The charts below show how global water resources are distributed. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The charts provide information on the natural sources of

water

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available on Earth and examine their distribution across various types of

water

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and different regions of the world.

Overall

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, almost all the

water

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on Earth resides in the oceans; freshwater is scarce, hard to obtain and is distributed unevenly across the continents. About 97% of the

water

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on Earth is saltwater. Freshwater comprises only 3% of the total

water

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resources and is mainly frozen or located underground. Indeed, over two-thirds of

freshwater

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the freshwater

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is trapped as ice in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as

ground

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groundwater

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water

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(over 30%), with only a small fraction (1.2%) present above ground. Freshwater found on the surface is

also

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called renewable freshwater; it is represented by lakes, rivers and other sources. The supply of

this

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water

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varies greatly depending on the continent, with the largest resources concentrated in South America and Asia (around 17,000 and 15,000 cubic kilometres respectively).

In contrast

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, the resources of the other four continents are at most half the size of those in South America.