In a disaster, one of the first things that you need to secure for your family’s survival is a fresh source of water. There are five sources of freshwater – Lakes, Rains, Ponds, Wells, and Glaciers.
Just 3.5 percent of Earth’s water is fresh—that is, with few salts in it. You can find Earth’s freshwater in our lakes, rivers, and streams, but don’t forget groundwater and glaciers. Over 68 percent of Earth’s freshwater is locked up in ice and glaciers. And another 30 percent is in groundwater.
Water is a tasteless, inorganic, odorless, and nearly transparent chemical substance, which is the principal component of Earth’s hydrosphere. Water comprises 71% of the Earth’s surface, mostly in seas and oceans. Small divisions of water occur as groundwater which is 1.7%, in the glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland 1.7%, and in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation as 0.001%.
Importance of Water
Water is a crucial nutrient and plays a key role in the human body. We can persist up to several weeks without food, but without water, the human body can live up to several days only. Each framework in the body, from cells and tissues to fundamental organs, expects the water to work appropriately. This clarifies the significance of water in our day to day schedule. The human body cannot store water for a long period of it, and it consistently loses water through breathing and perspiring. This implies that we need water in bounty to complete our day to day chores. Water consumption depends on sex, age, weight, etc.
FUN FACT: IF YOU ARE THIRSTY, YOU ARE ALREADY DEHYDRATED!!
Water can be used for different purposes including household use and drinking water, recreational purpose, fisheries, aquatic life agriculture. To meet all these needs, human beings are provided with water resources.
As already mentioned around 71 percent of the earth’s surface is covered in water. This large quantity of water is hard to perceive: Of all of this water, only about 2.5 percent is freshwater: the other 97.5 percent is saltwater. Around 69 percent of freshwater assets are tied up in icy masses and ice covers, around 30% is groundwater, and a simple 0.27 percent is surface water. While a wide range of water assets are significant for the endurance of the planet, available freshwater is particularly significant for human beings.
Natural Sources of Water
The water reaches us through many different ways which include groundwater, surface water, rainwater, snowmelt, lake and river water, and saltwater from oceans. A detailed explanation of these natural sources are given below;
❏ Groundwater Resources
Groundwater is the most significant among all freshwater assets. Groundwater occupies the spaces between soil particles and rocks underneath the world’s surface. Groundwater supplies are recharged by downpour and snowmelt that leaks down into the breaks and hole underneath the land’s surface
In some areas of the world, people face serious water shortages because groundwater is used faster than surface water.
People fetch groundwater employing wells. To fabricate a well, one must bore down past the water table. As a rule, a siphon is put in the lower part of the well, and water is siphoned into homes, organizations, and water treatment plants, where it is then scattered.
Water siphoned from wells is commonly contamination free. The layers of soil, dirt, and rock go about as a characteristic channel. However, contaminants from nearby soils, leaky underground tanks, and septic systems can pollute a well, rendering it unusable.
❏ Surface Water Resources
Surface water is the water that exists in streams and lakes. This water is utilized by human beings, industries, animals, transportation systems, hydroelectric energy, etc. More than 63 percent of the public water flexibly is removed from surface water. The water system gets 58 percent of its water flexibly from surface water. Industry gets right around 98 percent of its water from surface water frameworks. In this way, surface water preservation and quality are critical. Watershed associations ceaselessly measure the streamflow and nature of surface water. Streamflow is observed to the caution of flooding and dry season conditions. Water quality is significant, as most of the water utilized in the United States originates from surface water. It is the proportion of how appropriate the water is from a biological, chemical, and physical perspective.
❏ Rain Water Resources
Rainwater is a primary source of water. Streams, lakes, and groundwater are largely optional wellsprings of water. In present occasions, we rely completely upon such optional wellsprings of water. All the while, it is overlooked that downpour is a definitive source that takes care of all these auxiliary sources and stays oblivious of its worth. It is a free source and can be gathered in an impressive amount from rooftop catchments and other asphalt territories which can be utilized for different purposes (e.g., garden watering, latrine flushing, clothing, cooling and heating, sterile use, and drinking). Therefore, rainwater harvesting plays an important role in water sustainability by eliminating the pressure on the main water supply. Don’t forget you’ll want to disinfect it before drinking it.
❏ Lake and River water
Streams and rivers are also one of the most important sources of water. They provide water to drinks, food, and shelter to underwater creatures and it a great means of providing transport to good all across the globe. Rivers and streams collect water from rain and snowmelt, from underground springs and aquifers, and lakes. Small tributaries like smaller rivers and streams fall into a larger river but its final destination is sometimes lakes, oceans, or an open lane from where water evaporates into the atmosphere.
❏ Saltwater from Oceans
Seawater or saltwater is the water that comes from the sea or ocean. Seawater is an intricate combination of 96.5 percent water, 2.5 percent salts, and more modest measures of different substances, including disintegrated inorganic and natural materials, particulates, and a couple of environmental gases.
Humans cannot drink salt water, but, saltwater can be made into freshwater. The process is called desalination.
Seawater comprises a rich wellspring of different industrially significant components. A great part of the world’s magnesium is recuperated from seawater, as are enormous amounts of bromine. In specific pieces of the world, sodium chloride (table salt) is still obtained in huge amounts from seawater. Likewise, water from the ocean, when desalted, can outfit a boundless gracefully of drinking water. Numerous huge desalination plants have been implicit dry zones along seacoasts in the Middle East and all across the globe to soothe water deficiencies.
Here are some interesting facts about water:
- There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the Earth was formed. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank.
- 75% of the human brain is water and 75% of a living tree is water.
- Water is composed of two elements, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. 2 Hydrogen + 1 Oxygen = H2O.
- Nearly 97% of the world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is locked in icecaps and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for all of humanity’s needs — all its agricultural, residential, manufacturing, community, and personal needs.
- A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
- Water is part of a deeply interconnected system. What we pour on the ground ends up in our water, and what we spew into the sky ends up in our water.
- The average total home water use for each person in the U.S. is about 50 gallons a day.
- The average cost for water supplied to a home in the U.S. is about $2.00 for 1,000 gallons, which equals about 5 gallons for a penny.
- Water expands by 9% when it freezes. Frozen water (ice) is lighter than water, which is why ice floats in water.
- Water regulates the Earth’s temperature. It also regulates the temperature of the human body, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, cushions joints, protects organs and tissues, and removes wastes.