50 Amazing Water Facts

Water flowing over rocks

Water is a Precious Resource

Here are 50 Amazing Facts About Water that You Might Not Know

What percentage of the world's water supply is used for drinking water?

Less than 1% of the water supply on earth can be used as drinking water.


How much water is needed to grow a family's food for one day?

About 6,800 gallons (25,700 liters) of water is required to grow a day's food for a family of four.


How long can a person live without water?

A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water. If a human does not absorb enough water, dehydration results.


Why can't we drink most of the world's water?

Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty.


How much of the earth's water is unavailable to use?

2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost.


How much water does a small drip waste every day?

A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 34 gallons or 128 liters of water a day.


How far do women in developing countries walk each day for water?

On average, women in developing countries walk 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) a day to collect water. In Africa alone, women spend 40 billion hours a year walking for water.

Women carrying water back home

How much water is lost to leaking pipes each day in the United States?

Every day, six billion gallons of treated water is lost due to leaking pipes in the United States.


What are "forever chemicals" and how do they give into our water?

Forever chemicals are special chemicals that don't break down easily and can stay in our environment for a long time. They can get into our water when they're used in things like non-stick pans or firefighting foam, and then these forever chemicals can seep into the ground and into rivers, lakes, and even our drinking water.


How many water breaks happen every year in the U.S.?

An estimated 240,000 water main breaks occur per year in the United States, wasting over two trillion gallons of treated drinking water. When a water main breaks, contamination could be introduced into the water supply and generally a boil water advisory is issued. If you have a UV water sterilizer installed, there's no need to boil your water since ultraviolet disinfection treats all waterborne microorganisms that could make you sick.


How many miles of pipes does it take to deliver drinking water to homes and businesses in the United States?

Drinking water is delivered via 2.2 million miles of pipe across the United States.


How much will the U.S. need to invest to keep up with water demand?

In the U.S., an estimated €1.17 trillion investment is needed to keep up with the demand for water in the next 25 years.


How much water does it take to grow corn?

Do you know how much water it takes to grow your food? An acre of corn will give off 4,000 gallons (15,000 liters) of water per day in evaporation alone.


How many different chemicals are regulated by the Safe Water Drinking Act?

Though more than 60,000 chemicals are used in the United States currently, but only 91 of those contaminants are currently being regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act. No chemicals have been added to that list of regulated chemicals since 2000.


How many people globally suffer from water scarcity?

Around 700 million people in 43 countries suffer today from water scarcity. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water stressed conditions.


How expensive is bottled water compared to tap water?

Bottled water can be up to 2000 times more expensive than tap water and it may not be as safe.


What are some benefits of RO drinking water filtration systems?

A point-of-use drinking water filtration system, such as Reverse Osmosis, costs only pennies per gallon of purified water, allows people to refill water bottles, and keeps more water bottles out of landfills.


What is the difference between "Legally Safe" and "Totally Safe" water?

“Legally Safe” and “Totally Safe” mean two completely different things to the EPA. The CWA (Clean Water Act) regulates 9 contaminants. If tap water contains less than the maximum acceptable levels of those contaminants, your water is legally safe. Yet the EPA is investigating 10,000 others that are not regulated, known to be in tap water, with safety unknown. Hence, the reason you should ‘treat’ “Legally Safe” water.


How is the majority of water used in a home?

More than half of the water used in a home is used in the bathroom.


What can UV water filtration remove and is UV treatment safe?

UV Water Sterilizer

Ultraviolet light can destroy 99.99% of harmful microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, cysts) to make water safe to drink. It is a safe, chemical-free way to improve household water.


How much of treated water is used for drinking and cooking?

Less than 1% of the water treated by public water suppliers is used for drinking and cooking.


How does most of our fresh water get used?

Public supply represents about 14% of total freshwater withdrawals.


Where can most of earth's water be found?

As oceans are very wide and there are multiple to be found on earth, oceans store most of the earth's water.


