What is Surface water?

Surface water is the water you can see on top of the ground, like a puddle after it rains or a lake near your house.

Imagine you have a big bowl, and you pour water into it. That water sitting in the bowl is just like surface water, it’s the part of the water that you can see and touch. Rivers, lakes, ponds, and even puddles are all kinds of surface water, because they’re on top of the ground.

Some surface water stays still, like a lake in your backyard. But other surface water moves, like a river that flows from one place to another. It’s like when you tip the bowl, the water starts moving and goes somewhere else, just like rivers do.

When it rains, surface water can collect in big places or run off into smaller ones, depending on where you are. Sometimes, if there's too much surface water, it might even flood nearby areas, but that’s just a bigger version of the water spilling over the edge of your bowl!