Fresh water: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 57: == Water distribution == [[File: {{main|Water distribution on Earth}} Saline water in [[ocean]]s, [[sea]]s and saline [[groundwater]] make up about 97% of all the water on [[Earth]]. Only 2.5–2.75% is fresh water, including 1.75–2% frozen in [[glacier]]s, [[ice]] and snow, 0.5–0.75% as fresh groundwater and [[soil]] moisture, and less than 0.01% of it as [[surface water]] in [[lake]]s, [[swamp]]s and [[river]]s.<ref>[http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html Where is Earth's water?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214091601/http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html |date=14 December 2013 }}, [[United States Geological Survey]].</ref><ref>[http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8b.html Physicalgeography.net] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126072955/http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8b.html |date=26 January 2016 }}. Physicalgeography.net. Retrieved on 29 December 2012.</ref> Freshwater lakes contain about 87% of this fresh surface water, including 29% in the [[African Great Lakes]], 22% in [[Lake Baikal]] in Russia, 21% in the [[North American Great Lakes]], and 14% in other lakes. Swamps have most of the balance with only a small amount in rivers, most notably the [[Amazon River]]. The atmosphere contains 0.04% water.<ref>{{cite book |last= Gleick |first= Peter |author-link=Peter Gleick|editor= Stephen H. Schneider |title= Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofcl02schn |url-access= registration |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 1996|display-authors=etal}}</ref> In areas with no fresh water on the ground surface, fresh water derived from [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] may, because of its lower density, overlie saline ground water in lenses or layers. Most of the world's fresh water is frozen in [[ice sheet]]s. Many areas have very little fresh water, such as [[desert]]s. |