How Earth Makes Fresh Water

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How Earth Makes Fresh Water

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Earth is mostly covered with water, and most of that is ocean. Only 2.5 percent is fresh water. Of that, 99 percent is locked up in glaciers and underground aquifers. That leaves just 1 percent of Earth’s fresh water on the surface. From all that salt water, how does this tiny fraction of surface fresh water come to be? It’s a process of natural distillation. Heat and wind turn seawater into water vapor. In the phase change from liquid to gas, water leaves salt and all impurities behind. In the atmosphere, water condenses on airborne particles and rains down again. Since Earth is mostly ocean, most rain falls in the ocean. The part that falls on land flows downhill, eventually into rivers that carry it back into the sea, to become salty again. That brief, shining moment as surface fresh water has made virtually all land-based life possible, for hundreds of millions of years. Here’s a practical tip: If you ever find yourself in a dire situation with no fresh water, remember this distillation process. First, never drink seawater; it’s four times saltier than blood. To neutralize it, your organs will draw water from the rest of your body, leading to rapid dehydration. Instead, find a way to make your own cloud. Trap rising water vapor, allow it to condense on a surface, and drain it into something that you can drink from.

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