what percentage of earth’s freshwater available for human use

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Freshwater Availability

Water is the fundamental ingredient for life on Earth. You can find it in the atmosphere above us, in the ocean, rivers and lakes around us, and in the rocks below us. Of all of the water on Earth, 97% is saltwater, leaving a mere 3% as freshwater, approximately 1% of which is readily available for our use. The world’s population is becoming more and more reliant on this precious resource for power, irrigation, industrial practices, and daily consumption.

Sensors on a suite of NASA satellites

Sensors on a suite of NASA satellites observe and measure freshwater resources, including rainfall, snow and ice, rivers and lakes, groundwater, soil moisture, and water quality. These measurements are important to understanding the availability and distribution of Earth’s water, which is both vital to life and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and a growing world population.

Freshwater Crisis

There is the same amount of freshwater on earth as there always has been, but the population has exploded, leaving the world’s water resources in crisis.

A Clean Water Crisis

The water you drink today has likely been around in one form or another since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, hundreds of millions of years ago.

While the amount of freshwater on the planet has remained fairly constant over time—continually recycled through the atmosphere and back into our cups—the population has exploded. This means that every year competition for a clean, copious supply of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and sustaining life intensifies.

Water scarcity is an abstract concept to many and a stark reality for others. It is the result of myriad environmental, political, economic, and social forces.

Freshwater

Freshwater makes up a very small fraction of all water on the planet. While nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Even then, just 1 percent of our freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields. In essence, only 0.007 percent of the planet’s water is available to fuel and feed its 6.8 billion people.

Due to geography, climate, engineering, regulation, and competition for resources, some regions seem relatively flush with freshwater, while others face drought and debilitating pollution. In much of the developing world, clean water is either hard to come by or a commodity that requires laborious work or significant currency to obtain.

Water Is Life

Wherever they are, people need water to survive. Not only is the human body 60 percent water, the resource is also essential for producing food, clothing, and computers, moving our waste stream, and keeping us and the environment healthy.

Where is Earth’s Water?

“Water, Water, Everywhere….”
You’ve heard the phrase, and for water, it really is true. Earth’s water is (almost) everywhere: above the Earth in the air and clouds, on the surface of the Earth in rivers, oceans, ice, plants, in living organisms, and inside the Earth in the top few miles of the ground.

water cycle

For an estimated explanation of where Earth’s water exists, look at this bar chart. You may know that the water cycle describes the movement of Earth’s water, so realize that the chart and table below represent the presence of Earth’s water at a single point in time. If you check back in a million years, no doubt these numbers will be different!

• Left bar: All water, freshwater and saline, on, in, and above the Earth.
• Center bar: All freshwater
• Right bar: Only the portion of freshwater residing in surface water (rivers and lakes, etc), snow and ice, and relatively-shallow ground water.

Here is a bar chart showing where all water on, in, and above the Earth exists. The left-side bar chart shows how almost all of Earth’s water is saline and is found in the oceans. Of the small amount that is actually freshwater, only a relatively small portion is available to sustain human, plant, and animal life.

Without water our planet

Without water our planet would be a barren wasteland. Of the three main ways in which people use water – municipal (drinking water and sewage treatment), industrial and agricultural (mostly irrigation) – farming accounts for the largest part, some 65 percent globally in 1 990.

Water is a finite resource: there are some 1 400 million cubic kilometres on earth and circulating through the hydrological cycle. Nearly all of this is salt water and most of the rest is frozen or under ground. Only one-hundredth of 1 percent of the world’s water is readily available for human use.

the population of developing countries

This would be enough to meet humanity’s needs – if it were evenly distributed. But it is not. In Malaysia 100 people share each million cubic metres of water; in India, the figure is 350 and in Israel, 4 000. And where there is water, it is often polluted: nearly a third of the population of developing countries has no access to safe drinking water.

the amount of water

In many countries, the amount of water available to each person is falling, as populations rise. By the year 2000, Latin America’s per caput water resources will have fallen by nearly three-quarters since 1950. In the twenty-first century the main constraint on development in Egypt will be access to water, not land. Over 230 million people live in countries – most of them in Africa or the Near East – where less than 1 000 cubic metres of water is available per person each year.

what percentage of earth’s water is freshwater that we can use

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Distribution of the Earth’s water

Earth is known as the “Blue Planet” because 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Water also exists below land surface and as water vapor in the air. Water is a finite source. The bottled water that is consumed today might possibly be the same water that once trickled down the back of a wooly mammoth. The Earth is a closed system, meaning that very little matter, including water, ever leaves or enters the atmosphere; the water that was here billions of years ago is still here now. But, the Earth cleans and replenishes the water supply through the hydrologic cycle.

