What are called water resources? Water resources

The article contains information about the planet's water resources. Statistical data on the water content on the planet is provided. Ways to prevent a global catastrophe are being clarified.

What are the Earth's water resources?

Water resources- the totality of waters of the hydrosphere, including the World Ocean, as well as land and hidden waters continents.

Water is the most abundant substance on the planet. Water suitable for drinking is of the greatest importance - without it, human existence is not possible. The main features of the resource are that it has no analogues or alternatives. Humanity has always used water in various areas of its activities: domestic and agricultural industries, industry.

It is not easy to determine how many water reserves the Earth contains. This is explained by the fact that water is in constant motion and is capable of changing its state to:

  • liquid;
  • hard;
  • gaseous.

The Earth's total water resources are defined as the free water that is present in all known states and atmosphere.

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Rice. 1. Glaciers of Antarctica.

The planet contains about 1.386 billion km. cube water. But a significant part of the total volume (97.5%) is salt water and only 2.5% is fresh. Main share fresh water(68.7%) is found in the ice of Antarctica, the Arctic, and mountainous regions.

Once inland waters and water resources in general were considered renewable resources due to the water cycle and its ability to purify. These specific features of life-giving moisture have given rise to a widespread myth about the immutability and inexhaustibility of the resource.

However, now the situation has changed greatly. In most parts of the world, the consequences of prolonged and incorrect human impact on the most valuable resource have been identified. Over the past three decades, there has been a massive human-caused change in the water cycle, which has negatively impacted its quality and potential as a natural resource.

The volume of water resources, their geography and temporal distribution depend not only on natural climatic fluctuations.

Rice. 2. Human water pollution.

Due to the positive and negative influence people on the planet, many parts of the world's water resources are simply depleted and heavily polluted. This circumstance is now the main factor that significantly slows down economic development, and at the same time population growth. Therefore, the topic and issue regarding the irrational use of water resources is more relevant today than ever.

Water conservation

Water resources include rational use from every inhabitant of the Earth, enterprise and state.

Rice. 3. Cleaning the ocean surface from an oil spill.

For warning irreversible consequences on the planet it is necessary to involve all segments of the population in the problem and create legislative basis, which will encourage both individuals and businesses to care about water resources.

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Water resources are the reserves of surface and groundwater located in water bodies that are or may be used.
Water occupies 71% of the Earth's surface. 97% of water resources are salt water and only 3% are fresh water. Water is also found in soil and rocks, plants and animals. A large number of water is constantly in the atmosphere.
Water is one of the most valuable natural resources. One of the main properties of water is its irreplaceability. By her own nutritional value it does not have, but it has an exceptional role in the metabolic processes that form the basis of the life activity of all life on Earth, determining its productivity.
A person's daily need for water under normal conditions is about 2.5 liters.
Water has a high heat capacity. Absorbing great amount thermal cosmic and intraterrestrial energy and slowly releasing it, water serves as a regulator and stabilizer of climate processes, softening strong temperature fluctuations. Evaporating from water surfaces, it turns into a gaseous state and is carried by air currents to various regions planets where it falls as precipitation. Glaciers have a special place in the water cycle, since they retain moisture in a solid state very long time(for thousands of years). Scientists have concluded that the water balance on Earth is almost constant.
For many millions of years, water activates soil formation processes. It greatly cleanses the environment by dissolving and removing contaminants.
Lack of water can slow down economic activity, reduce production efficiency. IN modern world water acquired independent importance as an industrial raw material, often scarce and very expensive. Water is an essential component of almost all technological processes. Water of special purity is needed in medicine, food production, nuclear technology, semiconductor production, etc. Huge amounts of water are spent on people's domestic needs, especially in big cities.
The predominant part of the earth's waters is concentrated in the World Ocean. This is a rich storehouse of mineral raw materials. For every 1 kg of ocean water there are 35 g of salts. Sea water contains more than 80 elements Periodic table DI. Mendeleev, the most important of which for economic purposes are tungsten, bismuth, gold, cobalt, lithium, magnesium, copper, molybdenum, nickel, tin, lead, silver, uranium.
The world ocean is the main link in the water cycle in nature. It releases most of the evaporated moisture into the atmosphere. Absorbing a huge amount of thermal energy and slowly releasing it, ocean waters serve as a regulator of climate processes global scale. The heat of the oceans and seas is spent on maintaining the life of marine organisms, which provide food, oxygen, medicine, fertilizers, and luxury goods significant part population of the planet.
Aquatic organisms inhabiting the surface layer of the World Ocean provide the return of a significant part of the planet’s free oxygen to the atmosphere. This is extremely important, since motor vehicles and oxygen-intensive metallurgical and chemical production often consume more oxygen than the nature of individual regions can compensate.
Fresh waters on land include glacial, underground, river, lake, and swamp waters. A renewable resource of strategic importance in last years becomes drinking water good quality. Its deficiency is explained by a significant deterioration in general ecological situation around the sources of this resource, as well as the tightening worldwide requirements for the quality of consumed water, both for drinking and for high-tech industries.
The bulk of fresh water reserves on land are concentrated in ice sheets Antarctica and the Arctic. They represent a huge reservoir of fresh water on the planet (68% of all fresh water). These reserves are preserved for many millennia.
By chemical composition underground waters are very different: from fresh to highly concentrated waters minerals.
Fresh surface waters have a significant ability for self-purification, which is provided by the Sun, air, micro-

