Fun Water Facts


 		 We drink very little of our drinking water. Generally speaking, less than 1% of the treated water produced by water utilities is actually consumed. The rest goes on lawns, in washing machines, and down toilets and drains.
 

 		 There's as much water in the world today as there was thousands of years ago. Actually it's the same water. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank. Perhaps Columbus sailed across it.
 
Is it possible your toilet has a secret leak? You can test it by putting 10 drops of food coloring in the tank. Don't flush for 15 minutes. If the colored water shows up in the bowl, the tank is leaking.
 

 		 Nearly 97% of the world's water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves 1% for all of humanity's needs - all its agricultural, manufacturing, community, and personal household needs.
 

 		 Which is more water efficient, washing dishes in an automatic dishwasher or doing them by hand in the sink? The average automatic dishwasher uses 9-12 gallons of water while hand washing can take up to 20 gallons.
 

 		 Did you know? The 5 Great Lakes bordering the United States and Canada contain about 20% of the world's available fresh water.
 

 		 For the price of a single 12 ounce can of soda, many communities deliver hundreds of gallons of fresh, clean drinking water to homes 24 hours a day. If drinking water and soda were equally costly, your water bill would skyrocket more than 10,000%.
 

 		 The United States uses some 450 billion gallons of water every day. Only about 6% of that - 27 billion gallons - is taken by public water supply systems. The U.S. daily average of water pumped by those systems is 185 gallons per person.
 

 		 You can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.
Little leaks add up in a hurry. A faucet drip or invisible toilet leak that totals only two tablespoons a minute comes to 15 gallons a day. That's 105 gallons a week and 5,460 wasted gallons of water a year.