The global water budget

• Fossil Water


  Untapped ancient stores of freshwater exist in the polar regions and beneath many deserts. New technologies now make it possible to access the water stores, known as aquifers, beneath Greenland's icesheet and under the Kenyan desert. For example, Kenya's Lotikipi aquifer contains an estimated 200 billion cubic metres of freshwater.
• The Cryosphere 


  • Made up of those areas of the world where water is frozen into snow or ice
  • Whether or not it is renewable is to be questioned because, come another glacial period, more water will once again be locked in glaciers and ice sheets.