Water resources
![A graphical distribution of the locations of water on Earth. Only 3% of the Earth's water is fresh water. Most of it is in icecaps and glaciers (69%) and groundwater (30%), while all lakes, rivers and swamps combined only account for a small fraction (0.3%) of the Earth's total freshwater reserves.](/Images/godic/202501/20/Earth's_water_distribution.svg4624.png")
![Lake Chungará and Parinacota volcano in northern Chile](/Images/godic/202501/20/Parinacota4624.jpg")
![Relative groundwater travel times in the subsurface](/Images/godic/202501/20/Groundwater_flow.svg4624.png")
![A shipot is a common water source in Central Ukrainian villages](/Images/godic/202501/20/Shipot4624.jpg")
Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. The majority of human uses require fresh water.
97 percent of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slightly over two thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is found mainly as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air.