Interesting water facts
Water is essential for healthy individuals and communities.
Over a billion of the world's people still lack safe drinking water and more than double that number still lack adequate sanitation. Waterborne diseases still account for at least 6000 child deaths every day in the developing world.
--UNICEF
At any given time, perhaps one half of all peoples in the developing world are suffering from one or more of the six main diseases associate with water supply and sanitation (diarrhoea, ascaris, dracunuliasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis and trachoma).
--World Health Organization
AVAILABILITY
80% of the earth’s surface is water.
97% of all the earth’s water is ocean or seas.
2% of the world’s water is frozen and therefore unusable.
1%of the earth’s water is suitable for drinking water.
MEASUREMENTS
One gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.
It takes 219 million gallons to cover one square mile with one foot of water.
7.48 gallons water is in one cubic foot.
OURSELVES
Americans drink 50 billion glasses of tap water every day.
66% of our body is water.
70% of our skin is water.
75% of our brain is water.
83% of our blood is water.
90% of our lungs are water.
AT HOME
The average residence uses 107,000 gallons of water per year.
2-7 gallons water is used to flush a toilet.
2 gallons of water is used to brush your teeth.
25-50 gallons of water is used in the average five-minute shower.
On average, 9-12 gallons of water is used for an automatic dishwasher; 20 gallons water to hand wash dishes.
FOOD
Cows have to drink 4 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
It takes 3.6 gallons to process a pound of meat.
It takes 9.3 gallons of water to process one can of fruit or vegetables.
It takes 10 gallons of water to make one can of soda.
It takes 11.6 gallons to process one chicken.
It takes 1,500 gallons to process one barrel of beer.
75% of a chicken is water.
80% of an ear of corn is water.
80% of a pineapple is water.
80% of an ear of corn is water.
95 % of a tomato is water.
Other Products
It takes 5.4 gallons to make one board foot of lumber.
It takes 13 gallons to make one gallon of paint.
It takes 55 gallons to make one pound of synthetic rubber.
It takes 101 gallons to make one pound of wool or cotton.
It takes 1,360 gallons to make one ton of cement.
It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil.
TRANSPORTATION
The steel in a 30-pound bicycle requires 480 gallons.
It takes 2,072 gallons of water to make four new tires for your car.
It takes 32,000 gallons of water to manufacture a car.
Sources:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Jefferson University
City of Norman Oklahoma
USGS
The Universities Council on Water Resources
American Water Works Association
Louisville Water Company
Here's a quick rundown of some of water's properties:
- Weight: 62.416 pounds per cubic foot at 32°F
- Weight: 61.998 pounds per cubic foot at 100°F
- Weight: 8.33 pounds/gallon, 0.036 pounds/cubic inch
- Density: 1 gram per cubic centimeter (cc) at 39.2°F, 0.95865 gram per cc at 212°F
By the way:
- 1 gallon = 4 quarts = 8 pints = 128 ounces = 231 cubic inches
- 1 liter = 0.2642 gallons = 1.0568 quart = 61.02 cubic inches
- 1 million gallons = 3.069 acre-feet = 133,685.64 cubic feet
1. More than 5 million people die each year from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water, lack of sanitation and insufficient water for hygiene. In fact, over 2 million deaths occur each year from water-related diarrhea alone.
2. In the developing countries, 80% of illnesses are water-related.
3. Worldwide water withdrawals from water bodies have risen from 250 cubic metres/person/year in 1900 to over 700 cubic metres today.
4. Once evaporated, a water molecule spends about 10 days in the air.
The total water supply of the world is 326 million cubic miles (a cubic mile is an imaginary cube (a square box) measuring one mile on each side). A cubic mile of water equals more than one trillion gallons.
About 3,100 cubic miles of water, mostly in the form of water vapor, is in the atmosphere at any one time. If it all fell as precipitation at once, the Earth would be covered with only about 1 inch of water.
5. Each day, 280 cubic miles of water evaporate or transpire into the atmosphere.
| Water source |
Water volume,
in cubic miles |
Percent of
total water |
| Oceans |
317,000,000 |
97.24% |
| Icecaps, Glaciers |
7,000,000 |
2.14% |
| Ground water |
2,000,000 |
0.61% |
| Fresh-water lakes |
30,000 |
0.009% |
| Inland seas |
25,000 |
0.008% |
| Soil moisture |
16,000 |
0.005% |
| Atmosphere |
3,100 |
0.001% |
| Rivers |
300 |
0.0001% |
| Total water volume |
326,000,000 |
100% |
Source: Nace, U.S. Geological Survey, 1967 and
The Hydrologic Cycle (Pamphlet), U.S. Geological Survey, 1984
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