The earth

The earth has an abundance of water, but unfortunately, only a small percentage (about 0.3 percent), is even usable by humans. The other 99.7 percent is in the oceans, soils, icecaps, and floating in the atmosphere. Still, much of the 0.3 percent that is useable is unattainable. Most of the water used by humans comes from rivers. The visible bodies of water are referred to as surface water. The majority of fresh water is actually found underground as soil moisture and in aquifers. Groundwater can feed the streams, which is why a river can keep flowing even when there has been no precipitation. Humans can use both ground and surface water.

Distribution of the water on Earth

• Ocean water: 97.2 percent
• Glaciers and other ice: 2.15 percent
• Groundwater,: 0.61 percent
• Fresh water lakes: 0.009 percent
• Inland seas: 0.008 percent
• Soil Moisture: 0.005 percent
• Atmosphere: 0.001 percent
• Rivers: 0.0001 percent.

Surface water

Surface water is far easier to reach, so this becomes the most common source of potable water. About 321 billion gallons per day of surface water is used by humans. About 77 billion gallons of groundwater are used each day. Problems also exist in contamination of the water supplies. This further limits the amount of water available for human consumption. Water is found in many different forms and in many different places. While the amounts of water that exist seem to be plentiful, the availability of the water for human consumption is limited.

Surface waters

Surface waters can be simply described as the water that is on the surface of the Earth. This includes the oceans, rivers and streams, lakes, and reservoirs. Surface waters are very important.

They constitute approximately 80 percent of the water used on a daily basis. In 1990, the United States alone used approximately 327,000 billion gallons of surface water a day. Surface waters make up the majority of the water used for public supply and irrigation. It plays less of a role in mining and livestock industries.

Oceans

Oceans, which are the largest source of surface water, comprise approximately 97 percent of the Earth’s surface water. However, since the oceans have high salinity, the water is not useful as drinking water. Efforts have been made to remove the salt from the water (desalination), but this is a very costly endeavor. Salt water is used in the mining process, in industry, and in power generation. The oceans also play a vital role in the hydrologic cycle, in regulating the global climate, and in providing habitats for thousands of marine species.

Rivers and streams

Rivers and streams constitute the flowing surface waters. The force of gravity naturally draws water from a higher altitude to a lower altitude.

Rivers obtain their water from two sources: groundwater, and runoff. Rivers can obtain their water from the ground if they cut into the water table, the area in which the ground is saturated with water.

This is known as base flow to the stream. Runoff flows downhill, first as small creeks, then gradually merging with other creeks and streams, increasing in size until a river has formed. These small creeks, or tributaries, where the river begins are known as the headwaters. Springs from confined aquifers also can contribute to rivers.

A river

A river will eventually flow into an ocean. A river’s length can be difficult to determine, especially if it has numerous tributaries. The USGS Web site defines a river’s length as “the distance to the outflow point from the original headwaters where the name defines the complete length.” In order for water to flow, there must be land upgradient of the river, that is land that is at a higher elevation than the river.

The land that is upgradient of any point on the river is known as the drainage basin or watershed. Ridges of higher land, such as the Continental Divide, separate two drainage basins. Flowing water is extremely powerful and plays an important role in creating the landscape and in humans’ lives.

rivers carry soil

Rivers carry soil and sediment that have been washed into the river when it rains or snow melts. The faster the water moves, the larger the particle size the river is capable of carrying. The USGS measures how much sediment a river carries by measuring the streamflow, or the amount of water flowing past a given site; and the sediment concentration.

