Global Water Sustainability

June 2011, Vol. 7, No. 3

The term water resources refers to natural waters (vapor, liquid, or solid) that occur on the Earth and that are of potential use to humans. These resources include oceans, rivers, lakes, groundwater, and glaciers. The Earth has plenty of water, over 1.4 × 109 km3. However, 97% of global water is saline sea­ water. Of the 3% that is freshwater, nearly 70% is locked in the polar icecaps and glaciers. The majority of non-glacier freshwater is groundwater (98%). Surface freshwater (rivers and lakes), which has historically served most human needs, constitutes only a small fraction of the Earth’s water resources. Water interacts with minerals, soils, sediments, and rocks, and hence studies of Earth materials have a direct bearing on water resources. Studies of the acquisition, mobility, and fate of elements and isotopes in water provide valuable sig­ natures for tracking water cycles at regional and global scales and are essential for the development of remediation technologies for contaminated water.

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