Video

All the World's Water in a Mill City Minute!

Lowell National Historical Park

Transcript

Imagine that the water in this cup represents all of the water on the planet Earth. Take 20 mL of that. This is ice trapped in glaciers, which while melting rapidly we cannot use. Take 3 mL more. That’s water too deep beneath the surface for us to reach and use. Take another 4 mL. This is polluted, so polluted in fact that we cannot reclaim this water no matter how much treatment it receives. Take 3 mL of what’s left. Everything that remains is ocean water. You can make fresh water out of this, but to do so is a long, arduous, expensive process. We are left with all of the fresh water this planet has to offer. Do we need to take care of our clean water? Is clean, fresh water unlimited?

Description

Just how much of the earth's water can we actually use? Find out in under a minute with one of our rangers!

Duration

59 seconds

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