The

Water
Cycle Carmel Reilly
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The Water Cycle

ISBN 978 1 32 854131 4
  The
Water C ycle Carmel Reilly
Illustrated by Rob Mancini
Contents
The Water Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Recycled Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Water Stored on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Evaporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Condensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Rain, Hail, Sleet and Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Where Does Rainwater Fall on Earth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Stored Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Saving Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Life and the Water Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Why We Need a Water Tank at School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Water Cycle
Recycled Water
Water on Earth is always moving. It moves along rivers and through
oceans. It rises into the air as steam, or vapor. Then it falls back
to the ground again as rain. This endless movement is called the
water cycle.
The water cycle is extremely important to life on Earth. Plants, animals,
and people need water to survive. The water cycle helps spread water
around the planet. It also helps to keep water clean and fresh.

The sun

Vapor droplets rise

and collect as clouds.

Heat from the sun warms the surface of

the water, causing it to become vapor.
2
The amount of water on Earth never changes. The same water that
was on the planet during the time of the dinosaurs is still here today.
The water cycle recycles Earth’s water and allows it to be used over
and over again.

Clouds condense until the water droplets

are too heavy and fall as rain.

Some rainwater
collects into streams
and flows toward the
ocean above ground.

Some rainwater seeps into

the soil and flows toward
the ocean underground.

3
Water Stored on Earth
Most of Earth’s water is found in the oceans. Some water is stored as
snow and ice. Other water is stored in lakes, rivers, and swamps. A lot
of water also soaks through the soil. It is then stored underground
between layers of rock or sand.

Water on Earth
fresh water 1.5%
snow and ice 1.5%
oceans 97%

  Think and Talk About ...

Living things such as plants
and animals all contain water.
Humans are made up of
about two-thirds water!

4
Salty or Fresh Water
Almost all of the water on Earth is saline. Saline water contains salt.
All ocean water is saline.
Only a very small amount of all the water on the planet is fresh
water. Fresh water is water that does not contain salt. People, and
animals that live on land, cannot drink saline water. They need fresh
water to survive. Plants that grow on land need fresh water, too.

5
Evaporation
Water is not always a liquid. When water is frozen, it turns into
solid ice. When water is heated, it turns into vapor. The change
from a liquid to a vapor is called evaporation.
Evaporation occurs when radiation from the sun heats the surface
of the water, causing some water molecules to separate from the
others. These are light enough to rise into the air as tiny droplets of
water, or vapor. The drops are so light that they float high up into the
atmosphere. They are so tiny that a single drop cannot be seen on
its own.

Vapor rises from the surface of a lake.

6
Keeping Water Clean
Evaporation helps to keep water clean. When water turns into vapor,
any salt or dirt in that water is left behind. The vapor is made up of
only pure water.

Vapor rises into the air

to form clouds.

Radiation from the

sun heats the surface
of the water.

Some heated water turns into vapor.

7
Condensation
As vapor rises higher into the atmosphere, it starts to cool.
The tiny drops of vapor mix with dust in the air and other
vapor drops, becoming larger droplets of water. The process of
vapor turning into water is called condensation.

Clouds
Most of the time, water vapor in the air is invisible.
However, when lots of water droplets group close
together, they can be seen from a distance as clouds.
There are many different kinds of clouds. Cirrus clouds are
thin clouds high in the sky. Stratus clouds are low, gray clouds
that often bring light rain. Cumulus clouds are white, fluffy
clouds that are usually higher than stratus clouds but lower
than cirrus clouds. Sometimes, cumulus clouds evaporate
quickly and disappear. At other times, cumulus clouds can
become large, dark thunderstorm clouds.

Think and Talk About …

There are billions and billions
of water droplets in a
small cloud.

8
Cirrus
clouds

Cumulus
clouds

Stratus
clouds

9
Rain, Hail, Sleet, and Snow
The darker a cloud looks, the more water droplets it contains.
These droplets keep joining together to make larger and larger
droplets. Finally, they become heavy enough to fall to the ground
as drops of rain.

Heavy rain pours off a roof.

10
If the air in the atmosphere is very cold, the water drops in clouds can
turn into ice crystals instead of water droplets. Ice crystals fall to the
ground as snow. Sometimes, a mixture of rain and snow falls, which
is called sleet. Thunderstorm clouds can be very cold, and sometimes
small balls of ice form in them. These fall as hailstones. The water or
ice that falls from clouds is called precipitation.