roorganisms and oxygen dissolved in water. However, fresh water is becoming a major shortage on the planet.
Swamps contain 4 times more water than the world's rivers; 95% of swamp water is located in peat layers.
The atmosphere contains water mainly in the form of water vapor. Its bulk (90%) is concentrated in the lower layers of the atmosphere, up to a height of 10 km.
Fresh water is distributed unevenly across the Earth. The problem of supplying the population drinking water It is very acute and has become increasingly worse in recent years. About 60% of the Earth's surface is made up of zones where fresh water is either absent, severely deficient, or of poor quality. Approximately half of humanity experiences a shortage of drinking water.
Fresh surface waters (rivers, lakes, swamps, soil and groundwater) are most exposed heavy pollution. Most often, sources of pollution are insufficiently treated or not treated at all discharges from production facilities (including hazardous ones), discharges from large cities, and runoff from landfills.
Pollution environment in the Volga basin is 3-5 times higher than the national average. Not a single city on the Volga is provided with
quality drinking water. There are many environmentally hazardous industries and enterprises in the basin without treatment facilities.
The exploitable reserves of explored groundwater deposits in Russia are estimated at approximately 30 km/year. The degree of development of these reserves currently averages just over 30%.

The Earth's water resources consist of the planet's underground and surface waters. They are used not only by humans and animals, but are also needed for various natural processes. Water (H2O) comes in liquid, solid or gaseous form. The totality of all water sources makes up the hydrosphere, that is, the water shell, making up 79.8% of the Earth's surface. It consists of:

  • oceans;
  • seas;
  • lakes;
  • swamps;
  • artificial reservoirs;
  • groundwater;
  • atmospheric vapors;
  • moisture in the soil;
  • snow covers;
  • glaciers

To maintain life, people must drink water every day. Only fresh water is suitable for this, but on our planet there is less than 3% of it, but only 0.3% is currently available. Russia, Brazil and Canada have the largest reserves of drinking water.

Use of water resources

Water appeared on Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago and cannot be seen as any other resource. The hydrosphere is considered one of the inexhaustible riches of the world; in addition, scientists have invented a way to make salt water fresh so that it can be used for drinking.

Water resources are necessary not only to support the life of people, flora and fauna, but also supply oxygen through the process of photosynthesis. Water also plays a key role in climate formation. People use this most valuable resource in everyday life, in agriculture and industry. Experts have calculated that in large cities a person spends about 360 liters of water per day, and this includes the use of water supply, sewerage, preparing food and drinks, cleaning the house, washing, watering plants, washing Vehicle, fire fighting, etc.

