Water covers about two-thirds of Earth’s surface, but 97 percent of it is oceanic salt water. Two percent of the planet’s water is stored in glaciers, ice caps, and on snowy mountain ranges.
That leaves 1 percent of all our water readily available to us. Much of that is in hard-to-reach places, but some is found in lakes, rivers, and streams.
As Earth’s population of 7.6 billion grows, the overall quality of our water has declined due to pollution, overuse, and problems tied to global warming.
Lakes are a resource that no one can take for granted.
