Water Resources Water is one of the basic resources that sustain life on earth. Without water, no plants or animals could survive.
Some organisms extract water from the air, others get water from the oceans.
Humans can do both of these, but like many plants and animals, we receive the majority of our water from land. Since ocean water is salty, it is not readily available to those plants and animals that live on land and thus have not developed an ability to use salt water. This is fresh water, but it is obviously difficult to use unless it is melted. This figure includes all of the water on land including lakes and streams, and all water below the surface even including moisture in the soil. This figure may seem distressing, and it should remind people that water is a limited resource, but it should not be seen as the last word on the subject.