The freshwater biome includes bodies of water, specifically lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. Water cover about seventy percent of the world. Although water covers most of the world, only about three percent of all the world's water is freshwater.
Furthermore, only a small percentage of that is actually included in the freshwater biome, because the vast majority of that freshwater is in glaciers.
Despite the small percentage of freshwater compared to total water, freshwater biomes can be found all over the world, not only in just specific places like some of the other biomes. The Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa are the longest rivers in the world, and Lake Baikal, the largest lake in the world is in China. All of these examples are included in the freshwater biome.
A system of rivers and streams that merge or drain into a larger body of water is a watershed. The Mississippi river is a very large watershed. There are many smaller rivers and streams that drain into the Mississippi river, and the Mississippi then drains into the gulf of Mexico. Two important factors that affect the quality of the water in a watershed, among other bodies of water, are infiltration and surface runoff. Watersheds carry all of the collected rainwater into one large body of water, but they can also carry the pollution. If the runoff from polluted areas is drained into a river, the water in the river is also eventually drained into the large body of water. Infiltration can prove beneficial through. When water goes through the soil, all the layers of dirt filter the water and make it cleaner, but if the water is very badly polluted, then this filtering effect become ineffective. Infiltration can also prove harmful if the soil is contaminated with pollutants because any water that is filtered through the soil becomes contaminated as well. Eventually all this pollution ends up in the ocean, which may prove to be a big problem in the future.

The freshwater biome also has a very diverse variety animals in addition to location. Many aquatic animals that people capture for food live in freshwater biomes.
Shrimp, clams, and many types of fish, for example, live in estuaries. Rivers also carry a plethora of fish. Trout and salmon can both be found in freshwater rivers. Salmon use the freshwater rivers to spawn, so structures such as dams can affect them negatively. It is not only fish that live in freshwater, though, there are also many types of birds, amphibians, and crustaceans that live in freshwater as well.
Many of the animals in the freshwater biome eat algae. Some of the plants that live in rivers have strong roots or special structures to keep them from being carried away by the water. Duckweed and water lilies are examples of plants that live in freshwater.
The plants in freshwater are also one of the main sources of food for many of the animals that live in freshwater.
Freshwater ecosystems provide many resources for humans. Rivers are a large form of transportation, so many of the world's largest cities are built near rivers. Also, rivers and lakes provide us with drinking water. Without the water from these sources, we might not be able to survive.
Even though freshwater is so important, it faces human factors such as pollution and some structures build in or around the water, which may be beneficial or harmful.
Although building dams has many benefits, such as producing lakes and generating power, it can also affect the ecosystem in a negative way. For example, when fish try and swim though, they might not be able to get through, and even if they do manage to get through, they might not be able to survive.
Many factories built along rivers pollute the river by dumping industrial waste or other things into the the river. Also, they can make thermal pollution. Water is an easy

and cheap way to cool machine parts, but when you dump it back into the river, it is hot.
All these factors can affect the organisms living in the water. Sometimes it becomes so bad that the river and the area around the river just becomes uninhabitable. There have even been instances where extremely polluted lakes with a high acid content have turned bright red in color or have caught on fire. Many of these places, though are being treated and might become inhabitable again.
Even though freshwater only covers a small part of the earth's surface, there is a diverse variety of plants and animals that live in it. Freshwater is easily affected by pollution and other human activity, and many of the organisms are affected as well. It is an important resource for humans, as it can provide energy, transportation, water, and food, but if we aren't careful, these resources might disappear in the near future.