The problem of hydrosphere pollution

One of global problems is water pollution. Sources of water pollution:

  • domestic and industrial wastewater;
  • petroleum products;
  • burial of chemical and radioactive substances in water bodies;
  • shipping;
  • municipal solid waste.

In nature, there is such a phenomenon as the self-purification of water bodies, but the anthropogenic factor influences the biosphere so much that over time, rivers, lakes, and seas become increasingly difficult to restore. Water becomes polluted and becomes unsuitable not only for drinking and household use, but also for the life of marine, river, ocean species of flora and fauna. To improve the state of the environment, and in particular the hydrosphere, it is necessary to rationally use water resources, save them and carry out protective measures of water bodies.

Looking at our planet from the heights of outer space, a comparison immediately arises with a blue ball, which is completely covered with water. At this time, the continents seem to be small islands in this endless ocean. This is quite natural, because water occupies 79.8% of the entire surface, and 29.2% falls on land. Water shell The Earth is called the hydrosphere; its volume is 1.4 billion m3.

Water resources and their purpose

Water resources- These are waters from rivers, lakes, canals, reservoirs, seas and oceans that are suitable for use in agriculture. This also includes groundwater, soil moisture, swamps, glaciers, and atmospheric water vapor.

Water appeared on the planet about 3.5 billion years ago and initially it was in the form of vapors that were released during the degassing of the mantle. Today water is the most important element in the Earth's biosphere, because nothing can replace it. However, recently, water resources have ceased to be considered limited, because scientists have managed desalinate salt water.

Purpose of water resources- support the vital activity of all life on Earth (humans, plants and animals). Water is the basis of all living things and the main supplier of oxygen in the process of photosynthesis. Water also takes part in climate formation - absorbing heat from the atmosphere in order to release it in the future, thereby regulating climate processes.

It would be worth remembering that water sources play an honorable role in the modification of our planet. People have always settled near reservoirs or water sources. Thus, water promotes communication. There is a hypothesis among scientists that if there were no water on Earth, the discovery of America would have been postponed for several centuries. And Australia would still be unknown today.

Types of water resources

As already said water resources- these are all the water reserves on the planet. But on the other hand, water is the most common and most specific compound on Earth, because only it can exist in three states (liquid, gaseous and solid).

The Earth's water resources consist of:

  • surface water(oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, swamps) are the most valuable source of fresh water, but the thing is that these objects are distributed quite unevenly over the Earth’s surface. Thus, in the equatorial zone, as well as in the northern part of the temperate zone, water is in excess (25 thousand m 3 per year per person). And the tropical continents, which consist of 1/3 of the land, are very acutely aware of the shortage of water reserves. Based on this situation, their agriculture develops only under the condition of artificial irrigation;
  • groundwater;
  • reservoirs created artificially by man;
  • glaciers and snowfields (frozen water from glaciers in Antarctica, the Arctic and snowy mountain peaks). This contains the most most of fresh water. However, these reserves are practically unavailable for use. If all the glaciers are distributed over the Earth, then this ice will cover the earth with a ball 53 cm high, and by melting it, we thereby raise the level of the World Ocean by 64 meters;
  • moisture what is found in plants and animals;
  • vapor state of the atmosphere.

Water consumption

The total volume of the hydrosphere is amazing in its quantity, however, only 2% of this figure is fresh water, moreover, only 0.3% is available for use. Scientists have calculated the freshwater resources that are necessary for all humanity, animals and plants. It turns out that the supply of water resources on the planet is only 2.5% of the required volume of water.

Around the world, about 5 thousand m3 are consumed annually, while more than half of the consumed water is lost irrevocably. In percentage terms, the consumption of water resources will have the following characteristics:

  • agriculture - 63%;
  • industrial water consumption - 27% of the total;
  • municipal needs take 6%;
  • reservoirs consume 4%.

Few people know that in order to grow 1 ton of cotton, 10 thousand tons of water are required, 1 ton of wheat requires 1500 tons of water, the production of 1 ton of steel requires 250 tons of water, and 1 ton of paper requires at least 236 thousand tons of water.

