Asked by adj
A student claims that a large percentage of water on Earth is immediately available to drink. Is he correct? Why or why not?
He is incorrect because only 2% of the water on Earth is immediately available to drink.
He is correct because 2% of the water on Earth is immediately available to drink.
He is correct because 97% of the water on Earth is immediately available to drink.
He is incorrect because only 1% of the water on Earth is immediately available to drink.
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
He is incorrect because only about 1% of the water on Earth is immediately available to drink.
Reason: ~97% of Earth’s water is salt water in the oceans. Only about 2–3% is freshwater, and most of that (≈69%) is locked in glaciers and ice caps and much of the rest (≈30%) is groundwater. Only a very small fraction (around 1% of total water, or a few tenths of a percent by some counts) is surface fresh water in lakes and rivers that is readily available for human use.
Reason: ~97% of Earth’s water is salt water in the oceans. Only about 2–3% is freshwater, and most of that (≈69%) is locked in glaciers and ice caps and much of the rest (≈30%) is groundwater. Only a very small fraction (around 1% of total water, or a few tenths of a percent by some counts) is surface fresh water in lakes and rivers that is readily available for human use.
Submit Your Answer
We prioritize human answers over AI answers.
If you are human, and you can answer this question, please submit your answer.