Where is the Rest of Earth’s Water?

Did you know that only 3% of Earth’s total water supply is freshwater and not found in the oceans? Three percent is still A LOT OF WATER! There are approximately 2,030,000 cubic miles of fresh water. Most of this 3% of usable water is frozen in glaciers and ice caps, in the Arctic, Antarctica, and Greenland. This “frozen” water is 77% of the non-ocean supply.

Twenty-two percent of the Earth’s water that is not in the oceans is “groundwater” and we use it for drinking, bathing, irrigation, and watering our plants. The remaining portion, less than 1%, is in rivers, lakes, and stored in the soil as moisture above aquifers (the unsaturated zone).

You can do your part to use water wisely.

For more information on what you can do to conserve water visit SAJB’s Water Conservation pages and the Outdoor Watering Nerds.