Sediment in the river can be helpful and harmful. Sediment, when deposited on the banks and in the flood plain, makes excellent farmlands. However, sediment can harm and even destroy dams, reservoirs and the life in the stream.

The water cycle

Water molecules remain constant, though they may change between solid, liquid, and gas forms.

Drops of water in the ocean evaporate, which is the process of liquid water becoming water vapor. Evaporation can occur from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow fields into the air as water vapor.

Moisture in the air can condensate, which is the process of water vapor in the air turning into liquid water. Water drops on the outside of a cold glass of water are condensed water.

Glaciers and ice caps

Glaciers and icecaps are referred to as storehouses for fresh water. They cover 10 percent of the world’s land mass. These glaciers are primarily located in Greenland and Antarctica. The glaciers in Greenland almost cover the entire land mass. Glaciers begin forming because of snowfall accumulation.

When snowfall exceeds the rate of melting in a certain area, glaciers begin to form.

This melting occurs in the summer. The weight of snow accumulating compresses the snow to form ice. Because these glaciers are so heavy, they can slowly move their way down hills.

how many percent fresh water in earth

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How much water is there on, in, and above the Earth?

All Earth’s water, liquid fresh water, and water in lakes and rivers

Spheres showing:

(1) All water (largest sphere over western U.S., 860 miles (1,385 kilometers) in diameter)
(2) Fresh liquid water in the ground, lakes, swamps, and rivers (mid-sized sphere over Kentucky, 169.5 miles (272.8 kilometers) in diameter), and
(3) Fresh-water lakes and rivers (smallest sphere over Georgia, 34.9 miles i(56.2 kilometers) n diameter).

Credit: Howard Perlman, USGS; globe illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); and Adam Nieman.

The Earth

The Earth is a watery place. But just how much water exists on, in, and above our planet? About 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water. Water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even in you and your dog.

Water is never sitting still. Thanks to the water cycle, our planet’s water supply is constantly moving from one place to another and from one form to another. Things would get pretty stale without the water cycle!

All Earth’s water in a bubble

The globe illustration shows blue spheres representing relative amounts of Earth’s water in comparison to the size of the Earth. Are you surprised that these water spheres look so small? They are only small in relation to the size of the Earth. This image attempts to show three dimensions, so each sphere represents “volume.” The volume of the largest sphere, representing all water on, in, and above the Earth, would be about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi³) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km³)), and be about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers) in diameter.

The smaller sphere

The smaller sphere over Kentucky represents Earth’s liquid fresh water in groundwater, swamp water, rivers, and lakes. The volume of this sphere would be about 2,551,000 mi³(10,633,450 km³) and form a sphere about 169.5 miles (272.8 kilometers) in diameter. Yes, all of this water is fresh water, which we all need every day, but much of it is deep in the ground, unavailable to humans.

Do you notice the “tiny” bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? That one represents fresh water in all the lakes and rivers on the planet. Most of the water people and life on earth need every day comes from these surface-water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339 mi³ (93,113 km³). The diameter of this sphere is about 34.9 miles (56.2 kilometers). Yes, Lake Michigan looks way bigger than this sphere, but you have to try to imagine a bubble almost 35 miles high—whereas the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300 feet (91 meters).

what percent of earth’s freshwater is surface water available for human use

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Distribution of the Earth’s water

Earth is known as the “Blue Planet” because 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Water also exists below land surface and as water vapor in the air. Water is a finite source. The bottled water that is consumed today might possibly be the same water that once trickled down the back of a wooly mammoth. The Earth is a closed system, meaning that very little matter, including water, ever leaves or enters the atmosphere; the water that was here billions of years ago is still here now. But, the Earth cleans and replenishes the water supply through the hydrologic cycle.

The earth has an abundance of water, but unfortunately, only a small percentage (about 0.3 percent), is even usable by humans. The other 99.7 percent is in the oceans, soils, icecaps, and floating in the atmosphere. Still, much of the 0.3 percent that is useable is unattainable. Most of the water used by humans comes from rivers. The visible bodies of water are referred to as surface water. The majority of fresh water is actually found underground as soil moisture and in aquifers. Groundwater can feed the streams, which is why a river can keep flowing even when there has been no precipitation. Humans can use both ground and surface water.