Hailstones bounce as
they hit the ground.

Think and
Talk About ...
Raindrops are not shaped
like teardrops. They have a
round, flattened shape,
like a squashed ball.
11
Where Does Rainwater Fall on Earth?
Most rain falls over the oceans where it evaporated. About a quarter
of Earth’s rain falls over the land.
The places with the most rainfall in the world are northern India and
Hawaii. The areas that get the least rain are the Arctic, the Antarctic,
and hot deserts. The Atacama Desert in Chile has the least rainfall in
the world.

Atacama Desert

12
Rain falls over a tropical rain forest.

Think and
Talk About …
Tropical places that are close to the equator
The equator is the
have a lot of rain all year round. In most other hottest part of Earth,
places, it rains more in winter or spring than but there are no
at other times of the year. deserts there.

13
Stored Water
Most water travels quickly through the water cycle. Other water
can take a long time to make the same journey. This is because
some water is stored in places where it does not evaporate.

Ice
Water is stored as ice in places like the Arctic and Antarctic.
In the Antarctic, a lot of the ice has not evaporated in thousands
of years. This is because ice can be frozen for years and years.

Some ice is stored in

glaciers, like the Perito
Moreno Glacier in
Argentina.

14
 A spring occurs where
groundwater bursts
out of the ground.

Groundwater
Groundwater is water that is stored underground between rocks and
in sand. Groundwater does not evaporate because the sun’s rays do not
reach it. Water can often stay underground for many years before it seeps
into the ocean or comes to the surface through a spring, or through
people drilling or digging down to reach it. People have dug wells
to bring groundwater to the surface for thousands of years.

15
Water Stored by Humans
Rain does not fall evenly in most places in the world. Sometimes
there is a lot of rain and sometimes there is very little rain. People
build reservoirs, dams, and tanks to store water. This helps to make
sure there is enough water all year round.
Reservoirs are large, human-made lakes. They are made to collect
rainwater and water that runs off mountains when snow melts.
Small towns sometimes have one small reservoir. Large cities often
have up to ten huge reservoirs.
A dam is a barrier that restricts water from entering a river. Dams prevent
flooding and store water which can be used for irrigation or consumption.

Built on the Arizona-Nevada border,

the Hoover Dam collects water from
the Colorado River.

16
Rainwater tanks and rain barrels are used to store water in
homes, schools, and factories. These tanks and barrels collect
rainwater that runs off the roofs of these buildings.

Some people install rainwater tanks

to collect water to use in their houses
and yards.
Think and Talk About …
Water held back in dams
is sometimes used to
make electricity.
17
Saving Water
The population of the world is growing larger each year, and more
and more people need water. However, only a tiny amount of the
world’s water is fresh water. It is important for people to save fresh
water wherever possible, to make sure there is enough to drink and
to grow food.
There are many ways for people to save water, such as taking
shorter showers, fixing leaking faucets, and watering yards less often.
People can also recycle a lot of water that is used around the house.
Rainwater can be collected in tanks and used for gardening, washing,
and cleaning.

A hose with a handle that has to be held down for water to

flow uses less water than a regular hose.

18
Life and the Water Cycle
The water cycle is nature’s way of recycling water. Life could not exist
on Earth without it. The water cycle brings fresh water to plants,
animals, and people all over the planet.

19
 Why We Need
a Wat e r Tank at Sc h o ol
Silvertown Elementary School Newsletter

That’s a Great Idea

Last week was Ideas Week at school. The teachers in each class
asked their students to think about how they could improve our
school. One of the best ideas came from 4th Grade, who said that
they thought the school needed to get a large water tank. They
said it would be good for the environment, save money for the
school, and allow the students to have a garden.
Here is what the class representatives,
Jack and Charlotte, had to say when
they spoke at the school assembly
last Tuesday.

20
21
 Our class believes that we need to have a rainwater tank
at school.
Everyone knows that water is an important resource that we
shouldn’t waste. If we get a tank, we will be able to collect
and store rainwater from the roofs of the school buildings.
Right now, this water just runs off into the drains.
Saving water will save the school money. The school has to
pay for all the water it uses. This can be very expensive. We
need water for drinking, for preparing food, for cleaning, and
for the school bathrooms. All the water that is collected in a
rainwater tank is free. This means that the school would not
have to pay for as much water. We would also have enough
water to start a vegetable garden.

