Water Facts

Overall, the amount of water on our planet has remained the same for over two billion years.

Water consists of three atoms. Two are Hydrogen atoms and one is an Oxygen atom which are bound together due to electrical charges.

Water is the only natural substance found on earth in three different forms: liquid, gas and solid.

Oceans store 97% of the total amount of water on earth,
2% of which is frozen.

Think outside the box  If all of the worlds water were able to fit within a gallon jug, the fresh water available for human use would only equal about one tablespoon.

Over 90% of the worlds supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica. In its current state, less than 1% of the worlds water supply can be used as fresh drinking water.

Water Stats

• The earths total amount of water has a volume of about 344 million cubic miles
• 3,400 cubic miles of water are contained within the bodies of living species, including humans
• The total amount of water in the body of an average adult is 37 liters
• Human brains are 75% water
• Human bones are 25% water
• Human blood is 83% water
• An elephant is 70% water

Each day the sun evaporates about a trillion tons of water. A single full grown tree will give off about 70 gallons of water per day in evaporation. An acre of corn will give off about 4,000 gallons of water per day in evaporation.

A individual can live about a month without food but only about a week without water. An average person must consume two liters of water daily to live healthy. The average individual will consume about 75,000 liters of water during their lifetime.

Did you know...

• Nearly a quarter of the world?s population does not have access to a safe water supply.
• There are over 70,000 known contaminates in untreated water.
• Just one gallon of gasoline can contaminate up to 750,000 gallons of water.
• Water currently meets or exceeds over 100 standards to become quality drinking water.

There are more than 54,000 community water systems in the United States. These utilities process approximately 38 billion gallons of water per day. There are approximately one million miles of pipeline and aqueducts throughout the United States and Canada  enough to circle the earth 40 times.

The first water pipe in the US was made from fire charred bored logs. The first municipal water filtration system was opened in Paisley, Scotland in 1832.

Americans use five times the amount of water that Europeans use.

1/8 inch hole in a waterline at 40 psi can leak 2,500 gallons of water in 24 hours. A leak the size of a pinhead can lose up to 360,000 gallons of water per year. Leaky toilets can use 90,000 gallons of water in just 30 days. To flush a toilet uses 2 to 7 gallons of water per flush. A constant drip from the kitchen faucet can waste as much as six gallons of water per day.

Humans on average use about 50 gallons of water daily. A five minute shower will use 25 – 30 gallons of water. An automatic dishwasher will use 9 to 12 gallons of water during a full cycle. You will use about two gallons of water while brushing your teeth. Four gallons of water is required to process one pound of hamburger meat. Nine gallons of water is used to process one can of fruit or vegetables. 24 gallons of water is used to make one pound of plastic.

The BIG Picture

• One trip through the automatic car wash will use up to 150 gallons of water.
• It takes 1,500 gallons of water to make a single barrel of beer.
• 1,851 gallons of water is used to refine a single barrel of crude oil.
• 2,072 gallons of water is used to produce four new tires.
• One inch of rainfall within an acre produces 27,000 gallons of water.
• 39,000 gallons of water is used to manufacture one new car, including the tires.

The daily production of US newsprint requires 300 million gallons of water; ironically, most of the news printed is arguably considered worthless…