Distribution of the water on Earth

• Ocean water: 97.2 percent
• Glaciers and other ice: 2.15 percent
• Groundwater,: 0.61 percent
• Fresh water lakes: 0.009 percent
• Inland seas: 0.008 percent
• Soil Moisture: 0.005 percent
• Atmosphere: 0.001 percent
• Rivers: 0.0001 percent.

Surface water

Surface water is far easier to reach, so this becomes the most common source of potable water. About 321 billion gallons per day of surface water is used by humans.

Surface waters can…

Surface waters can be simply described as the water that is on the surface of the Earth. This includes the oceans, rivers and streams, lakes, and reservoirs. Surface waters are very important. They constitute approximately 80 percent of the water used on a daily basis.

In 1990, the United States alone used approximately 327,000 billion gallons of surface water a day. Surface waters make up the majority of the water used for public supply and irrigation.

It plays less of a role in mining and livestock industries. Oceans, which are the largest source of surface water, comprise approximately 97 percent of the Earth’s surface water. However, since the oceans have high salinity, the water is not useful as drinking water.

Efforts

The oceans also play a vital role in the hydrologic cycle, in regulating the global climate, and in providing habitats for thousands of marine species.

Rivers and streams

Rivers and streams constitute the flowing surface waters. The force of gravity naturally draws water from a higher altitude to a lower altitude.

Rivers obtain their water from two sources: groundwater, and runoff.

This is known as base flow to the stream. Runoff flows downhill, first as small creeks, then gradually merging with other creeks and streams, increasing in size until a river has formed. These small creeks, or tributaries, where the river begins are known as the headwaters. Springs from confined aquifers also can contribute to rivers.

The water cycle

The hydrologic cycle or water cycle is a graphic representation of how water is recycled through the environment. Water molecules remain constant, though they may change between solid, liquid, and gas forms. Drops of water in the ocean evaporate, which is the process of liquid water becoming water vapor.

Evaporation can occur from water surfaces, land surfaces, and snow fields into the air as water vapor. Moisture in the air can condensate, which is the process of water vapor in the air turning into liquid water. Water drops on the outside of a cold glass of water are condensed water.

Condensation is the opposite

Condensation is the opposite process of evaporation. Water vapor condenses on tiny particles of dust, smoke, and salt crystals to become part of a cloud. After a while, the water droplets combine with other droplets and fall to Earth in the form of precipitation (rain, snow, hail, sleet, dew, and frost).

Once the precipitation has fallen to Earth, it may go into an aquifer as groundwater or the drop may stay above ground as surface water. The hydrologic cycle is an important concept to understand.

Water

Water has so many uses on Earth, such as human and animal consumption, power production, and industrial and agricultural needs. Precipitation—in the form of rain and snow—also is an important thing to understand.

It is the main way that the water in the skies comes down to Earth, where it fills the lakes and rivers, recharges the underground aquifers, and provides drinks to plants and animals. Different amounts of precipitation fall on different areas of the Earth at different rates and at various times of the year.

what percent of the earth’s water is salt water hence unfit for direct human consumption

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What is saline water?

First, what do we mean by “saline water?”

Water that is saline contains significant amounts (referred to as “concentrations”) of dissolved salts, the most common being the salt we all know so well—sodium chloride (NaCl).

In this case, the concentration is the amount (by weight) of salt in water, as expressed in “parts per million” (ppm). If water has a concentration of 10,000 ppm of dissolved salts, then one percent (10,000 divided by 1,000,000) of the weight of the water comes from dissolved salts.

Here are our parameters for saline water:

• Fresh water – Less than 1,000 ppm
• Slightly saline water – From 1,000 ppm to 3,000 ppm
• Moderately saline water – From 3,000 ppm to 10,000 ppm
• Highly saline water – From 10,000 ppm to 35,000 ppm
• By the way, ocean water contains about 35,000 ppm of salt.

Saline water is not just in the oceans

Naturally, when you think of saline water you think of the oceans. But, hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean, the residents of states such as Colorado and Arizona can “enjoy a day at the beach” by just walking outside their house, for they may be right next to saline water.

groundwater

There is an extensive amount of very salty water in the ground in the western United States. In New Mexico, approximately 75 percent of groundwater is too saline for most uses without treatment (Reynolds, 1962).

