Hydrologic Cycle | Chapter 3 | Geography | 8th Social Science - Water on the Earth | 8th Social Science : Geography : Chapter 3 : Hydrologic Cycle
Chapter: 8th Social Science : Geography : Chapter 3 : Hydrologic Cycle
Water on the Earth
Water on the Earth
About 71% of the earth's surface is
covered by water. The quantity of water present on the earth is about 326
million cubic miles. It is hard to visualise this massive quantity of water.
Most of the water on the earth is saline and is found in seas and oceans. The
salt water constitutes about 97.2% and the fresh water is only about 2.8%. Out
of this 2.8%, about 2.2% is available as surface water and the remaining 0.6%
as groundwater. From this 2.2% of surface water, 2.15% is available in the form
of glaciers and icecaps, 0.01% in lakes and streams and the remaining 0.04% is
in other forms. Only about 0.25% of the total ground water of 0.6% can be
economically extracted with the present drilling technology.
Water resources are useful or
potentially useful to humans. Water in India is available in three sources.
They are precipitation, surface water and groundwater.
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