What was going on when I was born?

ONCE it was taken for granted. Water was plentiful and it came out of our taps in seemingly never-ending amounts. No longer. Today, in short supply and with the real possibility of reservoirs supplying the area drying up, water has come to be regarded as something semiprecious, a resource to be carefully husbanded, the subject of serious restrictions and family rules regarding its consumption and conservation. There is among us, in short, a new water ethic. These days, despite yesterday's rain, there are only 29 days of water left for Greenwich, Conn., and 40 days remaining for most of northern New Jersey, and the word is ''Conserve,'' the dictum, ''You'd better,'' and the ways both basic and creative. But in New York City, which has less than four months of water left, and where Mayor Koch has (via radio) deputized city youngsters to urge their parents to conserve, there does not yet seem to be the sense of urgency that there is in the suburbs.

An obituary of H.I. Feldman in The Times on Jan. 27 incorrectly identified the architect of the Schwab House at 73d Street and Riverside Drive. The architect was the late Sylvan Bien.

In a statement that seemed aimed in part at spurring competition among aircraft manufacturers, Delta Air Lines said yesterday that it planned to spend $7 billion to acquire about 140 new fuel-efficient airliners over a 15-year period, starting in 1986. Some industry analysts said the unusually detailed disclosure of long-range plans served Delta's interests by underscoring a public image of financial strength at a time when less profitable airlines have had to delay equipment-purchasing decisions. Delta's $7 billion in purchases would be in addition to the $3 billion worth of Boeing 757's that the airline decided to order last year, a Delta official said. From Delta headquarters in Atlanta, William Berry, chief spokesman for the airline, said the company hoped that the Boeing Company, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation and Airbus - a European manufacturing consortium - would compete for $5 billion worth of the new orders, which are to be for a total of about 100 short-range, 150-passenger aircraft of a design that is still unselected. He said Delta had already been in touch with all three concerns about the planes. The remaining $2 billion is to go for roughly 40 more Boeing 757's.

IT used to be easy. Artists painted pictures or made sculptures - and their works were there to be looked at but not touched. For a chair to sit in, a bed to lie down on or a lamp to read by, one went to the department store or the designer showroom. The making of functional furniture belonged to the cabinetmaker, the industrial designer, even the architect, but not the artist. ''The barriers between art and furniture keep on dissolving,'' said Marian Goodman of Multiples Gallery, 38 East 57th Street, one of the New York galleries where furniture designed and made by artists is shown. ''The significant thing now is the breaking down of the barrier between art and crafts,'' said Frank Kolbert, a dealer. And although a small group of artists ranging from Lucas Samaras to Robert Wilson, the playwright, have made furniture for decades, a growing number of artists are using functional works to express themselves.

In 1919, a mining engineer named Herbert Everest was caught in a mine cave-in that broke his back and confined him for the rest of his life to a wheelchair. Wheelchairs, in those days, were large, cumbersome contrivances that could not be folded up when not in use. Mr. Everest used to grouse a good deal about how hard his chair was on him. His displeasure often burned the ears of Harry Jennings Sr., a close friend and a mechanical engineer. They talked a lot about a better wheelchair, and finally, in 1933, Mr. Jennings built one in his garage. Fashioned out of steel tubing, it was lightweight, collapsible and could fit in a car. Life for Mr. Everest became much easier.

A Federal jury found the General Electric Company guilty today of paying a $1.25 million bribe to an official in Puerto Rico to secure a $92 million contract to build a power plant. The jury weighed evidence presented at the three-week trial for almost eight hours over two days before reaching its verdict. General Electric and Twombley Inc., a Woodcliff Lake, N.J., contracting concern, were convicted of creating a slush fund to bribe Carlos Velazquez Toro, the former chief of operations for Puerto Rico's Water Resources Authority, who resigned in 1976 and died three years later. The bribe was intended to guarantee the 1974 award of a $92 million contract to build an electric generating plant in Aguirre, P.R.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Carol Vogel is a freelance writer who is continually rearranging her books. By CAROL VOGEL YOU have a vague recollection that a particular anthology of poetry contains a poem by Donne, which you have just mentioned in conversation. But you're not sure you quoted it accurately, and you want to look it up. You're sure the book is green with gold lettering, but after you search through your library, this anthology is nowhere to be found.

Because of an editing error, part of a sentence was omitted from the ''Hers'' column in The Home Section last Thursday. The corrected sentence appears today on page C2.

Your TaxesA Guide to Preparing 1980 ReturnsTenth of 12 articles.- By DEBORAH RANKIN The last task in preparing a tax return, after toting up income, deductions and tax credits, is to calculate the amount of tax owed the Government. While this calculation may be the final dispiriting step in a long, tedious affair, the use of income-averaging and the maximum tax can help reduce the bill for some. A married couple filing jointly whose tax table income, shown on line 34 of the long form 1040, is $40,000 or less and who claim nine or fewer exemptions can use the tax tables provided in the back of the official instructions accompanying the form. A married couple filing separately and single taxpayers whose incomes are $20,000 or less and who claim three or fewer exemptions can also use the tables. So can heads of households with incomes of $20,000 or less and eight or fewer exemptions.

Delta Air Lines said it planned to spend $7 billion to buy about 140 new airliners in a 15-year period beginning in 1986. That would be in addition to the $3 billion of Boeing 757's that Delta decided to order last year. Delta said that it hoped Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus would compete for $5 billion worth of the new orders and that it would buy $2 billion more of Boeing 757's. (Page D1.) Seatrain Lines was forced into bankruptcy by three Italian creditors with unpaid bills totaling more than $1 million. Seatrain's president, Eugene V. Rose, said the company had consented to the Chapter 11 petition, filed in Federal Court in Manhattan, and would continue to operate its business as ''a debtor in possession.'' (D1.)

In his first major action as Secretary of the Interior, James G. Watt today proposed reversing an act of the Carter Administration by offering for sale leases to drill for oil and gas in four disputed areas off northern California. Mr. Watt, in a letter to the Governors of California and Oregon asking for comment on the proposed sale of the leases, said: ''The President has instructed me to take the necessary steps to increase the domestic production of oil and gas, and I firmly intend to take those steps.'' Mr. Watt said in the letter that since this was the first sale of leases in the Outer Continental Shelf that he would make as Secretary, ''I want to be sure in my own mind that we have made every effort to meet the President's request, obviously within the bounds of necessary and proper environmental protection.''

To the outside world the appointment of Poland's Minister of Defense, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, as Prime Minister may seem like an ominous step toward militarizing the Government and preparing the armed forces for a crackdown on the unions and their supporters. But here, in the calm eye of the international hurricane rising over the Vistula, the appointment is not viewed in such alarming terms. Poles are less afraid of their own army than Western analysts suspect. And General Jaruzelski, whose appointment was confirmed by Parliament today, is widely seen as a kind of Polish Alexander M. Haig Jr., a strong figure for troubled times.