Breaking Down the Water Supply

Water is a is the most abundant resource on the planet and essential to all known forms of life. About 1,460,000,000,000,000 (1,460 trillion) tons of water cover 71 percent of the Earth’s surface, but relatively little is suitable for consumption. In many parts of the world, suitable water is in very short supply.

Let’s break the world’s water supply down to an easier size to comprehend, like a really full bathtub (about 58 gallons). Of that 58 gallons available:

• 55 gallons of that bathwater is the saltwater ocean.
• About 10 pounds of ice is locked in polar ice caps and glaciers in the tub.
• About one drop is in the atmosphere as vapor, clouds and precipitation (or the steam in your bathroom).
• Another drop is in our soil, and part of life itself (our bodies are made up mostly of water, for instance).
• Of our drinking water sources:
  • Almost one gallon of that water is below ground in aquifers.
  • Three-fourths of this is polluted or otherwise unavailable to us.
  • About four tablespoons of that is in surface water such as rivers and lakes.

When you think about our water supply in this light, it’s easier to see why conserving is important. After all, four tablespoons really isn’t much.