22
23
24
JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC
We talked to many of the teachers, parents, and other
students about our suggestion to have a water tank. Most
people thought it was a great idea. But there were a few
people who thought there could be some problems. Some
people wondered if it was worth installing a tank. They
felt there wouldn’t be enough rainfall each year to save
money.
To see if this was true, our class did a water census.
This is a way of working out how much water is coming
in and going out of our school. First, we established
how much water our school uses each month. Then, we
considered the amount of water we would use if we had
a garden. Next, we checked out how much rain has fallen
in our area this year. We discovered that a tank could
provide about half the water we would require.

25
 1 Rain falls onto the school roofs
and collects in the gutters.

2 Water from the gutters 6 Turning the

flows down pipes. tap opens the
pipe so water
can flow.

3 Pipes take water to the

underground tank.

26
Some people had other concerns. A few of them said that a large
water tank would take up too much space in the playground.
Our class discovered that you can put water tanks underground.
This leaves the ground above them free. Underground tanks cost
a little more, but they keep water cooler and stop evaporation.
Therefore, less water is lost when you use underground tanks.
Many people were concerned that water from the school roof
was dirty. Fallen leaves collect in gutters, and birds and
animals leave messes. We would have to buy filters to make
sure the water was clean enough to drink. This would cost even
more money.
However, we wouldn’t need filters if the tank water was only
used for bathrooms and the garden. Most of the water used
at school is in the bathrooms.

5 A pump sends water up the

pipe ready to be used.

4 Water for the tap enters another pipe near

the floor of the tank, so that it does not
matter if the water level in the tank is low.

27
 Although many people said that water tanks cost a lot of
money to buy and to install, we did some research about this.
We found that tanks might not cost as much as many people
think. It is also possible to get help to buy large water tanks.
In some places, water companies give customers money
toward the cost of buying them. Some of the companies that
make tanks might also give a discount to schools.
Finally, we are confident that we can think of interesting
ways to involve the community to help us raise funds to buy
the water tank. Our teacher said that there are parents at
school who would be very pleased to help as well.

28
29
 In conclusion, we believe that an underground water tank
would be very important for our school. In the short term, the
tank would cost more because they are quite expensive. But
over the long term, it would save the school a lot of money.

Everyone agreed that the 4th Grade presentation was outstanding.

Ms. Cheng, our principal, asked Jack and Charlotte to come and give
the presentation at the next school board meeting. She said she
thought purchasing a water tank would be an excellent idea and that
there would be a lot of benefits for the school, the students, and the
environment. She was sure that when the school board members
heard the presentation, they would agree. We think so, too.

The Editors

30
Glossary
census (noun) a count or survey
condensation (noun) when the tiny droplets in water
vapor draw together and become
drops of water as they cool
equator (noun) the imaginary line around the Earth’s
middle
evaporation (noun) when tiny droplets of water float up
to become vapor, as the surface of
water is heated by the sun
filters (noun) devices that catch dirt when water
passes through them, so that the
water that comes out is clean
fresh water (noun) water without any salt in it
groundwater (noun) water under the ground
precipitation (noun) water that falls from the sky as rain,
hail, sleet, or snow
saline (adjective) salty
vapor (noun) water in the form of a gas made of
tiny droplets

31
Index
Antarctic 12, 14
Arctic 12, 14
Atacama Desert 12
cirrus clouds 8–9
clouds 2, 3, 7, 8–9, 11
condensation 3, 8, 31
cumulus clouds 8–9
dams 16, 17
deserts 12, 13
equator 13, 31
evaporation 6–7, 8, 12, 14,
15, 27, 31
fresh water 4, 5, 18, 19, 31
groundwater 3, 4, 15, 31
hail 11, 31
32
ice 4, 6, 11, 14
lakes 4, 6, 16
oceans 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 15
rain 2, 3, 8, 10–11, 12–13, 16, 17,
18, 22, 25, 26, 31
reservoirs 16
rivers 2, 4, 16
saline water 5, 31
sleet 11, 31
snow 4, 11, 16, 31
stratus clouds 8–9
water saving 18, 20–30
water storage 4, 14–15, 16–17,
20–30
 Informational Text
Level Q • 1,858 Words

Did you know that the amount of water on Earth

never changes? The water that we use now is the
same water that was here during the age of the
dinosaurs. Learn more about how water moves
around our planet and how it is stored. You might
just be surprised by what you find out!

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