Freshwater accounts for 2.8% of the total global water.

About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and the total amount of water on the Earth is 1.4 billion cubic kilometers, with the oceans accounting for about 96.53% of the Earth's total water, terrestrial freshwater accounting for only 2.53% of the total (of which glaciers account for 68.69% of the terrestrial freshwater), and lakes brackish water and subsurface salt water accounting for 0.94%.

Nearly 70% of the Earth's fresh water is fixed in the ice of Antarctica and Greenland, and the rest is mostly soil moisture or deep groundwater, which can't be utilized by human beings, and less than 1% of the Earth's fresh water or about 0.007% of the water can be directly utilized by human beings.

China's freshwater resources

China's total freshwater resources, but according to the population, the average level of arable land occupation, is very low. Compared with many countries in the world, the problem of freshwater resources in China is more serious. Although the total amount of river runoff in China is the sixth largest in the world, the per capita and acreage occupancy is lower than the world's average due to the country's vast land area and large population.

Pollution of freshwater resources affects the whole country. If the per capita possession of freshwater resources, China's water shortage mainly refers to the northern region, then, the pollution of freshwater resources is a national problem. Moreover, the more abundant water areas and large cities, the more densely populated areas, often the more serious pollution.