Saving water: an irrigation challenge

Most of the water on Earth is in the oceans and is too salty to drink or to water crops. Only about three out of every hundred parts of Earth’s water is fresh water, and most of that is frozen in ice or hidden underground. The fresh water in rivers and lakes that people can easily use is a very small part of all the water. Egypt depends on the Nile for almost all of its fresh water. The water on our planet is not shrinking, because the water cycle keeps moving it around. The problem is that water is not always where people need it, or clean enough to use. Farms use a very large share of the fresh water people take. So saving water in irrigation helps there be enough for homes, schools and other farms.