A person should consume at least 2.5 liters of water per day, but on average this person spends big city no less than 360 liters per day, since this figure includes all possible uses of water, including watering streets, washing vehicles and even firefighting.

But the consumption of water resources does not end there. This is evidenced, for example, water transport or the process of breeding both marine and freshwater fish. Moreover, for fish breeding you will only need pure water, saturated with oxygen and free of harmful impurities.

A great example of the use of water resources is recreational areas. There is no such person who would not like to relax by a pond, relax, and swim. In the world, almost 90% of recreational areas are located near bodies of water.

The need to protect water resources

Considering the current situation, we can conclude that water requires a protective attitude towards itself. Currently, there are two ways to conserve water resources:

  • reduce fresh water consumption;
  • creation of modern high quality collectors.

Storing water in reservoirs limits its flow into the world's oceans. Storing water underground helps prevent its evaporation. The construction of canals can easily solve the issue of delivering water without penetrating into the ground. Humanity also thinks about the latest ways irrigation of agricultural land, allowing the area to be moistened using wastewater.

But each of the above methods actually affects the biosphere. The reservoir system, for example, does not allow the formation of fertile silt deposits; canals interfere with the replenishment of groundwater. Therefore, today is one of the most effective ways saving water resources is cleaning Wastewater. Science does not stand still in this regard, and various methods allow you to neutralize or remove up to 96% harmful substances.

Water pollution problem

Population growth, rise in production and Agriculture... These factors have contributed to the shortage of fresh water. In addition, the share of polluted water resources is also growing.


Main sources of pollution:

  • industrial waste;
  • municipal wastewater;
  • plums from the fields (meaning when they are oversaturated with chemicals and fertilizers;
  • burial of radioactive substances near a body of water;
  • wastewater coming from livestock complexes (water is characterized by an excess of biogenic organic matter);
  • shipping.

Nature provides for self-purification of water bodies. This happens due to the presence of plankton in the water, entering the water ultraviolet rays, sedimentation of insoluble particles. But unfortunately there is much more pollution and nature on its own is not able to cope with such a mass of harmful substances that man and his activities provide to water resources.

Unusual sources of drinking water

Recently, humanity has been thinking about how to use unconventional sources of water resources. Here are the main ones:

  • tow icebergs from the Arctic or Antarctica;
  • carry out desalination of sea waters (actively used at the moment);
  • condense atmospheric water.

In order to obtain fresh water by desalinating salt water, desalination stations are installed on sea vessels. There are already about hundreds of such units in the whole world. The world's largest producer of such water is Kuwait.

Fresh water lately has acquired the status of a global commodity; it is transported in tankers using long-distance water pipelines. This scheme works successfully in the following areas:

  • the Netherlands gets water from Norway;
  • Saudi Arabia receives resource from Philippines;
  • Singapore imports from Malaysia;
  • water is pumped from Greenland and Antarctica to Europe;
  • Amazon transports drinking water to Africa.

One of the latest achievements is installations with the help of which heat nuclear reactors used simultaneously for desalination sea ​​water and electricity production. At the same time, the price of one liter of water costs little, since the productivity of such installations is quite high. It is recommended to use water that has passed through this route for irrigation.

Reservoirs can also help overcome freshwater shortages by regulating river flow. In total, more than 30 thousand reservoirs have been built in the world. In most countries, there are projects for the redistribution of river flow through its transfer. But most of these programs have been rejected due to environmental concerns.

Water resources of the Russian Federation

Our country has a unique water resource potential. However, their main drawback is their extremely uneven distribution. So, if we compare the Southern and Far Eastern federal districts Russia, then in terms of the size of local water resources they differ from each other by 30 times, and in terms of water supply - by 100 times.

Rivers of Russia

When thinking about the water resources of Russia, first of all, we should note the rivers. Their volume is 4,270 km 3 . There are 4 water basins on the territory of Russia:

  • North Sea and Arctic Ocean, as well as large rivers flowing into them (Northern Dvina, Pechora, Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Kolyma);
  • seas Pacific Ocean(Amur and Anadyr);
  • seas Atlantic Ocean(Don, Kuban, Neva);
  • the internal basin of the Caspian Sea and the flowing Volga and Ural.

