- The image we have of the Earth as the ‘Blue Planet’ is slightly misleading when we consider the water available for our use.
- Most of the Earth is covered by seas and oceans accounting for over 97% of total water on the planet, leaving less than 3% of the planet’s water that is not salty. Of the freshwater that is present, “2 percent is locked in icecaps and glaciers, and a large proportion of the remaining 1 percent lies too far underground to exploit”1
- For the vast majority of human uses – be that domestic, industrial, or agricultural – we require fresh water.
Total volume = 1.40 billion cubic kilometres
Freshwater = 35 million cubic kilometres (less than 3% of all water)
Usable freshwater approx. 200,000 cubic kilometres (less than 1% of freshwater)
Volumes taken from: Gleick2 p21 Table 2.1: Major stocks of water on Earth.
- Postel, Sandra (1992) "The Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity", Earthscan, London.
- Gleick, Peter (2001) “The World’s Water: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources” Island Press
