Guide
The Great Lakes of North America are rich in freshwater resources and are incredibly large. In contrast, the freshwater resources of the eastern countries are facing a serious water shortage. Want to know why the water resources of the Great Lakes are so precious and how they affect the distribution of water resources in the great eastern countries? Read on!
Freshwater resources of the great countries of the East
The Great Lakes of North America are owned by two countries, the United States and Canada, and they are the treasures of North America.
The Great Lakes are unimaginably large enough to hold 12 trillion cubic meters of water in Lake Superior alone, and that's just a few of them.
With a total area of 245,000 square kilometers, the Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world.
Combined, the water storage capacity of these lakes is almost as high as that of Lake Baikal, if not better.
As the largest freshwater lake in the world, there is only one Baikal, and the rest of the freshwater lakes cannot be compared.
Although Lake Baikal has a huge water reservoir, it cannot meet the global demand for freshwater resources, and it can only be a part of the world's freshwater resources.
The sheer size of the Great Lakes in North America makes one believe in their potential value.
The Great Lakes are rich in great wealth
Although located on different continents, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario form one of North America's most valuable treasures, the Great Lakes.
The Great Lakes of North America are so large because of the Michigan Glacier, which was formed during the Ice Age, and it brought unparalleled treasures to North America.
The melting of Michigan's glaciers has left behind many "legacies," the most notable of which are the lakes they formed.
Its glacier tongue glides through the surface of the ground with choles, which are gradually filled with snowmelt to form freshwater lakes.
The most precious freshwater resource in this land is the Great Lakes as we know them today.
The resources provided by the Great Lakes are multifaceted.
Unlike the seasonal lakes in the Orient, the water reserves of the Great Lakes are stable and not affected by the seasons.
In the harsh winter, although the water temperature drops, even this does not have much impact on the amount of water stored due to the large size of the lake and the thick ice cover.
This means that in the extremely cold winter of North America, freshwater resources can still be fully utilized for production and life.
In the hot summers, lush vegetation and high evaporation also have no effect on the water storage of the Great Lakes.
In contrast, the seasonal lakes of the eastern countries are much more "squeamish".
Especially in the northwest region of the eastern country, the situation of "one pool of water a year" abounds.
As a result, it is difficult to make full use of freshwater resources in Northwest China for production and life, and many places are unable to develop their economies due to water shortages.
The dilemma of water scarcity in the great eastern countries
Although the eastern country is a vast country with a large population, its freshwater resources are very scarce.
The surface freshwater reserves of the great Eastern countries are about 2.8 trillion cubic meters, while the Great Lakes alone have 12 trillion cubic meters of water storage, which makes the great eastern powers undoubtedly dwarfed.
The northwest region of the eastern country is suffering from serious water shortages, but in fact, the southern part of the eastern country is also facing a similar problem.
Due to the serious water shortage, deterioration of the ecological environment, and serious desertification in the northwest region, the authorities proposed the South-to-North Water Diversion Project to solve the problem of water shortage in the northwest region.
But the south, a large eastern country, is not a "water-rich" region in the true sense of the word.
Although regions such as the Yangtze River basin have more freshwater resources, due to dense population, developed industry, and huge demand for production and domestic water, to a certain extent, it has also caused a contradiction between supply and demand in some areas.
Outside the Yangtze River basin, the eastern powers, Northeast China, North China and other regions are facing very serious water supply problems.
According to statistics, the average annual precipitation in North China is only 420 mm, which is less than half of the Great Lakes region of North America.
Moreover, precipitation in North China is not only low but also unstable, mainly concentrated in summer and autumn.
Water demand in summer and autumn is much higher than in other seasons, resulting in extreme water scarcity in northern China.
Although some other places in the eastern countries have more precipitation, due to the high terrain or poor soil properties, they cannot make full use of this rainfall to solve their own water supply problems in many cases.
Therefore, although the large countries in the East have abundant freshwater resources in general, their uneven distribution still leads to the problem of water shortage in many places.
epilogue
It reveals the preciousness of the freshwater resources of the Great Lakes of North America and the uneven distribution of freshwater resources faced by the large eastern countries. In today's increasingly scarce global resources, the rational use and protection of water resources is particularly important. How do you think the problem of water scarcity in the eastern countries should be solved? Leave a comment to share your thoughts!