Water

Water in this area may have been leftover from ancient times when saline seas occupied the western U.S., and, also, as rainfall infiltrates downward into the ground, it can encounter rocks that contain highly soluble minerals, which turn the water saline. Groundwater can exist and move for thousands of years and can thus become as saline as ocean water.

Mono Lake

Mono Lake in California is the saline remnant of a much larger lake (Lake Russel) that filled the Mono basin millions of years ago.

The ancient fresh-water lake was once about 130 meters higher than the current water level.

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is now a highly-saline remnant of Lake Russel, having much of its fresh water drained off to serve the water needs of the city of Los Angeles. Water levels are currently falling about 1 meter per year. This has resulted in salty deposits left onshore as the water recedes.

Can saline water be used for anything?

So, with all of the water available on Earth and all that saline water sitting offshore of our coasts, how come we are worried about water shortages? You can think of it as a water-quality situation rather than water-quantity situation. In its raw state, saline water cannot be used for many of the purposes we need water for, such as drinking, irrigation, and many industrial uses.

freshwater

Slightly saline water is sometimes used for similar purposes as freshwater. For example, in Colorado, water having up to 2,500 ppm of salt is used for irrigating crops. Normally, though, moderate to high saline water has limited uses. After all, you don’t drink salt water at home; you don’t use it to water your tomatoes or brush your teeth; farmers don’t usually irrigate with it; some industries can’t use it without damaging their equipment; and, farmer Joe’s cows won’t drink it.

saline water

If nothing else, saline water can be just plain fun. If you happen to be one who has been to the Dead Sea in the Middle East, you could have experienced the unique sensation of floating in the extremely dense (and salty) water that apparently holds you up like a mattress. The water is so dense that you truly do not sink, as you do in normal, even ocean, water. Closer to home, many homeowners who have backyard pools fill them with saline water, rather than have to use freshwater and added chlorine.

Saline water use in the United States in 2015

In today’s world we are all more aware of the need to conserve freshwater. With the ever-growing demand for water by growing populations worldwide, it makes sense to try to find more uses for the abundant saline water supplies that exist, mainly in the oceans. As these pie charts of the Nation’s water use show, about 16 percent of all water used in the United States in 2015 was saline.

what percentage of the world’s freshwater is frozen

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Ice and glaciers come and go, daily and over millennia

The climate, on a global scale, is always changing, although usually not at a rate fast enough for people to notice. There have been many warm periods, such as when the dinosaurs lived (about 100 million years ago) and many cold periods, such as the last ice age of about 18,000 years ago. , and extended well into the United States.

Glaciers are still around today; tens of thousands of them are in Alaska. Climatic factors still affect them today and during the current warmer climate, they can retreat in size at a rate easily measured on a yearly scale.

how many percent of freshwater resides in glaciers

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About 2.1% of all of Earth’s water is frozen in glaciers.

• 97.2% is in the oceans and inland seas
• 2.1% is in glaciers
• 0.6% is in groundwater and soil moisture

About three-quarters of Earth’s freshwater is stored in glaciers. Therefore, glacier ice is the second largest reservoir of water on Earth and the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth!

What is the difference between global warming and climate change?

Although people tend to use these terms interchangeably, global warming is just one aspect of climate change. “Global warming” refers to the rise in global temperatures due mainly to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. “Climate change” refers to the increasing changes in the measures of climate over a long period…

Which mountain in the conterminous U.S. has the most glaciers?

Mount Rainier, Washington, at 14,410 feet (4,393 meters), the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is a dormant volcano whose glacier ice cover exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. Mount Rainier has approximately 26 glaciers. It contains more than five times the glacier area of all the other Cascade volcanoes…

How old is glacier ice?

The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,000,000 years old The age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than 100,000 years old The age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered (from a basin between Mt. Bona and Mt. Churchill) is about 30,000 years old. Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire…

Where are glaciers found in continental North America?

