The water cycle

Did you know there has been the same quantity of water on Earth for the past two billion years? That means all our water has been reused or recycled through the natural water cycle, the system by which Earth’s water is collected, purified and distributed from the environment to living things and back to the environment. 

Water contains dissolved solids such as chlorine, sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium. Salt water contains by definition about 3.5 per cent total dissolved solids. Water that is considered fit for human consumption contains about 0.2 – 0.3 per cent total dissolved solids.

The Earth operates as a massive natural desalination system. The sun evaporates water (mostly sea water) leaving behind dissolved solids. The water vapour escapes into the air and condenses or particulates in the atmosphere until it returns to Earth as rain, ice or snow. Eventually the water returns to the ocean and the process starts again.

Our water purification and desalination processes fit into this natural cycle of reuse, simply speeding up the loop time.

Fresh water – a precious resource
While 70 per cent of the Earth is covered in water, the majority (97 per cent) is salt water found in our oceans and only 3 per cent is fresh water. Of this, only 1 per cent is usable as the other 2 per cent is locked in glaciers.

This 1 percent of fresh water comes from lakes, rivers and aquifers and the Earth’s ecosystem maintains this tiny percentage of water through natural recycling.