) Only about
% of water on the earth is fresh water
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Answers
Answer:
3% of the earth's water is fresh. 2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost. 0.5% of the earth's water is available fresh water.
Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface.
326 million cubic miles of water on the planet
97% of the earth's water is found in the oceans (too salty for drinking, growing crops, and most industrial uses except cooling).
320 million cubic miles of water in the oceans
3% of the earth's water is fresh.
2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost.
0.5% of the earth's water is available fresh water.
If the world's water supply were only 100 liters (26 gallons), our usable water supply of fresh water would be only about 0.003 liter (one-half teaspoon).
In actuality, that amounts to an average of 8.4 million liters (2.2 million gallons) for each person on earth.
This supply is continually collected, purified, and distributed in the natural hydrologic (water) cycle.
Where Water is Found and the Percentage
Oceans 97.2%
Ice Caps/Glaciers 2.0%
Groundwater* 0.62%
Freshwater Lakes 0.009%
Inland seas/salt lakes 0.008%
Atmosphere 0.001%
Rivers 0.0001%
TOTAL 99.8381%
If the Earth Were a Globe 28 Inches in Diameter:
All of the water on the planet would fill less than one cup.
Only 0.03% of one cup is in rivers and fresh water lakes.
Slightly more than one drop of water would fill all the rivers and lakes.
If 5 Gallons Represents all the Water on Earth (in tablespoons):
Oceans 1244.16
Ice Caps/Glaciers 5.60
Groundwater* 7.93
Freshwater Lakes 0.11
Inland seas/salt lakes 0.10
Atmosphere 0.0128
Rivers 0.0012
TOTAL 1277.9130
*Some of this lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an