Glaciers exist in both the United States and Canada. Most U.S. glaciers are in Alaska; others can be found in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada (Wheeler Peak Glacier in Great Basin National Park). Utah’s Timpanogos Glacier is now a rock glacier (in which the ice is hidden by rocks), and Idaho’s Otto Glacier has…

Where are Earth’s glaciers located?

Glaciers exist on every continent except Australia. Approximate distribution is: 91% in Antarctica 8% in Greenland Less than 0.5% in North America (about 0.1% in Alaska) 0.2% in Asia Less than 0.1% are in South America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Irian Jaya.

How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?

There is still some uncertainty about the full volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but if all of them were to melt, global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (approximately 230 feet), flooding every coastal city on the planet. Learn more: USGS Water Science School: Glaciers and Icecaps National Snow and Ice Data Center: Facts about…

What are the impacts of glacier loss, other than losing an aesthetic landscape feature?

Glaciers act as reservoirs of water that persist through summer. Continual melt from glaciers contributes water to the ecosystem throughout dry months, creating perennial stream habitat and a water source for plants and animals. The cold runoff from glaciers also affects downstream water temperatures. Many aquatic species in mountainous…

What is a glacier?

A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity. Typically, glaciers exist and may even form in areas where: mean annual temperatures are close to the freezing point winter precipitation…

Facts about glaciers

Presently, 10 percent of land area on Earth is covered with glacial ice, including glaciers, ice caps, and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Glacierized areas cover over 15 million square kilometers (5.8 million square miles).

Glaciers store about 69 percent of the world’s fresh water.

During the maximum point of the last ice age, glaciers covered about 32 percent of the total land area.

Starting around the early 14th century, and lasting to the mid-19th century, the world experienced a “Little Ice Age,” when temperatures were consistently cool enough for glaciers to advance in many areas of the world.

In the United States

In the United States, glaciers cover over 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles). Most of those glaciers are located in Alaska, which holds 87,000 square kilometers (34,000 square miles) of glacial ice.

If all land ice melted, sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (230 feet) worldwide.

Glacier ice

Glacier ice crystals can grow to be as large as baseballs.

Glacial ice often appears blue when it has become very dense and free of bubbles. Years of compression gradually make the ice denser over time, forcing out the tiny air pockets between crystals. When glacier ice becomes extremely dense, the ice absorbs a small amount of red light, leaving a bluish tint in the reflected light, which is what we see. When glacier ice is white, that usually means that there are many tiny air bubbles still in the ice.

North America’s longest glacier is the Bering Glacier in Alaska, measuring 190 kilometers (118 miles) long.

The Kutiah Glacier

The Kutiah Glacier in Pakistan holds the record for the fastest glacial surge. In 1953, it raced more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in three months, averaging about 112 meters (367 feet) per day.

In Washington State, the state with the largest area of glaciers in the contiguous United States, melting glaciers provide 1.8 trillion liters (470 billion gallons) of water each summer.

The largest glacier in the world is the Lambert-Fisher Glacier in Antarctica. At 400 kilometers (250 miles) long, and up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) wide, this ice stream alone drains about 8 percent of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Glacier

A glacier (US: /ˈɡleɪʃər/ or UK: /ˈɡlæsiər, ˈɡleɪsiər/) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow under stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that forms on the surface of bodies of water.

Etymology and related terms

The word glacier is a loanword from French and goes back, via Franco-Provençal, to the Vulgar Latin glaciārium, derived from the Late Latin glacia, and ultimately Latin glaciēs, meaning “ice”.^[8] The processes and features caused by or related to glaciers are referred to as glacial. The process of glacier establishment, growth and flow is called glaciation. The corresponding area of study is called glaciology. Glaciers are important components of the global cryosphere.

Classification by size, shape and behavior

Further information: Glacier morphology

Glaciers are categorized by their morphology, thermal characteristics, and behavior. Alpine glaciers form on the crests and slopes of mountains. A glacier that fills a valley is called a valley glacier, or alternatively an alpine glacier or mountain glacier.^[9] A large body of glacial ice astride a mountain, mountain range, or volcano is termed an ice cap or ice field.^[10] Ice caps have an area less than 50,000 km² (19,000 sq mi) by definition.

resource: wikipedia

what approximate percentage of the earth’s freshwater is groundwater

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Earth’s Freshwater

Most people have heard Earth referred to as “the water planet.” With that name comes the rightful image of a world with plentiful water.

