What is Fresh water?
'''Fresh water''' (also 'freshwater' or 'fresh-water') is water that does not have a lot of [[salt]] in it. It usually means water from the [[lake]]s, [[river]]s, [[snow]], and [[ice]]. These types of water do not have much salt in them. It also can mean water that people can [[drink]]. The [[ocean]]s and [[sea]]s are made up of [[salt water]], which people cannot drink. People cannot drink all fresh water, because it might be [[contamination|contaminated]]. It might have harmful [[bacteria]] in it, or it might be poisonous because of [[chemical]]s it contains. Water from a tap has been tested and treated so that it is safe to drink. This applies to most countries, but in some places the water needs to be boiled first to kill the [[Pathogen|germs]] and [[drunk]] after it has cooled down. Fresh water that people can drink safely is called [[potable water]]. [[Desalination]] can turn salt water into drinkable water. What causes water scarcity is the mismatch between fresh water demand and availability. What this means is that there is fresh water available, but not always where it is most needed.<ref>S.L. Postel, G.C. Daily & P.R. Ehrlich 1996. Human appropriation of renewable fresh water. [[Science (journal)|Science]] '''271''', 785–788. [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.271.5250.785]</ref><ref>H.H.G. Savenije 2000. Water scarcity indicators: the deception of the numbers. ''Physics and Chemistry of the Earth'' '''B''' '''25''', 199–204.</ref> In many countries the water used by people is recycled water. People pay for water supply which is safe to drink. Water theft also happens. [[Thames Water]] thinks water loss by theft is a big problem.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org/Water_Loss_Control_Introduction.aspx|title=Water loss control introduction|website=www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Waste water ([[sewage]]) is treated to purify the water. That is why people are charged for the supp