Water Resources

• Water is a simple compound that is very important to life and has remarkable and useful properties.
• Many scientists believe that, the presence of water made life possible to exist on Earth.
• 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
• 97.5% of the earth’s water is ocean and saline waters, while 2.5% is fresh water.
• Saline water is salt water which contain high amount of concentrated salt.
• 68.7% of the fresh water is trapped in ice of the wide glaciers of Greenland, 30.1% is stored underground as ground water, 1.2% is surface or other fresh water.
• 67.4% of the surface water is the lakes, 1.6% is rivers and streams, 8.5% is wetlands, 9.5% is water vapor, 0.8% is present in plants and animals, and 12.2% is soil moistures.
• Permafrost refers to any ground that remains completely frozen.
• Saline refers to containing or having salt.
• Saline water refers to water containing high concentration of salt.
• The water cycle, also known as hydrologic cycle, is the continuous movement of water above or below the surface of the earth.
• The water cycle involves precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
• The water moves from one reservoir to another, such as from the river to ocean, or from the ocean to the atmosphere, by the physical processes of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, surface runoff, and substance flow.
• Approximately 40% of precipitation comes from previously evaporated water from the oceans while the rest from different parts of the land.
• In desert climates, precipitation may only be less than 100mm a year, but in tropical settings it rises to over 3,400mm a year.
• In temperate climates, about one-third of precipitation returns to the atmosphere through evaporation, the other third filters into the ground and adds to the groundwater, and the rest flows in water bodies.
• In drier wetlands, there is a higher proportion of precipitation that returns to the atmosphere and a lower proportion replenishes the groundwater.
• Global warming increases the temperature thus drying lakes, rivers and other reservoirs.
• Over population means more people and more people means large consumption of water.
• Water pollution occurs when trash and other garbage thrown in the river, or other bodies of water pollute water.
• Ways to protect and preserve water include never wasting water, disposing chemicals properly, not littering and picking up trash, using less polluting household products, and getting knowledge about water, its uses and its value.
• Preserving water will give future generations a better life.