In photographs taken from space, we can see that our planet has more water than land. However, of all the water on Earth,

more than 99 percent of Earth’s water is unusable by humans and many other living things – only about 0.3 percent of our fresh water is found in the surface water of lakes, rivers and swamps.

The teacher guide describes our current understanding of water cycling and freshwater issues that affect natural and human communities.

Freshwater Resources

This entry describes the unequal distribution of freshwater resources on Earth and how it impacts populations’ access to water, their economic development, and global geopolitics.

Access to Water

Because freshwater resources are unequally distributed across the globe, many human populations do not have access to clean, safe drinking water.

According to the United Nations, 2.1 billion people around the globe lacked access to safely managed drinking water in 2017.

Instead, they had access only to contaminated water, which can carry pollution and infectious diseases; populations drinking dirty water are at increased risk of diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, and other diseases.

Lack of access to clean drinking water leads to more than 3 million deaths every year.

As a result…

As a result, providing improved water sources to developing countries is an important goal for international organizations.

Between 1990 and 2015, 2.6 billion people worldwide gained access to improved water resources as a result of international efforts.

The remaining human populations still without access to clean water are concentrated mostly in Africa and Asia, representing nearly 1 billion people.

Economic Development

Access to fresh water is also important for economic development. For example, freshwater sources enable the development of fisheries.

People around the world harvest fish from these habitats, providing enough animal protein to feed 158 million people worldwide.

These fisheries are both a source of subsistence for local fishermen and a source of income for traders.

fresh water as a habitat

Beyond the use of fresh water as a habitat, fresh water is also an important resource in other economic activities, such as agriculture.

According to one estimate, about 70 percent of the world’s fresh water is used for agriculture.

Farmers around the world use irrigation to transport water from surface and ground water sources to their fields.

These agricultural activities involve over 1 billion people worldwide and generate over $2.4 trillion in economic value every year.

In the future, demand for agricultural fresh water will only increase as global populations grow.

freshwater demand

According to one estimate, freshwater demand will increase by 50 percent by 2050.

This increase in water use will put further strain on Earth’s limited freshwater supplies and make access to fresh water even more important.

Geopolitics

The fight over fresh water can already be seen today in international geopolitics.

For example, Ethiopia and Egypt have long fought over Nile water resources in the Horn of Africa. The Nile River is an important waterway that supplies nearly 85 percent of Egypt’s water.

However, approximately 85 percent of the Nile’s water originates in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia

Because Ethiopia is planning to dam part of the Nile river in order to generate electricity, Egypt is concerned that their access to the Nile’s waters will be adversely impacted.

Although the disagreement has not yet turned into open conflict, it is clear that securing this important freshwater resource will define Ethiopian-Egyptian relations for many years in the future.

These conflicts

These conflicts over water resources are common throughout the world. Even in the United States, where freshwater resources are relatively abundant, different populations fight over the use of fresh water.

One major debate that is currently being waged centers on the Colorado River system.

This water system

This water system supplies water to Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, but due to a drought that has reduced water flow in this river system, these seven states need to decide how to reduce water usage in order to preserve the river for all the other users.

As populations grow

As populations grow, and as climate change alters precipitation patterns around the world, these conflicts over water will continue to occur, and with greater frequency, in the future.

Will There Be Enough Fresh Water?

Clean fresh water is a limited and valuable resource. In this module, students consider the question:

will there be enough fresh water?

Students explore the distribution and uses of fresh water on Earth. They explore models of porosity and permeability, run experiments with computational models, and hear from a hydrologist working on the same question.

Activity 1: Constructing an Argument: Water

Students will learn how to create a good scientific argument in the context of freshwater availability.

They will learn to develop scientific arguments through a series of questions that ask them to make a claim, explain their answer, rate their certainty with their answer, and explain that rating.

Activity 2: Availability of Fresh Water

Students explore how water moves above and below Earth’s surface by using interactive computational models.

