Question

How can water be both a renewable and non-renewable resource?

Answer 1

Hint: Apart from air, water is the most vital resource required to sustain life on earth. Chemically, it is present in three states— ice (solid), water (liquid) and vapour or steam (gaseous), all of which are interchangeable though methods. The earth’s natural hydrological cycle is one of the methods because, through it, water changes its state from one phase to another, but the total number of water particles remains the same. The first stage is evaporation in which water from the earth’s surface (mainly the water bodies) changes into water vapour because of the heat from the sun. Then comes condensation by which the accumulated water vapour in the atmosphere cools down in lower temperatures, followed by precipitation by which the condensed water particles fall to the ground in various forms like rainfall, snowfall, hail, etc.

Complete answer: Water is a renewable and non-renewable resource because of the water cycle which is a natural process that replenishes water on earth in a periodic manner. As explained above, water changes its state in this process through various phases— evaporation, condensation, precipitation and runoff or groundwater. Once precipitation is received on the earth’s surface, it either seeps into the ground and restocks the existing water table or flows into rivers and seas. This renews the existing aquifers that can be used for human activities. However, out of the total volume of water present on earth, 97.5% is saline water in seas and oceans and only 2.5% is freshwater. Even in terms of freshwater, only 0.3% is present in liquid form on the surface which is being used at a much larger rate than it can be replenished making it scarce. This is why water can also be termed as non-renewable and water conservation is very crucial.

Note: Water is crucial for a variety of aspects including commercial use, domestic use, industrial use, irrigation, livestock, mining, hydroelectricity, etc. Moreover, all living organisms have water in their natural system, some up to 90%. The human body is made up of more than 60% of water.