Water Trivia
REMEMBER ... Fresh, clean drinking water is yours to use whenever
you need it, but not to waste: it's too valuable! With a little bit of effort and commonsense will make a big difference
To help you learn more about water, here are some basic facts:
|
How Much Water Do We Use? |
Amount |
|
Taking a bath or shower |
15-30 gallons |
|
Watering the lawn and yard |
180 gallons |
|
Washing the dishes by machine/hand |
14-60 gallons |
|
Washing clothes |
50 gallons |
|
Washing the car |
108 gallons |
|
Brushing your teeth |
1 gallon |
|
Flushing the toilet (once) |
3-5 gallons |
|
Leaking toilet (per day) |
60 gallons |
Did you know ..... ?
Leaky plumbing is the biggest household water waster!
A single drip every 60 seconds can waste over 167 gallons
in just 24 hours ..... that's 5,000 gallons wasted in just 30 days!
A leak in a 1/32" diameter pipe can waste as much as
250 gallons of water per day!
A leak in a 1/16" diameter pipe can waste as much as
960 gallons of water per day!
A leak in a 1/8" diameter pipe can waste as much as
3,600 gallons of water per day!
Did you know ..... ?
The first municipal water filtration works opened in Paisley, Scotland, in 1832.
More than 79,000 tons of chlorine is used per year in the United States and Canada to treat water.
Of all the earth's water, 97% is salt water found in the oceans and seas.
Only 1% of the earth's water is available for drinking water. Two percent is currently frozen.
About two-thirds of the human body is water. Some parts of the body contain more than others. For example, 70% of your skin is water.
There are more than 56,000 community water systems providing water to the public in the United States.
Public water suppliers process 38 billion gallons of water per day for domestic and public use.
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.
About 800,000 water wells are drilled each year in the United States for domestic, farming, commercial, and water testing programs.
Typically, households consume at least 50% of their water by lawn sprinkling. Inside, toilets use most of the water, with an average of 27 gallons per person per day.
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.
More than 13 million households get their water from their own private wells and are responsible for treating and pumping water themselves.
Industries released 197 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 1990.
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 agricultural and commercial purposes.
You can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.
Each person uses about 100 gallons of water a day at home.
The average five-minute shower takes between 15 and 25 gallons of water.
You can refill an 8 ounce glass of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a six-pack of soda pop.
An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing can use up to 20 gallons.
If every household in America had a faucet the dripped once each second, 928 million gallons of water a day would leak away.
A dairy cow must drink 4 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
One gallon of water weighs approximately 8 1/3 pounds.
One inch of rainfall drops 7,000 gallons, or nearly 7 tons of water, on a 60 foot by 180 foot piece of land.
300 million gallons of water are needed to produce a single days' supply of U.S. newsprint.
A person should consume 2 1/2 quarts of water per day (from all sources of water, food, etc.) to maintain health.
85% of all landscape problems are due to overwatering. A properly designed and operated irrigation system can reduce water use by 20% or more each year.
Typically, less than 1% of the treated drinking water produced by utilities is actually consumed by people. Most goes for lawns, showers, and tubs and toilets, etc.
You lose 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of water per day through normal elimination, sweating, and breathing. If you exercise or live in a humid climate, you may lose another quart.
How much of the Earths water supply is
Salt water
0.001%
Fresh water
2.2%
Groundwater
0.01%
Lakes and streams
0.6%
Glaciers and icecaps
2.8%
Water vapor
97.2%
How Much:
Water runs off mountains in the form of rain or snowmelt?
..
1.2 million acre-feet per year
Groundwater do we use? .....
14 million acre-feet per year
More groundwater do we use than goes back into the ground? ....
1.5 million acre-feet per year
How much water does it take to produce one serving of:
Lettuce (1 cup)
3 gallons
Tomato Ketchup (1 oz)
3 gallons
White Sugar (1 tbsp)
7 gallons
Whole Wheat Bread (1 slice)
7 gallons
Tomatoes (4.3 oz)
8 gallons
White Bread (1 slice)
11 gallons
Fresh Broccoli (2.7 oz)
11 gallons
Tomato Paste (2 oz)
12 gallons
Tomato Sauce (4 oz)
13 gallons
Oranges (4.6 oz)
14 gallons
Brown Rice (1 oz)
16 gallons
White Rice (1 oz)
25 gallons
Pasta (2 oz)
36 gallons
Cantaloupe (8 oz)
40 gallons
Butter (0.36 oz)
46 gallons
Milk (8 fl. oz)
48 gallons
Orange Juice (1 cup)
49 gallons
Cheese (1 oz)
56 gallons
