Earth’s water cycle needs to be updated to to include effects of human interference

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CONTEXT:

  • Representations of the Earth’s water cycle used in textbooks throughout the world need to be updated, say scientists who have drawn up a new set of diagrams to include effects of human interference.
  • Leaving humans out of the picture contributes to a basic lack of awareness of how humans relate to water on Earth and a false sense of security about future availability of this essential and scarce resource, according to the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
  • The team from the University of Birmingham in the UK, Brigham Young University and Michigan State University in the US has drawn up a new set of diagrams to promote better understanding of how our water cycle works in the 21st century.
  • These new diagrams show human interference in nearly all parts of the cycle.
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