Our Atmosphere is the Most Active Water Reservoir

Freshwater stays in the Atmosphere's Ocean, on average, only 9 days.


Water Storage Reservoirs

Water Storage Reservoirs
Source - www.physicalgeography.net

A water molecule, either as a saltwater molecule or as a freshwater molecule, is stored in one of 8 reservoirs at any point in time - the atmosphere, oceans, lakes, soils, glaciers, snowfields and in the ground. Water molecules stay in different reservoirs for different periods of time.


Water in the Atmosphere has the smallest residence time

Average Reservoir Residence Times

Reservoir	Average residence time
Antarctica	20,000 years
Oceans	3,200 years
Glaciers	20 to 100 years
Seasonal snow cover	2 to 6 months
Soil moisture	1 to 2 months
Groundwater: shallow	100 to 200 years
Groundwater: deep	10,000 years
Lakes	50 to 100 years
Rivers	2 to 6 months
Atmosphere	9 days

Residence Time is the time, on average that a water molecule spends in a particular reservoir while moving through the hydrologic cycle.
As shown in the chart, water (in freshwater form) stays the shortest period (just 9 days, on average) in the atmosphere. 
Water in the deep ground, on the other hand has the longest residence time of 10,000 years.


The hydraulic Cycle is a Continuous Cycle
The hydraulic cycle never stops. Any efforts to extract water from the atmosphere will only speed-up the hydraulic cycle and reduce water's residence time, in the atmosphere to less than 9 days, on average.
The impact of human efforts to extract water from the atmosphere on Residence times is unknown as no significant extraction is currently possible or done. The efforts at seeding rain have so far been very localized efforts