Water Forms

Much of the water on Earth, is salt water, or water with high salt content. Most of this water is found in the world’s oceans.

Drinking salt water is dangerous to the human body. Once ingested, the salt in the water will take more water from a human’s blood and muscles and this will result in dehydration. Thus, for salt water to be used for drinking and similar purposes, it has to be treated through desalination, a process by which special treatment plants convert the salt water to potable water that is safe for people to use for irrigation and as drinking water for livestock.

The rest of the water supply comes from freshwater, or water without salt content. Of this, about 70 percent is contained in glaciers and ice and the remaining 30 percent is found in groundwater, streams, rivers, and lakes. These sources are replenished regularly by precipitation such as rain and snow.

Freshwater from rivers and lakes is used for agricultural and industrial purposes and harnessed to produce hydroelectric power. Freshwater resources also provide the water that people drink and use for cooking, bathing, and other domestic tasks. However, like salt water, much of the freshwater that people use also has to be subjected to a complicated treatment process to make it suitable for drinking and cooking. The water is processed in water plants where it is filtered and where chemicals are added to it to purify it. The treated water then travels through a system of water pipes that distributes the water to homes.

However, in some parts of the world, especially in the countrysides, clean freshwater can still be obtained directly from springs and rivers and used for drinking and cooking even without going through treatment. This is because the water sources have not yet been contaminated by pollutants. Water that is considered safe for drinking is clear, does not have any smell, and does not contain visible particles such as sand, mud, and silt.