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25 FACTS ABOUT WATER
- The first municipal water filtration works opened in Paisley, Scotland in 1832.
- More than 79,000 tons of chlorine are used per year in the United States and Canada to treat water.
- Of all the earth's water, 97% is salt water found in 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 water than others. For example, 70% of your skin is water.
- There are more than 53,000 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 1.8 million miles of distribution mains carry water in the United States and Canada.
- About 800,000 water wells are drilled each year in the United States for domestic, farming, commercial, and water testing purposes.
- Typically, households consume approximately 30% of their water for outdoor use, such as watering the lawn. Inside, toilets use the most 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 the 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 agriculture and commercial purposes.
- You can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.
- Total water use (both indoor and outdoor) in a typical single-family home is 101 gallons per capita per day (gpcpd).
- The average five-minute shower takes between 15 to 25 gallons of water.
- You can refill an 8 oz glass of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a six-pack of soda.
- An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.
- If every household in America had a faucet that dripped once each second, 928 million gallons of water a day would leak away.
- A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
- One gallon of water weighs approximately 8.5 pounds.
- One inch of rainfall drops 7,000 gallons, or nearly 30 tons of water, on a 60' x 180' piece of land.
- 300 million gallons of water are needed to produce a single day's supply of U.S. newsprint.
- A person should consume 2.5 quarts of water per day (from all sources of water, food, etc.) to maintain health.
Source: American Water Works Association
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