water resources
WATER RESOURCES
What are water resources?
Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful
to humans. It is important because it is needed for life to exist. Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water. Only 2.7% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps, leaving only 0.007% available for human use. Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is steadily decreasing.
Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world, and as world population continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future.
Sources of fresh water
Surface water
Sub-surface water
Desalination
Frozen water
Surface water
Surface water is water in a river, lake or fresh water wetland. Surface water is naturally produced by precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to the oceans, evaporation .
Sub-surface water
Sub-Surface water, or groundwater, is fresh water located in the pore space of soil and rocks. It is also water that is flowing within aquifers. Sometimes it is useful to make a distinction between sub-surface water that is closely associated with surface water and deep subsurface water in an aquifer
(sometimes called "fossil water"). Desalination
Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally ocean water) is converted to fresh water. The most common desalination processes are distillation and reverse osmosis.
Frozen water
An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water.
Uses of fresh water
AGRICULTURE
It is estimated that
What are water resources?
Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful
to humans. It is important because it is needed for life to exist. Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water. Only 2.7% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps, leaving only 0.007% available for human use. Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is steadily decreasing.
Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world, and as world population continues to rise at an unprecedented rate, many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future.
Sources of fresh water
Surface water
Sub-surface water
Desalination
Frozen water
Surface water
Surface water is water in a river, lake or fresh water wetland. Surface water is naturally produced by precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to the oceans, evaporation .
Sub-surface water
Sub-Surface water, or groundwater, is fresh water located in the pore space of soil and rocks. It is also water that is flowing within aquifers. Sometimes it is useful to make a distinction between sub-surface water that is closely associated with surface water and deep subsurface water in an aquifer
(sometimes called "fossil water"). Desalination
Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally ocean water) is converted to fresh water. The most common desalination processes are distillation and reverse osmosis.
Frozen water
An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water.
Uses of fresh water
AGRICULTURE
It is estimated that