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Water is the most common
substance found on earth.
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In 1989, Americans dumped
365 million gallons of motor oil or the equivalent of 27 Exxon
Valdez spells.
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Of all the earth's water, 97
percent is salt water located in oceans and seas.
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Only one percent of the
earth's water is available for drinking water.
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About two thirds of the
human body is water. Some parts of the body contain more water than
others. For example, 70 percent of your skin is water.
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There are more than 200,000
individual water systems providing water to the public in the United
States.
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Public water suppliers
process 34 billion gallons of water per day for domestic and public
use.
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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.
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About 800,000 water wells
are drilled each year in the United States for domestic, farming,
commercial, and water testing purposes.
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Sixty-one percent of
Americans rely on lakes, rivers, and streams as their source of
drinking water. The other 39 percent rely on ground water -- water
located underground in aquifers and wells.
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In 1974, Congress passed the
Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure that drinking water is safe for
consumption. The Act requires public water systems to monitor and
treat drinking water for safety.
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More than 13 million
households drink from their own private wells and are responsible
for treating and pumping the water themselves.
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Industries released 197
million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 1990 alone.
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The average daily
requirement for fresh water in the United States is about 338
billion gallons a day, with about 300 billion gallons used as
untreated water and for agriculture and other commercial purposes.
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You can survive about a
month without food, but only five to seven days without water.
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Each person uses about 100
gallons of water a day at home.
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The average five-minute
shower takes between 25-50 gallons of water.
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You can refill an 8 oz.
glass of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a
six-pack of pop.
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The average automatic
dishwasher uses 9-12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can
take up to 20 gallons.
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If every household in
America had a faucet that dripped once each second, we would waste
928 million gallons of water a day.
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The five Great Lakes
bordering the United States and Canada contain about 20 percent of
the world's available fresh water.
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More than 39,000 gallons of
water are used to manufacture a new car, including tires.
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Water is a main ingredient
in other beverages and it takes water to process them. For example,
it takes 1,500 gallons of water to make one barrel of beer.
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Seventy-five percent of a
tree is water.
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One gallon of gasoline can
contaminate approximately 750,000 gallons of water.
