{"id":1103,"date":"2026-05-12T21:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/chapter\/distribution-of-water-on-the-earth\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:05:54","slug":"distribution-of-water-on-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/chapter\/distribution-of-water-on-the-earth\/","title":{"raw":"1.2 Distribution of Water on the Earth","rendered":"1.2 Distribution of Water on the Earth"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n
\r\n\r\nOver 75\u00a0percent of the Earth\u2019s surface is covered by water. The vast majority of that is in the oceans and is unfit for human consumption. Most of the freshwater is locked up in the ice caps and in glaciers. Usable, available freshwater\u2014in lakes and rivers on the surface and in reservoirs underground\u2014makes up less than one percent of the water in the world.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\nThe distribution of the world\u2019s water is presented in Table\u00a01<\/span><\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\nTable\u00a01\u00a0\u2011\u00a0<\/strong>Distribution of the world\u2019s water<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/colgroup>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Oceans<\/td>\r\n97.2%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Ice<\/td>\r\n2.14%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Groundwater<\/td>\r\n0.61%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Soil moisture<\/td>\r\n0.005%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Atmosphere<\/td>\r\n0.001%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Fresh surface water<\/td>\r\n0.0009%<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
\n
\n

Over 75\u00a0percent of the Earth\u2019s surface is covered by water. The vast majority of that is in the oceans and is unfit for human consumption. Most of the freshwater is locked up in the ice caps and in glaciers. Usable, available freshwater\u2014in lakes and rivers on the surface and in reservoirs underground\u2014makes up less than one percent of the water in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The distribution of the world\u2019s water is presented in Table\u00a01<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Table\u00a01\u00a0\u2011\u00a0<\/strong>Distribution of the world\u2019s water<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Oceans<\/td>\n97.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ice<\/td>\n2.14%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Groundwater<\/td>\n0.61%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soil moisture<\/td>\n0.005%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Atmosphere<\/td>\n0.001%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fresh surface water<\/td>\n0.0009%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1103","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1467,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1707,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1103\/revisions\/1707"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1467"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1103\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/books.gw-project.org\/basic-hydrogeology-an-introduction-to-the-fundamentals-of-groundwater-science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}