What percentage of Americans receive their drinking water from a public water supply?

90% of all Americans receive their drinking water from a public water supply. 10% are on private wells.


What does it mean when I "feel thirsty"?

When we feel thirsty, this is the body's natural way to maintain a balance of hydration and nutrients, such as sodium, that are vital to the healthy functioning of cells.


How much rain falls in the U.S. each day?

Each day, enough rain falls on the United States to cover the entire state of Vermont with 2 feet of water


How much of the human body's weight is from water?

Up to 60% of the human adult body is water.

Girl drinking water

How much water should I drink each day?

How much water should you drink a day? Health authorities commonly recommend eight 8-ounce glasses, which equals about 2 liters, or half a gallon. This is called the 8×8 rule and is easy to remember.


How much water do we lose from sweat?

We lose over 2 quarts (64 oz) of water every day through the normal vapor exchange of our skin, otherwise known as perspiration.


What if I don't drink enough water?

It is a little known fact, but insufficient water consumption is actually a risk factor for various types of cancer. Hydration is critical to blood circulation to allow immune system cells to reach damaged tissues in greater numbers.


Is bottled water safer than tap water?

In 1999, after a four-year review of the bottled-water industry and its safety standards, the Natural Resources Defense Council concluded that there is no assurance that bottled water is cleaner or safer than tap water. In fact, an estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle—sometimes further treated, sometimes not. A better alternative for the environment (over buying bottled water) is filtering drinking water at your kitchen sink with an RO system and faucet.


What's the pH of water?

Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic. And even though "alkaline water" is a popular trend, the Mayo Clinic says that alkaline water is not better than plain water.


How much water can a gallon of gasoline contaminate?

A single gallon of gasoline can contaminate 750,000 gallons (about 2839057.5 L) of water.


What is the main cause of ground water contamination?

Ground water contamination is almost always the result of human activity.


What are the benefits of a whole-house ultraviolet water disinfection system?

A whole-house ultraviolet water disinfection system can ensure household water is safe from harmful bacteria and water-borne viruses.

Family drinking water

How many toxic chemical compounds are in use today?

There are 12,000 different toxic chemical compounds in industrial use today, and more than 500 new chemicals are developed each year. Many of these end up in our water.


What contaminants can Reverse Osmosis water filters?

Reverse Osmosis drinking water systems can remove fluoride, Arsenic V, lead, chlorine, pesticides, nitrates, forever chemicals, and more from water.

two ways to filter drinking water

Is water a solvent?

Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.


Are freshwater animals at risk?

Freshwater animals are vanishing faster than those on land or at sea.


Is there equal precipitation and evaporation of our water?

Water continually evaporates, condenses, and precipitates, and on a global basis, evaporation approximately equals precipitation.


What water contaminants can cause developmental delays and behavioral problems?

According to the EPA, lead exposure is linked to physical development delays and behavioral problems. You can remove 98% of lead in water with a reverse osmosis drinking water system. Research also shows PFOA, PFOS, Gen-X and other forever chemicals in water to cause developmental delays in children.


Weight lost from excercise comes from where?

The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.

Biker stops to drink water

How much of a newborn's weight is water?

At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.


How much water do we use in the U.S. each day?

39 billion gallons of water is used in the public water supply each day in the U.S.A. This includes water for homes, commercial and industrical purposes.


Aquifers in what areas are in danger of being contaminated?

Aquifers in industrialized areas are at significant risk of being contaminated by chemicals and petroleum products.


How many miles of public sewage are in the U.S.?

There are 800,000 miles of public sewage pipes in the U.S.


How much water is used to build a car?

To manufacture new cars, between 13,737 to 21,926 gallons of water are used per car.


How much water does a shower save compared to a bath?

According to the EPA, a full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons.


How often does a water main break occur in the U.S.?

The aging infrastructure in U.S. causes a water main break every two minutes.

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