2026-09-12 · All water on Earth
Almost none of Earth's water is a drink
The planet looks blue. Nearly all of that water is salt. Ice and groundwater take the next slices. One cell is every lake, river, cloud, and soil drop you might actually use.
Earth looks blue, but almost none of that water is a drink. Of the planet's 1.386 billion km³ of water, oceans hold 96.5%. Ice caps and glaciers lock up 1.7%, groundwater another 1.7%. Every lake, river, cloud, and drop of soil moisture you might actually use adds up to a single square — about 0.1% of all Earth's water.
1 cell = 1.4 million km³ of Earth water (0.1% of Earth's water) · 1,000 cells
Context
USGS's distribution table, drawn from Igor Shiklomanov's estimates, puts all the water on, in, and above the planet at about 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers — a sphere roughly 860 miles (1,385 km) across. Poured over the contiguous United States, it would blanket the land to a depth of about 107 miles (145 km).
More freshwater sits underground than flows on the surface: over 8,400,000 km³ of it, most within half a mile of the ground. That hidden water seeps into river beds between rains and supplies places where visible water is scarce, like the desert towns of the western United States.
Rivers, the main source of fresh surface water people use, hold just 2,120 km³ — about 1/10,000th of one percent of all water. The atmosphere carries roughly 12,900 km³, mostly vapor; if it all fell at once, Earth would be covered in only about an inch of water.
USGS Water Science School, distribution of Earth's water. Oceans ~96.5%, ice ~1.7%, groundwater ~1.7%, lakes/rivers/atmosphere/soil rounded into 1 cell of 1,000. Total volume ~1.386 billion km³.
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Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-09-12-earth-water