How Much Fresh Water is on Earth?

How much Fresh Water is available on Earth for consumption? It is about 326 million cubic miles of fresh water enough to fill the United States with a lake 90 miles deep. A majority of fresh water is locked in icecaps.If you poured the entire world's water on the United States and could contain it, you'd create a lake 90 miles deep. That is how much fresh water is present in the Earth. It is nearly 326 million cubic miles of water.

The Earth is covered in most parts with water, 72 percent of surface area, but 97 percent of the water is salty and not suited for drinking.

Some facts about the freshwater that is available on the surface:

• 70 percent of freshwater is locked in ice caps
• Less than 1 percent of the world's freshwater is readily accessible
• 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) have 50 percent of the freshwater reserves
• One-third of the world's population lives in "water-stressed" countries

As you see the fresh water is not distributed evenly in the world, some countries like Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Columbia have the bulk of fresh water, while others like the African countries have less fresh water.

There is much more freshwater stored in the ground than there is in liquid form on the surface, according to the USGS. Also, Scientists have found that more fresh water is hidden inside the earth in China. Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

There are technologies that convert salt water to fresh water, desalination using seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membrane technology produced by General Electric. These are currently employed in Algeria and provides more than 20% of fresh water.

So far there are no shortages of fresh water here, but still we have to be careful in how much we waste water. There is an American saying "Save it for a Rainy Day".

Ref: LiveScience