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.
Sources Of Contamination
As water moves through the hydrologic
cycle, its quality is affected by both natural processes and
the action of humans. Water is contaminated by runoff from
stormwater or snow melt, by seepage through the soil, and
by atmospheric transport.
Contaminents enter water supplies
through landfills; deteriorating, underground storage tanks;
industrial waste; agricultural fertilizers and pesticides;
animal feedlots; highway de-icer runnoff; faulty septic tanks;
hazardous waste sites; and leaching from pipes, solder and
pipe joints.
Individuals and their families
also contribute to the pollution of water. Car oil and solvents
are dumped on the ground. Excess lawn fertilizer runs off
into storm sewers. Paint thinnner and chemicals are flushed
down the drain. People forget that water is continuously recycled
and that anything added or put into the water supply or ground
can potentially end up back in our drinking water.
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.
|
