What was going on when I was born?

In the midst of the city's drought, Irving Berkowitz thought he had the perfect product to sell - 210,000 gallons of water a day. But instead of a financial coup, Mr. Berkowitz is stuck with more than $50,000 in bills and a black barge in Brooklyn filled with water that he is unable to give away. Mr. Berkowitz, a fuel-oil broker, said he had bought the 210,000 gallons from the city of Peekskill, N.Y., which has a water surplus. The water, he asserted, remains in the hold of a barge because New York City has blocked the sale to commercial users.

The Farm Credit Administration, overseer of the nation's farmer-owned banking system, is considering asking the Reagan Administration for a rescue from a pile-up of bad loans, officials of the agency reported today. The White House, which has been closely watching the deteriorating farm economy all summer, has opposed such assistance on both ideological and budgetary grounds. But loan defaults among farm borrowers have become so widespread that officials may decide to recommend some sort of intervention to President Reagan, according to a White House economic policy official. ''The feeling is we're going to have to do something,'' said the official, who asked not to be named.

''If the United States holds tests of anti-satellite weapons against a target in outer space, the Soviet Union will consider itself free of its unilateral commitment not to place anti-satellite systems in space.

The Economy Congress could adopt trade curbs in defiance of a veto threat because of a growing public alarm over jobs lost to imports, Congressional leaders from both parties warned. Returning lawmakers said Congress seemed headed for a confrontation with the White House on a number of other critical issues, too, ranging from tax revision to military spending to farm prices. [Page A1.] The Farm Credit Adminitration may ask to be rescued, officials of the agency said. The White House has opposed such assistance, which could run in the billions, but defaults are so widespread that some sort of intervention may be recommended to President Reagan, a White House official said. The Farm Credit Administration, which oversees the nation's farmer-owned banking system, is suffering its first losses in decades. [A1.] International

The military contracting business is typically boom or bust, and of late, it has mostly been boom. But the Defense Department's new efforts to rein in spending a bit may be puncturing the boom for some companies. One of those is the Fairchild Republic Company, a subsidiary of Fairchild Industries. This week, the Pentagon proposed to cancel a new Air Force training plane made by Fairchild that is a mainstay of its aircraft plant in Farmingdale, L.I. To be sure, the decision on the T-46A trainer may in large part be a political one and is not yet final. And some analysts predict that the trainer may yet continue to be built at Farmingdale.

WHEN 9-year-old Jay Wilson comes home from school in Riverdale, Md., at 3 P.M. he is alone until 5:30, when his mother returns from her job as a legal secretary. The first thing he does is to call the Care Line, a telephone hot line and check-in service sponsored by the Mental Health Association of Prince Georges County. It is one of the many new services now being offered by nonprofit organizations to children whose parents are not at home when they return from school. Although many public and private schools offer after-class programs,few schools have the financial resources to address the needs of children who do not participate. Now, community and nonprofit organizations are using special telephone lines, booklets, films, cable television and public library programs, to reach out to children who are alone after school. Child care experts stress that while the effort being made by these organizations is helping some children, there are not enough programs to reach the increasing numbers of children who are on their own during the after-school hours.

The Union Carbide Corporation, the subject of hostile takeover rumors, yesterday ruled out any form of ''greenmail,'' including attempts by a large stockholder to exchange shares for one or more of Carbide's best businesses. ''We don't want to get into negotiations with one individual - the holder of a large block of shares - that would be detrimental to other shareholders,'' said Warren M. Anderson, Carbide's chairman. Carbide also said that it was considering other uses for its Danbury, Conn., headquarters because the company's operations - and its 3,000 employees there - would be reduced so sharply. ''We are looking at that building and that acreage as assets that might be utilized in other ways.'' Mr. Anderson said. The company completed the move from Park Avenue to the vast, modernistic structure, set on 674 wooded acres in Danbury, in 1984.

Congressional leaders from both parties warned today that rising public alarm over jobs lost to imports could cause Congress to defy President Reagan's veto threat and adopt restrictive trade legislation this fall. ''There's going to be some kind of trade bill,'' Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill Jr., a Massachusetts Democrat, told a news conference as the House of Representatives returned from its summer holiday. The Senate will reconvene on Monday. Representative Dick Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the Republican leadership, agreed with the Speaker and said: ''I think members are coming back with strong feelings that the people out there are demanding action on the trade deficit. It's more widespread as an issue than I've ever seen it.''

A Federal District judge today ordered EPIC Mortgage Inc., the troubled mortgage-banking company based in Falls Church, Va., to give a full accounting of its finances and to set aside in escrow any mortgage payments it receives until further determination by the court. Judge Claude M. Hilton of the Eastern District of Virginia delayed a ruling on a request by two banks that he appoint a receiver to oversee the mortgage company's operations. That decision will await a trial. Under his order, EPIC will have to open its books to the National Bank of Washington and the First National Bank of Maryland, which are trustees for certificate holders of $1 billion in EPIC-originated mortgages. The two banks have asserted that EPIC is in default on almost $15 million in mortgage payments to their certificate holders. Judge Hilton said that appeared to be so.

An article about the Vancouver Stock Exchange in Business Day on Monday misstated the status of a $15.5 million lawsuit against the exchange and others. The suit was settled out of court earlier this summer, with the exchange paying $275,000 as its part of the settlement.

International If the U.S. proceeds with a test of an anti-satellite weapon, the Kremlin gave notice, Moscow will no longer consider itself bound by its two-year-old commitment not to deploy such weapons. [Page A1, Column 6.] The Air Force plans to go ahead with a test of a new anti-satellite weapon later this month despite Moscow's threat to follow suit, the service announced. One source said that the classified test date was ''after this week,'' and that members of Congress might make a last-ditch attempt to block the test. [A8:4-6.]

In this small rural town in central Japan lies the plant of one of the largest machine-tool manufacturers in the world, Okuma Machinery Works Ltd. The company started up 87 years ago when its founder invented a simple lathe, and its rise tells a great deal about how Japan grew to dominate this industry. The company's president, Takeo Okuma - a blunt and earthy patriarch at 75 years of age - credits his company's ascent to advanced technological prowess and old-fashioned family-style labor relations. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1985, the family-run company recorded a net income of $14 million on sales of $394.5 million. Although other machine-tool companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are more profitable, Okuma leads in sales, analysts say.