With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the followin

With reference to the water on the planet Earth, consider the following statements :

1. The amount of water in the rivers and lakes is more than the amount of groundwater.
2. The amount of water in polar ice caps and glaciers is more than the amount of groundwater.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

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1 only

2 only

Both 1 and 2

Neither 1 nor 2

Answer is Right!

Answer is Wrong!

This question was previously asked in

UPSC IAS – 2021

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The correct answer is B) 2 only.

– Statement 1 is incorrect. The amount of groundwater on Earth is significantly greater than the amount of water in all rivers and lakes combined. Approximately 30% of the world’s freshwater is groundwater, while surface water bodies like rivers and lakes hold a much smaller fraction (less than 1%).
– Statement 2 is correct. The largest reservoir of freshwater is in polar ice caps and glaciers, which hold approximately 68.7% of the total freshwater. This amount is greater than the groundwater reservoir, which holds about 30.1% of freshwater.

– The vast majority (around 97.3%) of Earth’s water is saline water in oceans. Freshwater accounts for only about 2.7%, most of which is locked up in ice and groundwater.

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