Only 2% of Earth’s Water Is Fresh
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Q: How much water is there on the Earth?
A: About 326 million trillion gallons, according to www.how stuffworks.com. Ninety-eight percent of the water is in the oceans; only 2% is fresh water, of which 80% is locked up in the polar icecaps and glaciers. Another 0.36% is underground in aquifers and wells. Surprisingly, only about 0.036% of the planet’s total is in lakes and rivers. The rest is in the form of water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere or is found in the bodies of plants and animals.