This shift in philosophy
Why: E describes a change in thinking: experts demanding smarter use of what exists instead of new building. Experts demanding a new approach is a call for a revision of policy, heading i.
The trap: x (the need to raise standards) sounds like a new policy too, but E is about the shift in thinking itself. Higher building standards are H's topic.
Question 18
Answer: ixParagraph F, first sentence
Which heading fits Paragraph F?
Fortunately - and unexpectedly - the demand for water is not rising as rapidly as some predicted.
Question says → Passage says
surprisingunexpectedly
downward trend in demandhas slowed / demand has actually fallen
Why: 'Unexpectedly' is the 'surprising' part, and the paragraph goes on to say withdrawals have slowed and in places fallen. That's heading ix.
The trap: ii (an explanation for reduced water use) covers the same story, but F only reports the trend. The explanation starts in G with 'What explains this'.
Question 19
Answer: iiParagraph G, first two sentences
Which heading fits Paragraph G?
What explains this remarkable turn of events? Two factors: people have figured out how to use water more efficiently, and communities are rethinking their priorities for water use.
Question says → Passage says
An explanationWhat explains this… Two factors
reduced water usethe amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased
Why: G opens with a question and answers it: efficiency and new priorities. The rest is evidence for those two factors, from Japan and the USA. That's ii.
The trap: vi (financial cost of technological improvements) is built from the dollar figure in Japan's example. But the $1 million is a unit of output, not the cost of the technology.
Question 20
Answer: xParagraph H, second sentence
Which heading fits Paragraph H?
But such projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local people and their environment than in the past.
Question says → Passage says
raise standardsbuilt to higher specifications
the needmust be built
Why: H accepts that some new dams will be needed, then sets the conditions: higher specifications, more accountability, fewer resources. 'Must… higher specifications' is the need to raise standards, x.
The trap: iii (how a global challenge was met) sounds like a conclusion, but H talks about what must happen in future, not a challenge already solved.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
Questions 21-26
How to attack this block: Two of these are NO because the writer says the opposite in a small detail: Rome's water per person was equal to today's, and demand fell even while industry grew. Two are NOT GIVEN because the passage mentions Greeks, Romans and infrastructure but never makes the claim about copying or ownership.
Question 21
Answer: NOParagraph A, last sentence
Does the writer say people in the industrial world use more water each than ancient Romans did?
supplied the occupants of Rome with as much water per person as is provided in many parts of the industrial world today
Question says → Passage says
Water use per personwater per person
higher in the industrial worldas much… as is provided in many parts of the industrial world
Why: 'As much as' means the same amount. The statement says the industrial world uses more, which contradicts the writer's comparison, so it's NO.
The trap: It's easy to assume modern use must be higher and call it YES, or to think the passage doesn't compare them and say NOT GIVEN. It does compare them, and they're equal.
Question 22
Answer: YESParagraph B, third sentence
Does the writer credit irrigation as the main reason we can feed growing populations?
Food production has kept pace with soaring populations mainly because of the expansion of artificial irrigation systems
Question says → Passage says
Feeding increasing populationsFood production has kept pace with soaring populations
due primarily tomainly because of
improved irrigation systemsthe expansion of artificial irrigation systems
Why: Every part of the statement has a match: 'primarily' = 'mainly', 'increasing' = 'soaring'. YES.
The trap: 'Improved' vs 'expansion' might make you hesitate. The writer credits irrigation as the main cause, which is the claim being tested.
Question 23
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph C, first sentence
Does the writer say today's water systems copy the Greek and Roman ones?
half of the world's population still suffers, with water services inferior to those available to the ancient Greeks and Romans
Question says → Passage says
Modern water systemswater services
the ancient Greeks and Romansthe ancient Greeks and Romans
Why: The Greeks and Romans are mentioned only to say many people today have worse services than they did. Nothing says modern systems are modelled on theirs, so it's NOT GIVEN.
The trap: The repeated names make people look for a YES or NO. Comparing quality is not the same as saying one copies the other.
Question 24
Answer: NOParagraph F, third sentence
Does the writer say industrial growth is pushing up total water demand?
Although population, industrial output and economic productivity have continued to soar in developed nations, the rate at which people withdraw water from aquifers, rivers and lakes has slowed.
Question says → Passage says
Industrial growthindustrial output… continued to soar
increasing the overall demandthe rate at which people withdraw water… has slowed
Why: The writer's point is that industry kept growing while water withdrawals slowed, and in places demand fell. The statement links the two the other way round, so it's NO.
The trap: Paragraph B says demand rose with the industrial revolution, which seems to support the statement. But that's history; the present-tense claim is contradicted in F.
Question 25
Answer: YESParagraph G, third sentence
Does the writer say new technology has cut household water use?
since 1980, the amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased, thanks to a range of new technologies that help to conserve water in homes and industry
Question says → Passage says
Modern technologiesnew technologies
have led tothanks to
a reduction in domestic water consumptionthe amount of water consumed per person has actually decreased… in homes
Why: 'Domestic' means in homes, and 'thanks to' gives the cause. Consumption per person has fallen because of technologies that save water in homes, so YES.
Question 26
Answer: NOT GIVENParagraph H
Does the writer say governments should keep owning water infrastructure?
such projects must be built to higher specifications and with more accountability to local people and their environment than in the past
Question says → Passage says
In the futurewill still have to be built
water infrastructuresdams, aqueducts and other kinds of infrastructure
Why: H says what future projects need (higher standards, accountability, smaller budgets), but never mentions who should own them. Ownership is the missing piece, so it's NOT GIVEN.
The trap: 'Accountability to local people' can sound like a view on control or ownership. It's about answering to communities, not about governments owning anything.
Paragraph E is about water experts demanding a change in approach, which is heading i. People pick ix because the next paragraph's falling demand feels like the same story.
NO. Industrial output kept soaring, but the rate of water withdrawal slowed. The statement reverses the writer's point.
Words from this passage worth keeping
entwined(A)
closely linked together
unprecedented(B)
never happened before
jeopardising(D)
putting at risk
replenished(D)
filled up again
last resort(E)
the option you use only when nothing else works
infrastructure(E)
basic structures a society needs, such as dams and pipes
warranted(H)
justified or necessary
accountability(H)
having to explain your actions to people affected
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 7 Test 1 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 1, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
