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SEEN from space, the Earth is a pale blue dot. Two-thirds of its surface is covered by water. But the vast majority of that water—around 97%—is salty. Of the 3% that is fresh water—which is the kind humanity needs to drink, wash, make things and (most of all) produce food—about two-thirds is locked up in glaciers, ice caps and permafrost. That leaves less than 1% of the planet’s water easily accessible in rivers, lakes or aquifers. In short, the salinity of the oceans means useful water is scarce, while the less useful kind is abundant. So why is the sea...

Brian Handwerk For National Geographic News Clean water is essential for life, but most people in the developed world don't think much about the water they use for drinking, food preparation, and sanitation. In developing nations, however, the search for safe drinking water can be a daily crisis. Millions of people die each year, most of them children, from largely preventable diseases caused by a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation. Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project and the National Geographic Society's freshwater fellow, said freshwater scarcity presents a growing problem to be addressed during...

1. For starters, did you know that 94 percent of life on Earth is aquatic? That makes us land-dwellers a very small minority. 2. About 70 percent of the planet is ocean, with an average depth of more than 12,400 feet. Given that photons (light) can’t penetrate more than 330 feet below the water’s surface, most of our planet is in a perpetual state of darkness. 3. Fifty percent of the United States (in terms of our complete legal jurisdiction, which includes ocean territory) lies below the ocean. 4. The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth: There are...