More from USGS:
If all of Earth’s water (oceans, icecaps and glaciers, lakes, rivers, ground water, and water in the atmosphere was put into a sphere, then the diameter of that water ball would be a bit less than 1,400 kilometers across, a bit more than the distance between Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The picture at the top of this page illustrates this.
About 3,100 mi3 (12,900 km3) of water, mostly in the form of water vapor, is in the atmosphere at any one time. If it all fell as precipitation at once, the Earth would be covered with only about 1 inch of water.
The 48 contiguous United States receives a total volume of about 4 mi3 (17.7 km3) of precipitation each day.
Each day, 280 mi3 (1,170 km3)of water evaporate or transpire into the atmosphere.
If all of the world’s water was poured on the United States, it would cover the land to a depth of 90 miles (145 kilometers).
Of the freshwater on Earth, much more is stored in the ground than is available in lakes and rivers. More than 2,000,000 mi3 (8,400,000 km3)of freshwater is stored in the Earth, most within one-half mile of the surface. Contrast that with the 60,000 mi3 (250,000 km3) of water stored as freshwater in lakes, inland seas, and rivers. But, if you really want to find freshwater, the most is stored in the 7,000,000 mi3 (29,200,000 km3) of water found in glaciers and icecaps, mainly in the polar regions and in Greenland.
Where is Earth’s water located?
(Note: table gets jumbled when coipied so not provided….link below). ...notice how of the world’s total water supply of about 333 million mi3 of water, over 96 percent is saline. And, of the total freshwater, over 68 percent is locked up in ice and glaciers. Another 30 percent of freshwater is in the ground. Thus, surface-water sources (such as rivers) only constitute about 300 mi3 (1,250 km3) (about 1/10,000 th of one percent of total water), yet rivers are the source of most of the water people use.
USGS link