Since in the central regions the population density is greater than, for example, in Siberia, this leads to the disappearance of small rivers and water pollution in general.

Lakes and swamps of Russia

Half of all fresh water in the country comes from lakes. Their number in the country is approximately 2 million. Of these, the largest ones are:

  • Baikal;
  • Ladoga;
  • Onega;
  • Taimyr;
  • Khanka;
  • Vats;
  • Ilmen;
  • White.

A special place should be given to Lake Baikal, because 90% of our fresh water reserves are concentrated in it. In addition to the fact that this lake is the deepest on earth, it is also characterized by a unique ecosystem. Baikal is also included in the UNESCO natural heritage list.

Lakes of the Russian Federation are used for irrigation and as sources for water supply. Some of the listed lakes have a decent supply of medicinal mud and therefore are used for recreational purposes. Just like rivers, lakes are characterized by their uneven distribution. They are mainly concentrated in the Northwestern part of the country (Kola Peninsula and the Republic of Karelia), the Ural region, Siberia and Transbaikalia.

The swamps of Russia also play an important role, although many people treat them with disrespect by draining them. Such actions lead to the death of entire huge ecosystems, and as a result, rivers do not have the opportunity to cleanse themselves naturally. Swamps also feed rivers and act as their controlled object during floods and floods. And of course, swamps are a source of peat reserves.

These elements of water resources are widespread in the North-West and North-Central part of Siberia, total area swamps on the territory of Russia are 1.4 million km 2.

As we see, Russia has great water resource potential, but we should not forget about the balanced use of this resource and treat it with care, because anthropogenic factors and huge consumption lead to pollution and depletion of water resources.

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The aquatic environment includes surface and groundwater. Surface water mainly concentrated in the ocean, containing 1 billion 375 million km3 - about 98% of all water on Earth. The ocean surface (water area) is 361 million km2. It is approximately 2.4 times more area land territory, occupying 149 million km2. The water in the ocean is salty, and most of it (more than 1 billion km3) maintains a constant salinity of about 3.5% and a temperature of approximately 3.7 ° C. Noticeable differences in salinity and temperature are observed almost exclusively in the surface layer of water, as well as in the marginal and especially in Mediterranean seas. The content of dissolved oxygen in water decreases significantly at a depth of 50-60 meters.

Groundwater can be saline, brackish (less salinity) and fresh; existing geothermal waters have an elevated temperature (more than 30°C). For production activities Humanity and its domestic needs require fresh water, the amount of which is only 2.7% of the total volume of water on Earth, and a very small share of it (only 0.36%) is available in places that are easily accessible for extraction. Most of the fresh water is contained in snow and freshwater icebergs found in areas mainly in the Antarctic Circle. The annual global river flow of fresh water is 37.3 thousand km3. In addition, a part of groundwater equal to 13 thousand km3 can be used. Unfortunately, most of the river flow in Russia, amounting to about 5000 km3, occurs in the infertile and sparsely populated northern territories. In the absence of fresh water, salty surface or underground water is used, desalinating it or hyperfiltrating it: passing it under big difference pressures through polymer membranes with microscopic holes that trap salt molecules. Both of these processes are very energy-intensive, so an interesting proposal is to use freshwater icebergs (or parts thereof) as a source of fresh water, which for this purpose are towed through the water to shores that do not have fresh water, where they are organized to melt. According to preliminary calculations by the developers of this proposal, obtaining fresh water will be approximately half as energy intensive as desalination and hyperfiltration. An important circumstance inherent in the aquatic environment is that it is mainly transmitted infectious diseases(approximately 80% of all diseases). However, some of them, for example, whooping cough, chickenpox, tuberculosis, are transmitted through the air. In order to combat the spread of diseases through aquatic environment The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the current decade the decade of drinking water.