preview

The Great Lakes Of Water Essay

Decent Essays

The Great Lakes
71 percent of the earth’s surface is made of water. 97 percent of earths water is saline water and not safe for human consumption. This leaves just 3 percent of earth’s water as fresh water most of which is icecaps and glaciers. 68 percent of the fresh water on Earth is found in icecaps and glaciers. 30 percent of fresh water is found in ground water leaving around .3 percent of earth’s water as surface fresh water. Of the .3 percent of surface fresh water the great lakes make up 84% of North America 's surface fresh water and about 21% of the world 's supply of surface fresh water. ("Great Lakes Facts and Figures." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.)
Pollution, invasive species, global warming; these are all aspects that affect 21% of the freshwater system in the world. The five Great Lakes and their surrounding land; Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Erie provide fresh drinking water for millions of people across the United States and Canada. The Great Lakes basin, provides fishing, hunting, and other recreational activities to the more than 33 million people living around basin of the Great lakes.
As the Great lakes play such an important role in providing safe drinking water to North America water quality and treatment are both important topics for the Great Lakes and the people that depend on them. We have spent billions of dollars to provide safe drinking water to citizen of North America and

Get Access