The average US citizen drinks 38% more water than they were 15 years ago.
That fact about water is only one of the millions that have inspired more people to call water their drink of choice.
Water consumption is environmentally conscious and provides a bevy of benefits. It’s exciting to see how new generations of consumers are putting the purchase of water and quality water filters at the top of their priority list. People choose water over sugary beverages more often than not.
To help further propel the water-hype, our team has put together this article!
In it, we share with you some of the most interesting facts about water in the hopes of inspiring you to start drinking more of it!
1. Fresh Water Comes From the Ground
When people think of water, they think of oceans. The fact is though, the salinity present in ocean water makes it impossible to drink without desalinization equipment.
Most of the fresh water you drink comes from underground watersheds which get tapped into by cities and major water companies.
That water is then run through a series of filtration processes before it makes its way to your tap or local supermarket.
2. The Vast Majority of Fresh Water is in Glaciers
If you’re reading this from most parts of the world, chances are you don’t spend much time thinking of glaciers. After all, most of the earth’s glacier population resides in the deep southern regions of the planet.
Glaciers may end up being more important to your life than you realize though.
As it turns out, some 68% of earth’s fresh water is trapped inside of them.
As groundwater begins to run out, glacier tapping may become an increasingly popular way of getting water to consumers.
3. Americans Use a Massive Amount of Water
Water usage is so synonymous with everyday life that a lot of people take it for granted.
So then, can you guess how much water you use on an annual basis?
If you’re in an average household, you’re using over 100,000 gallons of it per year. This use extends from cooking to showering to everything between.
When you multiply that number by the number of families that exist in the country, it’s no wonder why so many states experience a water shortage crisis.
4. Growing Food Requires a Tremendous Amount of Water
Water is water and food is food, right? Wrong.
The relationship between food and water is forever intertwined and makes water even more important.
To prove this point, one of our favorite facts about water is that it takes about 6,800 gallons of it to grow the amount of food a family of four eats in one day.
That’s over 81,000 gallons per week!
Think about that next time you’re trashing your leftovers.
5. Water Can Be Hard to Come By
As we said, the vast majority of drinking water is sitting deep beneath our feet. To get to that water, people need to dig wells.
The problem is that putting in a well is expensive. Not only do you have to live in an area where a watershed exists underground, but the machinery required to dig that deep into the earth can get costly, particularly in remote parts of the world.
That’s why so many people in countries like Africa find themselves dehydrated. The lucky people that can access water in water-deprived regions spend 200 million hours per day collectively walking incredible distances to their closest well.
These people are typically women.
6. Your Brain is Basically Water
Have you ever had someone yell at you, “Do you have water in your ears or something!?” when you misunderstood a direction?
The irony to that lame question is that the answer is yes!
Facts about water concerning human physiology tell us that the human brain consists of 70% water. So, as it turns out, you actually do have quite a bit of water between your ears.
7. Water Leaks Wreak Havoc on Developing Cities
Cities in third world countries push hard to develop the infrastructure necessary to provide water to businesses and residences in the area. While the workflow for providing water is improving in these areas, as much as 50% of a developing city’s water goes towards leaks.
These leaks typically occur when cities build inadequate piping.
8. Water is Cheap in The United States
You probably don’t need a list of facts about water to tell you this but tap water is dirt cheap. As a matter of fact, the average cost of water in a US home is about 1 cent per five gallons.
That’s why we always advocate that people invest in affordable, high-quality aftermarket home water filters and forgo purchasing pricey bottled water from the store.
9. You Need Water More Than You Need Food
This is one of those facts about water that food enthusiasts have a hard time coming to terms with. As it turns out, the human body needs water much more than it needs food.
People can survive around a month without eating. Look no further than Gandhi’s famous fast for proof of that.
People can’t live more than one week without water though.
10. Water Expands When It’s Cold
Water molecules take up more space when they’re frozen than when they’re above freezing temperatures. As a matter of fact, frozen water can expand by as much as 10%.
An interesting way to see this process first hand is to fill a water bottle (or a glass cup if you don’t mind losing it) with water to its rim. Once filled, place the water in the freezer.
The frozen water in the water bottle will make the bottle’s plastic stretch.
The frozen water in the glass, depending on the glass’ strength, could shatter it.
11. Even Developed Countries Lose Water To Leaks
We talked a little bit about third world countries losing massive amounts of water to leaks. But one of the facts about water that most people don’t know is that first world countries struggle with water leaks as well.
In the United States, for example, roughly 16.5% of the water that’s piped into homes gets lost due to leakages.
That’s one out of every six gallons!
12. Toilets Are Massive Wasters of Fresh Water
When your dog drinks from your toilet bowl, you’re more worried about the disgust factor than your dog actually getting poisoned.
Why is that?
Because so long as you’re not adding chemicals into your toilet water, it’s typically drinkable.
That means that every time you flush, you’re taking drinkable water and are turning it into sewage.
This process costs the world 5.7 billion gallons of water per day.
13. Dishwashers Save Water
People sometimes choose to forgo dishwashers, thinking that hand washing could save them a little bit on their water bill.
That thought couldn’t be more counterproductive.
A water-efficient dishwasher could use as little as 4 gallons of water to service a full load of dishes. Compare that to hand washing a load, which uses around 20 gallons and the winner is clear.
14. There are Water Conscious Meats
Have you ever thought about saving water by eating certain kinds of meats? Chances are, you haven’t.
The truth is though that certain meats take less water to bring to your table than others.
The two most popular water conscious kinds of meat that you can eat are chicken and goat. This fact gets based on the amount of water it takes to raise the animal in ratio to the amount of meat that it produces.
15. Pools Are a Great Way to Put Water Usage Into Perspective
Rounding out our list of water facts is one of our favorites…
The average pool uses 22 thousand gallons of water. Why is that interesting?
Because knowing how many gallons of water are in your pool puts a lot of our facts about water into perspective.
For example, if a family of four’s weekly meals takes 81,000 gallons of water to grow (as mentioned in water fact #4) that’s almost 4 whole pools worth of water!
Wrapping Up Facts About Water That Will Change The Way You Look at It
We’ve just shared with you 15 staggering facts about water that clue you into how vital it is to our lives.
Whether it’s growing your food or making up 70% of your brain, water is helping you out and deserves your respect.
To make sure that you’re getting the most out of your water consumption, our suggestion is to invest in an efficient and affordable aftermarket water filter.
Learn more about the water filters available Discount Filters.
Also, feel free to contact us if you need more information on what kind of water filter is best for your home.
