When it rains, where does it go? Once on the land, rainfall either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows into rivers and lakes.

Where does most precipitation end up?

Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans.

What happens to precipitation once it falls to Earth?

After the precipitation reaches the surface of Earth, it does one of four things. It can either be absorbed by plants, percolate through the soil to become ground water, run off the surface into streams and rivers–becoming surface water and eventually flowing into the oceans, or evaporate.