What percentage of water is fresh?
Understand the Problem
The question is asking for the percentage of the world's water that is classified as fresh water. Fresh water is vital for human consumption, agriculture, and ecosystems, and understanding its proportion is important for environmental studies.
Answer
3%
The final answer is 3%
Answer for screen readers
The final answer is 3%
More Information
Of the 3% of Earth's water that is fresh, much of it is unavailable for human use because it is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, or buried too deep underground.
Tips
A common mistake is to assume a higher percentage of fresh water available for human use, but the majority of this water is not easily accessible.
Sources
- USBR - Water Facts - usbr.gov
- Earth's Fresh Water - National Geographic Education - education.nationalgeographic.org
- The Three Percent - NASA Scientific Visualization Studio - svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
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