What are water resources?

We explain what water resources are, what types exist and what they are for. In addition, various examples and water resources in Mexico.

1. What are water resources?

Water resources are deposits and inputs of water sweet that , in different states physical and being available or potentially available, can be used by humans to meet any need.

It is one of the great natural resources of planet Earth . It is indispensable not only for the support of life , but to preserve the physical-chemical balance of the planet.

The amount and disposition of water resources varies greatly depending on the geographical region . While in some places it is wasted, in others it is a particularly scarce asset.

In addition, there are different agents and polluting activities  that threaten the preservation of water, and that require constant measures to keep them at bay.

It is known that two thirds of the earth’s surface is submerged, and that of that total water 97.5% is contained in the seas and oceans, that is, it is salt water, whose use requires additional activities such as desalination.

Therefore, only 2.5% of the planet’s water is fresh water and, in turn, of that percentage 68.9% is contained in the polar and glacial caps of the planet, and another 30.1% in aquifer deposits that are below the surface. This leaves only 0.4% of fresh surface water available for direct use.

2. Types of water resources

The water resources of a nation or region can be found in different presentations, such as:

• Rivers and lakes . Accumulations of stagnant or flowing fresh water, and that irrigate the continental shelf. The rivers are born in the ice that melts at the top of the mountains , and the lakes are stagnations of these waters.
• Groundwater . Freshwater tanks underground, formed for long periods of time and with a greater or lesser degree of purity, depending on the underground environment in which they are located.
• Glaciers and perpetual snow . Water at certain heights or at certain altitudes is exposed to temperature levels that lead it to change physically, thus forming ice, perpetual snow or icebergs.

3. What are water resources for?

Water resources, in principle, is not that they have a specific use, since they are natural resources . But they are usable by the human being for a diverse set of activities, such as:

• Agriculture , for the irrigation of plantations.
• Livestock , to feed the cattle.
• Chemical industry , to obtain hydrogen and oxygen, or to feed other chemical reactions controlled.
• Urban consumption , that is, to bring fresh water to our homes with which to cook, shower or clean up.
• Mining , to separate valuable components from the rest of the earth.
• Energy industry , in hydroelectric or power plants, where water vapor is used to generate electricity .

4. Importance

The importance of water resources exceeds merely economic, commercial or industrial. It is not only a directly usable input, that is, of something we can take and transform into something else, but it is also an irreplaceable resource to perpetuate the different biochemical and biogeochemical cycles of the planet.

The water resources of a region also guarantee the fertility of its lands, the stability of its climates and its biodiversity .

5. Examples

Lakes, rivers, deltas, large snowy peaks or underground aquifer sites are examples of water resources.

6. Water resources of Mexico

The Mexican region, although it has huge deserts, also important water resources, among which there are 320 watersheds , such as those of the Yaqui, Fuerte, Mezquital, Lerma, Santiago and Balsas rivers, all of them facing the Pacific Ocean; and the Bravo, Pánuco, Papaloapan, Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers, which flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mexican nation makes good use of these resources through hydraulic works that store up to 125,000 million square meters of water , corresponding to 34% of the annual runoff resulting from the rains. Of this, 33% is used to supply water to the northern semi-arid regions and 37% in electricity generation work.