The document outlines the six main steps of the water cycle: 1) evaporation, 2) condensation, 3) precipitation, 4) surface runoff where water flows into streams and rivers and eventually back to the oceans, 5) infiltration where rainwater soaks into the ground to become groundwater or returns to the surface, and 6) transpiration where plants evaporate water through their leaves. These steps describe the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth.

9. Water Cycle Steps
1. Evaporation – liquid to gas
2. Condensation – gas to liquid
3. Precipitation – water falls back to the ground either
as rain, snow, or hail
These three are the main processes of the water cycle
(Review from Lesson 5.6)

10. Water Cycle Steps
4. Surface Runoff – much of the water that return to
Earth as precipitation runs off the surface of the land,
and flows down hill into streams, rivers, ponds, and
lakes. Small streams flow into larger streams, then
into rivers, and eventually the water flows into the
ocean.
Surface runoff is an important part of the water cycle
because, through surface runoff, much of the water returns
again to the oceans, where a great deal of evaporation
occurs
(Review from Lesson 5.6)

11. Water Cycle Steps
5. Infiltration – process where rain water soaks into the
ground, through the soil and underlying rock layers,
Some of this water ultimately returns to the surface at
springs or in low spots downhill. Some of the water
remains underground and is called groundwater. As
the water infiltrates through the soil and rock layers,
many of the impurities in the water are filtered out.
This filtering process helps clean the water.
(Review from Lesson 5.6)

12. Water Cycle Steps
6. Transpiration – process where plants remove water
through its stomata in the leaves. This is the process
of evaporation in plants (also called
evapotranspiration).
(Review from Lesson 5.6)