How much fresh water is there

1. What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?
Only 2.5 percent of our water is fresh water.
2. Where is the world's supply of fresh water found?
Supply of fresh water is found in ice, ground soil, atmosphere, rivers and lakes.
3. Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?
Fresh water supply is a problem because water and people are unevenly distributed.
4. Observe the map of world average annual precipitation (opposite).
(a) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the southern
to the northern tip of Africa.
The rainfall rises from the southern tip of Africa to central Africa and than it sinks rapidly as you move to the northern tip. The highest rainfall is in central Africa, slightly less in the south while the northern part is very dry.
(b) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western
to the eastern tip of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.
More than a half of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn is constantly dry. The rainfall rises than towards the east coast.
5. Observe the map above of water availability per person.
(a) Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available
per person?
Northern parts of: Asia, north and south America and Australia appear to have large amount of water available per person.
(b) Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water per person?
The southern part of Asia, the northern part of Africa and Europe appear to have a small amount of water available per person.
6. Observe the diagram of water use.
(a) What are the main uses of water?
By far the main use of fresh water is in agriculture.
(b) Which uses have increased the most over the last century?
The Industrial use of water increased almost thirty times over the last century. That is more than all other uses have increased.