Comments on: Recession Ends Pollution of World’s Largest Freshwater Lake

By: David

David — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:31:56 +0000

hooray. a good ecological newstory. thanks recession!

By: Large Lake Polluter Comes To Halt | Eco Fuel For The Hippie Soul

Large Lake Polluter Comes To Halt | Eco Fuel For The Hippie Soul — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:25:47 +0000

[...] Article: CLICK HERE Filed under: News and Updates [...]

By: John

John — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:39:20 +0000

The same NSF page says the lake is so old that it predates the emergence of humans on earth!

The percentage of freshwater to saltwater on earth must be fairly small.

By: Gavin Hudson

Gavin Hudson — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:51:14 +0000

Hi Peter,

I read your comment and decided to offer some assistance. A simple Google search for this figure brings up lots of hits. Just one is from the National Science Foundation, which compares Lake Baikal and the Great Lakes:

“The lake [Baikal] contains 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, and it is large enough to hold all the water in the United States’ Great Lakes.”

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111511

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:11:30 +0000

Please cite your reference for that 20% figure,

just taking a look at Google Earth, the North American great lakes make me very doubtful of that claim, and thats not even factoring in the Freshwater supplies in ALL the other smaller lakes, AND those tied up in glaciers, and Icebergs.

Time to check some facts.

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:49:57 +0000

“At 395 miles long and 49 miles wide, Baikal is said to contain 20% of the Earth’s freshwater supply.”

The 20% of the earth’s water is a very large number. I’d like to see where the remaining 80% of the is allocated to.