Water—What is it?

Water is one of the most precious resources we have. It is essential for drinking, cooking and washing. Water is also a vital part of agriculture which provides us with all our food, as well as the raw material for our clothing and shoes.

It's pretty hard, but try and imagine a state without water. Water is a compound which almost all living organisms require to survive. 1,397,918,500,000,000,000,000 litres of water may sound a lot, but water is classified as a non-renewable resourceas there isalways the same amount on earth at the one time, existing in different formsincluding solids, liquids and gases. Of the total amount of water, about 97% resides in seas and oceans - which isn't very useful to humans.

So, it might pay off to "dig out" that water timer from the back of the bathroom cupboard and actually start using it. Once it's gone, that little drop of water can take anywhere from a few minutes to thousands and millions of years to complete the cycle and return in its original form.