WATER
FACTS
Did
You Know...
-
Fresh
water is less than 1% of the total water on the earth.
-
An
early form of ink was made by mixing iron salts (as found in
water) with tannins.
-
Groundwater
can take a human lifetime just to traverse a mile.
-
Water
must be reused again and again. Before the Ohio River reaches
the Mississippi, the water has been recycled 3.7 times.
-
80%
of the earth's surface is water. More than 97% of this water
is in the oceans; 2% is locked in polar icecaps; and less than
1% is in freshwater lakes, streams and groundwater.
Water
and Its Importance To Your Body
- Next to
oxygen, water is the most vital element to continued life. Without
water, people die in about seven days.
- The average
American consumes 1/2 to 1 gallon of water per day, including
juices and water used in cooking food.
- Sixty
to seventy gallons of water per day are used per person for
kitchen, laundry, bathing, sanitary uses and other uses in the
home.
- Most
people get two thirds of the water they need from their diet.
- Water
leaves the stomach five minutes after consumption.
- The
human body is made up of 70% water.
- The
people of the United States now consume more soft drinks than
they do water!
- Water
is such a fundarnental component of life that astronomers and
planetary researchers base probability of life on other planets
almost solely on whether or not water is or has ever been present.
High
quality water is still the best drink for sports, exercises, or
life in general.
Forget
about all the fancy drinks and liquids touted for replenishing your
body fluids during sports or exercise. Good tasting, high quality
water does the job better than any of the higher priced substitutes.
Yes, plain water replenishes body fluids faster than any other
liquid you can drink. The beverages sold for sports purposes,
including juices, have a sugar content and sugar slows the absorption
of fluids by the body.
You
should also drink water during any lengthy sporting or exercising
period. You should consume at least 8 ounces every twenty minutes
during exercise, and contrary to some beliefs, it is good to drink
water prior to and right after exercise.
Another
tip: Drink cool water. It is absorbed quicker than warm water.
Water
In Your Home
- A
dripping faucet can lose 50 gallons of water a week, enough
to fill a bathtub over 100 times in a year.
- 82%
of the United States has hard water.
- Peas
boiled in hard water become shriveled and tough.
- Rusty
water causes boiled vegetables to look dark; coffee and tea
to turn inky bIack; and stains to occur on laundry, tableware
and plumbing fixtures.
- The
scale (from hard water) build-up in a water heater causes the
cost of heating water to be up to 20% more. It is not uncommon
for 40 pounds of scale to be Inside a 10 year old gas water
heater which heats hard water.
- Groundwater
accounts for 50% of our drinking water, 40% of irrigation water,
80% of all rural water use (household and livestock) and 25%
of self-supplied industrial water use.
Water
And Contamination
-
The
EPA reports that groundwater supplies serve about 80% of the
population, and that 1% to 4% of usable groundwater is already
polluted.
-
The
principal sources of contamination, researchers say, are associated
with the post World War II chemical age. There are an estimated
181,000 industrial ponds and pits, 20 million septic tanks discharging
1 trillion gallons of waste each year, 24,000 mining impoundments
and 15,000 municipal landfills.
-
Studies
state that if all new sources of contamination could be eliminated
in 10 years, 98% of all available groundwater would remain free
of pollution.
-
Contamination
of municipal water supplies is in the 50% range.
-
The
EPA estimates that the U.S. is generating more than 77 billion
barrels of hazardous chemical wastes per year and that only
10% are being handled in a safe manner.
-
Health
statistics indicate above normal levels of certain cancers and
intestinal tract disorders in patients of the lower Mississippi
River area.
-
There
are 12,000 different toxic chemical compounds in industrial
use today, and more than 500 new chemicals are developed each
year.
-
There
are approximately 300,000 known chemical compounds currently
in existence. We have toxicity data on only a small percentage
(e.g., 40% are known animal carcinogens, 200 are human carcinogens
and the remainder are untested.
-
Over
70,000 different water contaminants have been identified.
-
Centers
for Disease Control receive notification of more than 4,000
cases per year of illness due to drinking water contamination.
Water
and Government
- The
EPA estimates that 25% of all Americans get their water from
private wells. The remaining population uses some 60,000 public
water systems (nearly two thirds of these serve populations
of 500 or fewer).
- Only
bottled water that is marketed across state lines must meet
federal drinking water standards.
- The
Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 does not cover individual water
systems providing water for less than 25 people.
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