When we refer to water in this blog we are referring to ‘fresh’ water but which country has the most water? Fresh water contains a very little amount of dissolved salts and naturally occurs on the surface of the earth in lakes, rivers, caps, streams, ponds, icebergs, glaciers, and ponds. Fresh water actually comes from precipitation in the atmosphere!
Some countries have a vast amount of freshwater available to them and this provides numerous benefits to the people that live there. Here are the top 5 countries that benefit from freshwater more than any other:-
Brazil
Brazil has the highest volume of renewable fresh water resources. It totals approximately 8,233 cubic kilometres. This actually accounts for 12% of the planets freshwater and 70% of this comes from the Amazon. Despite this seemingly infinite amount of freshwater, Sao Paulo, a popular region in Brazil, still faces problems with drought every year!
Russia
Russia consists of many man-made lakes, reservoirs, lakes and rivers. Furthermore, Russia currently has the largest and deepest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Baikal. Astonishingly, Lake Baikal holds 1/5 of the worlds freshwater. However, the volume of freshwater is gradually reducing due to, according to scientists, climate change. Russia’s freshwater supply lays at approximately 4,500 cubic kilometres.
United States of America
The USA is in third place with approximately 3,000 cubic kilometres of freshwater volume. 77% of this is surface water and 23% is found underground. Most of the freshwater resides in over 100 different lakes along with ponds, rivers and reservoirs. Some of these include the well known Lake Superior, Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan.
Canada
Most of Canada’s freshwater is spread across its differing river system and lakes. Measuring at around 2,900 cubic kilometres, all of Canadas fresh water is mainly found underground in small ponds or within glaciers. This freshwater is used to feed over 8 million people within Canada and provides a huge amount of water to areas of the agriculture industry.
China
China is in 5th place with approximately 2,800 cubic kilometres of freshwater. Its largest lake, Poyang Lake is mainly so large due to the surrounding rivers constantly emptying their freshwater into it. However, the volume of the lake does fluctuate depending on the season.
