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Most water in Earth's atmosphere and crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is saline or salt water, with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3.5%, roughly equivalent to 34 grams of salts in 1 kg of seawater), though this varies slightly according to the amount of runoff received from surrounding land.
Fresh water makes up less than 3% of the world's water resources, and just 1% of that is readily available. About 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica. Just 3% of it is extracted for human consumption. Agriculture uses roughly two thirds of all fresh water extracted from the environment. [1] [2] [3]
This is the list of countries by freshwater withdrawal for the year 2020, based on the latest data available in January 2024, by World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization (AQUASTAT data). [3] The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories based upon the ISO standard ISO 3166-1 .
There are approximately 16,000 operational desalination plants, located across 177 countries, which generate an estimated 95 million m 3 /day of fresh water. [1] Micro desalination plants operate near almost every natural gas or fracking facility in the United States.
Out of all the water on Earth, saline water in oceans, seas and saline groundwater make up about 97% of it. Only 2.5–2.75% is fresh water, including 1.75–2% frozen in glaciers, ice and snow, 0.5–0.75% as fresh groundwater and soil moisture, and less than 0.01% of it as surface water in lakes, swamps and rivers.
More than 40 million people depend on Lake Mead for water. New satellite images from NASA show just how much Lake Mead has changed over the years, and experts say it’s troubling. NASA image from ...
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificially from other sources, such as from reclaimed water or desalinated water (). 97% of the water on Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh ...
As of 2021, the city with the most people without running water was New York, with an estimated 24,700 households and 56,900 people. But New York has made good strides since 2000 when an estimated ...