Training manual for groundwater resource management and groundwater governance for municipalities in South Africa. Volume 2.

It is important to recognize and comprehend the basic concepts of water. The basic concepts can influence the quality and chemical characteristics of water, the amount available and prevent contamination. Water occurs in three phases: solid, liquid, and gas. It forms a distinguished feature of the Earth. Depending on the environment in which water occurs, water can rapidly change its phase this plays an important role in the climate system. The concept of the hydrological cycle underlines the fact that water is both renewable and limited. With the absence of water there would be no global ecological system otherwise known as the biosphere and Earth would be a lifeless planet (Paisley, 2013).