While it is clearly true that the water is not “lost” and much of the water sequestered in this way is released through various degradation processes, some water is captured, much the way that some carbon is captured. This captured water makes up not only the organic molecules present in all fertile soil but also the bulk of all biomass.

However, since the entire biomass of every living thing on earth is about 10 million times less than the mass of all water on earth, the water captured in this way will never be more than a negligible amount.