Track 7
Water makes up three quarters of the surface of the earth. The world is, however,
suffering from a water shortage. With so much water on the earth, how could this
possibly happen?
The answer is simple. Imagine that there were in total 100,000 bottles of water on the
5 earth. Only 2.5 percent is not salty; that is 2,500 bottles. Two thirds of that tiny amount is
42.
frozen in *ice caps at the poles and in *glaciers in the high mountains. Most of the
remaining third is ground water under the surface of the earth. Only 0.4 percent of the
- is on the surface in lakes and rivers, in plants and animals, and
in the air. Humans can use less than 70 percent of that, or 7 bottles out of 100,000
eine dispetc
fresh water 10 bottles -
-
that
10 Lis 0.007 percent of the total amount!
At the same time, the human population is growing rapidly, so there will be more
people who
