The water reserves of the planet are those that are useful or potentially useful for various human activities. Of all the water that exists on Earth, 97% are salty and only 3% are sweet waters, which are the true water reserves. These fresh water reserves can be classified as natural or artificial.
To better understand this whole topic, in this ecology article, we reveal you What are natural and artificial water reserves and what is the current situation of these.
What is the situation of fresh water reserves in the world
As we said, we call water reserves to those masses of fresh water that represent a useful or potentially useful source for the activities carried out by the human being. The different Water uses They can be agricultural, industrial, domestic or other environmental activities.
The distribution of water in the world is that 97% of the water existing on the planet corresponds to SALADA WATER MASSES As oceans or seas, while only 3% is fresh water, among which approximately two thirds, is frozen in glaciers or polar caps. Others Fresh water sources They are rivers, lakes, groundwater or reservoirs. Almost all water uses use fresh water.
Fresh water represents a renewable resource through rainfall, mainly. However, due to factors such as climate change, accompanied by the decrease in annual rainfall in many areas of the world and the growing desertification of the climate on Earth, they are making the global supply of clean and fresh water more and more scarce.
In addition to this, the demand for water is greater than its supply in many parts of the world and continues to increase as the world population increases. Only during the twentieth century, awareness of the importance of preserving water from the planet has increased, but there is still much to do.
What are the artificial and natural water reserves
Water reserves can be natural or artificial. Next, we explain each of these types of water reserves:
- Artificial water reserves: They consist of those masses of superficial water that are created by human activity by building artificial channels that are then filled with water and renewed with the water of rainfall. Within these reserves we find artificial reservoirs, dams, artificial lakes or some artificial swamps. Those obtained through artificial processes such as a desalination of natural waters are also included as artificial reserves.
- Natural water reserves: They include all those masses of water that are formed in channels that are created by natural processes. These include lakes, rivers, reservoirs created by natural processes or groundwater.
In the following sections we will explain each of the fresh water reserves in the world.
Surface water reserves
This includes rivers, lakes, artificial reservoirs and fresh water wetlands. These water masses They are renewed naturally Through rainfall and are lost due to the management of human activities, evaporation, evapotranspiration and infiltration through the subsoil.
Although the greatest entry and natural renewal of these water sources are rainfall, there are other factors such as the storage capacity of the lakes, wetlands and artificial reservoirs, the permeability of the subsoil under this mass of water, draining characteristics of the substrate of the basin, period of the rains and local evaporation rates, which vary with the climate of the area.
Here you can learn more about what surface waters are: definition and examples.
Hipporreic water reserves
These include the water flowing through rocks and gravels of the bottom of other water masses and the characteristics of the soil in the hyporreic area. That is why, in areas of large valleys, hyporreic water reserves can exceed the visible water of the course or surface water.
The problem of these reserves, apart from the fact that access to them is more complex than that of superficial reserves, is that in many areas they are contaminated, not only by the contamination of nearby surface water, but also due to soil pollution.
Groundwater reserves
Groundwater reserves, as the name implies, are underground and, specifically, are those that include Fresh water masses found in the porous space of soils and rocks. They also include water from aquifers under the water table. Sometimes, this type of groundwater, such as water from aquifers, is called fossil water and must be well different from hyporreic waters, because they are not exactly the same.
Know more about these reading these articles about what the groundwater is and how groundwater is formed.
Natural desalination reserves
The desalination of the waters It is an example of the application of artificial processes in obtaining Artificial water reserves. The water desalination process is expensive compared to other water sources, so this process is minority, using only high value uses in more arid areas (such as industrial processes). One of the places in the land in which this process is most used to obtain artificial water reserves is the Persian Gulf, a place where water is scarce in natural reserves for these processes.
Know more about desalination: what is and guys reading this other post.
Frozen water reserves
This water includes the water masses found in frozen way within Glaciers and polar casques. At the moment, it does not bring much water to the fresh water reserves of the planet and has only been used for scientific purposes. To be achieved in the future, this artificial process would constitute an artificial water reserve, since it would be extracted artificially.
Here you can know the perpetual ice: climate, flora, fauna and images and the cryiosfera: what is and characteristics.
If you want to read more articles similar to What are natural and artificial water reserveswe recommend that you enter our category of other environment.
