Figure 7.1.3, Estimate of Global Water
Distribution. (Gleick, P. H., 1996: Water resources. In Encyclopedia
of Climate and Weather, ed. by S. H. Schneider, Oxford University
Press, New York, vol. 2, pp.817-823.)
|
|
For a detailed explanation of where Earth's water is, look at the
data table above. Notice how about 332.5 million cubic miles (1,386
million cubic kilometers), or over 96 percent of the world's total
water supply, is saline. Also, of the total freshwater supply, over
68 percent is locked up in ice and glaciers. Another 30 percent of
freshwater is in the ground. Thus, surface water sources (such as
rivers) only constitute about 22,300 cubic miles (93,100 cubic
kilometers), which is about 1/700th of 1 percent of the total water
supply, yet rivers are the source of most of the water people
use.1
|