Activity 3: Using Fresh Water

Activity 4: Groundwater Movement

Students explore how porosity and permeability of different sediments affect the way water flows through Earth’s layers.

Students use interactive computational models to explore the underground flow and deposition of water and determine the best places to access the water in a sustainable manner.

Activity 5: Groundwater and Surface Water

Students use interactive computational models to explore the underground flow of water and how it affects surface bodies of water.

They predict how the water table will be affected by the placement of wells around a gaining stream.

Finally, they explore the reasons the river dried up in a case study of the Santa Cruz River in Arizona.

Activity 6: Using Groundwater Wisely

Students use interactive computational models to explore the relationship between infiltration and recharge in natural and urbanized areas.

They investigate how human development has changed the natural flow of water.

Students explore the transfer of water from one aquifer to another and propose solutions to allow for water extracted from wells to recharge the aquifers from which they came.

what percentage of fresh water is in the great lakes

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Facts and Figures about the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are, from west to east:

Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. They are a dominant part of the physical and cultural heritage of North America.

The Great Lakes are one of the world’s largest surface freshwater ecosystems.

• 84% of North America’s surface fresh water
• about 21% of the world’s supply of surface fresh water
• Physical Features of the Great Lakes
• The Great Lakes Atlas Third Edition 1995 is available from NSCEP, US EPA’s publication service
• Data and Map Floor Studies of the Great Lakes from NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

The Great Lakes Basin

The Great Lakes basin encompasses large parts of two nations, the United States and Canada.

• Nearly 25% of Canadian agricultural production and 7% of American farm production

The Great Lakes basin is defined by science, engineering and politics.

Most of the basin is defined by hydrology;

watersheds that drain into the Great Lakes and their connecting channels are in the Great Lakes basin.

A combination of engineering and politics (Canadian) have resulted in the Rideau exception being included in the Great Lakes basin (the orange striped polygon on the Canadian side of the St. Lawrence River).

The boundaries on these two maps are defined by 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUC8). These may change slightly as more detailed mapping is completed for these watersheds.

Environmental Degradation

The degradation of the Great Lakes can be traced back to the westward expansion of the North American population.

The fishery decline in late 1800s was one of the region’s earliest environmental problems.

Agricultural and forestry practices resulted in siltation, increased water temperature, and loss of habitat for native fish species.

The discharge of pollutants into the lakes accompanied the region’s population growth.

The vastness of the Great Lakes encouraged the mistaken belief that their great volumes of water could indefinitely dilute pollutants to harmless levels.

Yet impacts to the environment and human health were inevitable.

The direct discharge of domestic wastes from cities along the lakeshores led to typhoid and cholera epidemics in the early 1900s.

the United States and Canada

In 1909, the United States and Canada cooperatively negotiated the Boundary Waters Treaty.

This treaty established the International Joint Commission (IJC) which is a permanent binational body addressing,

among other important boundary issues, water quality concerns and the regulation of water levels and flows between the two countries.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Board and the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board are bodies of the IJC.

Six commissioners are the final arbitrators of the IJC: the United States and Canada appoint three each.

Great Lakes Fisheries

The Great Lakes support diverse fresh-water fisheries. Fis Sturgeon, lake trout, and whitefish were popular catches of their time. Birchbark canoes and nets made from willow bark were commonly used to harvest fish.

Commercial fishing began around 1820, and annual catches grew approximately 20 percent per year as improved fishing technologies were applied.

Commercial fishing harvests from the Great Lakes peaked between 1889 and 1899 at around 67,000 metric tons (147 million pounds).

By the late 1950s, the golden days of the Great Lakes commercial fishery were over.

Recreation

Recreation in the Great Lakes area became important beginning in the nineteenth century.

A thriving pleasure-boat industry based on newly constructed canals on the lakes brought vacationers into the region,

as did the already established railroads and highways.

The lower lakes wilderness region attracted people who were seeking health benefits and even miracle cures from mineral waters.

Niagara Falls is located on the international line between the cities of Niagara Falls, New York, and Niagara Falls, Ontario.

This world-famous tourist destination, like other Great Lakes attractions, bolsters the local and regional economies of both countries.