Grayce P. Storey
Around the world water symbolizes life. Countries where there is an abundance of water prosper while areas where water is frugal suffer disaster. Many years ago people became knowledgeable of a natural cycle to the flow of water on this planet. Today they still rely on that cycle.
Three fourths of the earth is covered by lakes, streams, rivers and oceans. There is a continuous circulation of water between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. Earth’s surface water is heated by the sun and evaporates. This evaporation process changes liquid water into a gas or vapor. The vapor rises into the atmosphere. In the upper atmosphere the water vapor cools and condenses into liquid droplets, (a more common analogy is water boiling in a covered pan, when the lid is removed you will notice beaded water present on the lid) these droplets form a cloud and eventually fall back to the earth as precipitation; rain, sleet, snow, hail, and fog.
Most precipitation falls back into the ocean, lakes, rivers, and streams. Some water falls on land and runs off into the aquatic systems, and the cycle repeats itself.
Not all water goes back into the various systems of water but taken in by living things and later returned to the nonliving part of the environment. For example, plants take in water through their roots and release some water vapor through their leaves, this process is called transpiration.