Drought Risk Management Lab

WATER RESOURCES

Drought Risk Managment Laboratory 

Definition of Water Resources
Water resources are sources of water that are useful, or potentially useful, to society; for instance for agricultural, industrial or recreational use. Examples include groundwater, rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Many uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Only 2.5% of water on the Earth is fresh water, and over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world, and many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future. 
Importance of Water Resource
Water is life in every sense of the word. As the largest natural resource, many living things humans included rely on water for survival. From cooking, drinking, flushing toilets, washing clothes, brushing teeth amongst others, humans use water in many parts of our lives. However, despite the many things that water is used for, we rarely think about water as a resource. Water as a resource is scarce and the availability of water resources is the most serious global problem. Only 3% of the world’s water resource is available for human consumption, but even some of this is unusable because it is polluted. 
Due to human activities, climate changes having become unpredictable, and this is in turn affecting rainfall patterns. Because of this, it is important that natural water resources are maintained since the direction, as well as the impact of the current climate changes, are well known.