Book 30, Question 76
How much of the world's water can people actually drink?
Of the remaining fresh water, most is locked up in ice sheets and glaciers or deep underground.
About 97 percent of Earth's water is salty ocean. Only a tiny share, less than one percent of all the water on Earth, is in lakes, rivers, and shallow groundwater that people can easily reach. That small share must supply drinking water, farms, and factories, which is why saving it matters.
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Quick answers
How much of the world's water can people actually drink?
Freshwater represents only about three percent of all water on Earth and freshwater lakes and swamps account for a mere 0.29 percent of the Earth's freshwater.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
More fun facts
- About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water.
- Of the freshwater on Earth, much more is stored in the ground than is available in rivers and lakes.
- Of the small amount that is actually freshwater, only a relatively small portion is available to sustain human, plant, and animal life.
- Notice how of the world's total water supply of about 332.5 million cubic miles of water, over 96 percent is saline.
- The vast majority of water on the Earth's surface, over 96 percent, is saline water in the oceans.
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Geological Survey
Questions kids ask
Which lake holds a fifth of the world's fresh surface water?
Twenty percent of all fresh surface water is in one lake, Lake Baikal in Asia.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey