If you took all the water on earth – in oceans, ice caps, lakes, rivers, groundwater, the atmosphere, and living things – and wrapped it into a sphere, it would have a diameter of about 860 miles. That 860-mile-high sphere is represented by the largest bubble in the picture, which stretches from Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kan. It has a volume of over 332 million cubic miles. If you popped this bubble with a giant pin, the resulting flow would cover the lower 48 states to a depth of about 107 miles.
Climate change will also impact water availability. Projections indicate a steady increase in temperature progressing through the 21st century, generally resulting in snowpack reductions, changes to the timing of snowmelt, altered streamflows, and reductions in soil moisture, all of which could affect water management, agriculture, recreation, hazard mitigation, and ecosystems across the nation. Despite some widespread similarities in climate change trends, climate change will affect specific water basins in the U.S. differently, based on the particular hydrologic and geologic conditions in that area. For example, USGS models project that changes to snow pack in the Sprague River Basin in Oregon (pictured above) could cause annual peak streamflows to occur earlier in the spring as overall basin storage decreases, which may force managers to modify storage operation and reprioritize water deliveries for environmental and human needs.
In reality, most of the largest bubble is stretched over about 70 percent of Earth’s surface, a very thin layer over the land. As we stare out into them, we think of oceans as vast expanses. And in many parts of the world we feel water-rich, even as we hear stories of regions where water is far from abundant. This graphic shows that this amount of water is not nearly as abundant as it may feel.
Furthermore, most of this water is unusable to humans, because we need freshwater to survive, and 98 percent of that large bubble is saline. The much smaller blue sphere over Kentucky – by comparison, about 169.5 miles in diameter – represents the world’s liquid freshwater, including groundwater, lakes, swamp water, and rivers. However, 99 percent of that bubble is groundwater, much of which is not accessible to humans.
Now we can start to answer the question, how much water is available to humans? Do you notice that tiny blue speck over Atlanta, Ga.? That’s the bubble representing freshwater in all the lakes and rivers on the planet. Most of the water that people and ecosystems need every day comes from these surface-water sources. The diameter of this sphere is a mere 34.9 miles, with a volume of a little over 22,000 cubic miles. The sphere looks tiny compared to, say, the Great Lakes region, which is the largest freshwater source on Earth. But keep in mind that tiny dot is about 35 miles high.
In 2005 Americans used about 328 billion gallons of surface water and about 82 billion gallons of groundwater per day. Surface water is used as the primary supply of drinking and irrigation water, but groundwater is used for these purposes too. Groundwater is also vital in keeping rivers and lakes full, and it provides water for people in places where visible water is scarce, such as in the desert towns of the western U.S.
Still – look again at the picture. It doesn't seem like a lot of water! Certainly, it’s not. It’s important to remember that water is a precious resource. It’s never sitting still; it moves between the air, the land, underground, to the ocean and back again via the water cycle. USGS scientists conduct studies to understand how much water is available now and for the future, including how water flows through the water cycle, how surface water and groundwater interact, and how the quality of our water impacts availability. These studies are important for wise water use, especially as the world becomes increasingly water stressedSummary: This article explains about how much water we really have. This takes up 70% of the world. The small one is the amount of freshwater, but we cant get it because 99% is underground. The little tiny blue ball is the amount of water we can actually use as drinking water. If Americans use 82 billion gallons of groundwater and 328 billion gallons of surface water then we might not have a lot left in a little while. While the water cycle does provide us with some extra water it still dumps a lot of water into the ocean which can never be used again. I hope that our world takes a notice and does something about it.
Opinion: I think that this article is great. I am a little bit worried about the water amount after reading this article. Seeing how much water we have left is shocking. I didn't think that in my lifetime that we could be close to no water. I think that we need to do everything in our power to save as much water as we can. We need to somehow reach the groundwater below. If we can reach that then we can help many people get more water. Also i think that we should all work together. We shouldn't just have a United States water plan, we should have a worldwide plan to help all that are in need of water. That is my opinion on this article.
Questions:
What do you think we should do about the water situation?
Should we work with other countries on this project why or why not?
Were should we get our water supplies from?
Should we share the water or keep it for our own country?
This link gives a good example of how much water there is relative to what we can actually use. It also gives examples of water sources and how much volume they each hold as well as the percentage of fresh water. It also gives a nice description of the water avalable to us and puts in perspective how little we have. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html
ReplyDeleteWhat should we do about our water situation?
ReplyDeleteI think that we should start making it mandatory to limit our water use now. We have programs that tell us to, but we are not forced to do it and many people overuse water, so it is not very effective and stopping this problem. The reason we should start limiting now even though in most parts of the U.S water seems abundant is because the best way to stop a problem is to stop it from happening. If you relate this to endangered species, the best way to keep a species from being endangered is to not destroy the habitat or whatever is causing this endangerment in the first place. If we do this now, we can extend our time with natural water and make it much easier to change to less water in the future if need be.
Should we share the water or keep it for our own country?
I believe that most of the water should go to our own country but some water should go to countries desperately in need. The U.S has enough problems itself right now and until we climb out of these we should keep the water for ourselves. If we decide to give water to other countries that means that we are taking more of the freshwater out of our ecosystems, organisms that depend on this could be effected and cause a chain reaction in our ecosystem. Until we figure out we have enough water for everybody, we should keep most of it to ourselves.
Sean Rich
I invited a professor by the name of Kathy Matera, she has a science degree in chemistry and she currently works at elon unniversity. I thought she was a good choice because she knows about all things conserveing the planet. She teaches enviormental sciences in chemisty.
ReplyDeleteHere is the email i sent her...
Hi,
We are a group of 9th graders who are creating blogs for Enviormental Science and i thought you would be a perfect choice for commenting on our blog. It would mean so much if you could do it for us. Here is the link for the website. I hope you can do it!
http://sciencepeoplez.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-much-water-do-we-really-have.html
Thanks,
Shannen Geller
I think this blog puts the world's water resources into a much better perspective with the visuals than if numbers were simply quoted. As with other readers of this blog, I find it amazing and a little shocking how LITTLE water we have available for human needs. There is such a delicate balance between the water we consume and the water that is available on Earth; we need to be cognizant of the fact that our water resources could disappear if we are not constantly aware of our usage. While some might argue that the United States could act as a separate entity, and devise plans and policies to help conserve water, water conservation and use is a global issue. As the blog pointed out, some areas on Earth have a lot of water, whereas others are arid. Because humans now live all over the globe, however, in both water dense and water limited regions, we need to work together as one to discuss methods to maintain this delicate balance between water being used and water being brought back into the environment. A few days ago I was listening to a radio program on NPR, and the discussion was about how do we determine whether a planet could sustain life. The answer that astrophysicists and chemists have always given is that if there is evidence of water on a planet, it's capable of sustaining life. One could argue, then, that if we use up our water resources, our life will cease.
DeleteI am very impressed with the depth of understanding in this blog, and the fact that it's written in a concise and yet engaging style. I learned new information about water resources, and I am struck by the importance of this issue.
Good luck with your class project; I think this is a great idea to enlighten people who might think we have no problem with water resources.
Kathy Matera, Ph.D.
Chemistry Department, Elon University, North Carolina
Although we (Horsham) are not affected by the issue of decreasing usable water, i believe that if conservation efforts were put into place, or if the human population was controlled, then fresh water would either decrease at a much slower rate or even have a chance to naturally replenish itself through ice cap freezing and fresh water springs. This would help preserve not only our own species, but the almost every land animal on earth.
ReplyDelete1. What do you think can be done about the plumiting amount fresh water on earth?
2. Do you believe we should look on other planets for water to help supplement our own?
3. Do you think we should sharewhat water we have left equally or do you believe that the countries with the water should do what they please with it?