More
Water Facts!
1. The first municipal water filtration works opened in Paisley,
Scotland in 1832.
2. More than 79,000
tons of chlorine are used per year in the United States and Canada
to treat water.
3. Of all the earth’s
water, 97% is salt water found in oceans and seas.
4. Only 1% of the earth’s
water is available for drinking water. Two percent is currently
frozen.
5. About two-thirds
of the human body is water. Some parts of the body contain more
water than others. For example, 70% of your skin is water.
6. There are more than
56,000 community water systems providing water to the public
in the United States.
7. Public water suppliers process
38 billion gallons of water per day for domestic and public use.
8. Approximately 1
million miles of pipelines and aqueducts carry water in the United States
and Canada. That’s enough to circle the earth 40 times.
9. About 800,000 water
wells are drilled each year in the United States for domestic,
farming, commercial, and water testing purposes.
10. Typically, households
consume at least 50% of their water by lawn watering. Inside,
toilets use the most water, with an average of 27 gallons per
person pre day.
11. In 1974,
Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure
that drinking water is safe for human consumption. The Act requires public
water systems to monitor and treat drinking water for safety.
12. More than 13 million
households get their water from their own private wells and are
responsible for treating and pumping the water themselves.
13. Industries released 197
million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 1990.
14. The average daily requirement
for fresh water in the United States is about 40 billion gallons
a day, with about 300 billion gallons used untreated for agriculture
and commercial purposes.
15. You can survive
about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.
16. Each person uses
about 100 gallons of water a day at home.
17. The average five-minute
shower takes between 15 to 25 gallons of water.
18. You can refill an 8
oz. glass of water approximately 15,000 times of the same cost as a six-pack
of soda.
19. An automatic dishwasher
uses approximately 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand
washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.
20. If every household
in America had a faucet that dripped once each second, 928 gallons
of water a day would leak away.
21. A dairy cow
must drink four gallons of water to produce one
gallon of milk.
22. One gallon of water
weighs approximately 8 ½ pounds.
23. One inch of rainfall
drops 7,000 gallons, or nearly 30 tons of water, on 60’
x 180’ piece of land.
24. 300 million gallons
of water are needed to produce a single day’s supply
of U.S newsprint.
25. A person should consume
2 ½ quarts of water per day ( from all sources of water,
food, etc.) to maintain health.
