Water Reservoirs of the Earth

Overall Reservoirs Water volume, in cubic kilometers Percent of total water

Oceans & Seas 1,338,000,000 97

Ice Caps & Glaciers 24,000,000 2

Other 12,000,000 1

Fresh Water Reservoirs Water volume, in cubic kilometers Percent of total freshwater

Ice Caps & Glaciers 24,000,000 69

Groundwater 8,000,000 30

Lakes, Rivers, Streams, 250,000 1

Atmosphere, Biological and

others

Directions: Graph each of the above data tables in pie charts (two of them) on a piece of paper.
Then answer these questions:

Overall Reservoirs of the Earth

1) Where is most of the earth’s water?

2) Ocean water has a high salinity and therefore cannot be used as drinking or agricultural water.
How much of the earth’s total amount of water can be used for what we generally need water for?

3) 99% of the earth’s water is in the oceans or is frozen. What types of reservoirs make up the
remaining 1% of the total amount of water on earth?

Fresh Water Reservoirs

1) Freshwater is water that has a low salinity and is generally safe for people to use with simple
purification. What phase is most of the earth’s freshwater in?

Is it easily accessible and usable in that phase?

2) What is the largest source of liquid freshwater and how do we get it?

3) What percentage of the earth’s freshwater is from the sources we generally see (lakes, rivers,
streams, clouds, & etc.)?

What percentage of the earth’s total water is from those sources?