Providing Safe Water Resources to Those in Need

SCIENTIFIC FACTS ABOUT WATER: The following categories highlight some interesting and factual information revolving around the existance of water on our planet and the way we use it, abuse it and sometimes waste it.

EARTH FACTS ABOUT WATER: The earth’s total water supply is not getting smaller. There is just as much water now as there has always been. The water is just circulated and displaced from one area or region to another through weather systems, ground water sources and changes in our weather patterns.

HUMAN FACTS ABOUT WATER: It has long been believed that our lives are at least partially controlled by the unseen natural forces of water, because we as humans are made up of so much water.

• Approximately 70% of the average adults body is made up of water.
• 80% of an infants body weight is made up of water at birth.
• A typical healthy person can drink up to two gallons of water per day.
• The human brain is about 75% water.
• A person can only live six to seven days without water.
• The total amount of water found in the human body is about 37 liters.
• Human bones contain approximately 25% water.
• Water leaves the human stomach about five minutes after consumption.
• 83% of the blood in humans is made up of water.
• The average human will consume about 75,000 liters of water in a lifetime.

HEALTH FACTS ABOUT WATER: Drinking proper, daily amounts of clean, pure water can provide significant health benefits and resistance to many illnesses and diseases that aflict the human body.

• Water can prevent and alleviate headaches.
• 90% of polluted water deaths are with children under the age of five.
• Water flushes out impurities, waste byproducts and bacteria that can cause disease.
• Water can decrease the risk of many types of cancers.
• Clean water and sanitary practices can reduce water related deaths by 95%.
• Water can significantly reduce the effects of back and joint pain.
• 10% of the entire global disease burden can be reduced through improved water supplies.
• Water aids in the digestion process and prevents constipation.
• Water is the primary method by which nutrients are distributed throughout the body.
• One half of all occupied hospital beds worldwide are the result of water related illnesses.

USAGE FACTS ABOUT WATER: Over the past several decades, most people from developed countries have become accustomed to and maybe take for granted, the easy access to clean protected, water sources.

• The total population in the United States uses about 380 million gallons of fresh water each day.
• Nearly 120 gallons of water per day, per person are used in the US alone.
• Of all the water used in the US, 80% is used for irrigation and thermoelectric power generation.
• 1,700 gallons of water are needed to produce enough food for one person for one day.
• Only 10% of the total volume of fresh water used worldwide is used for domestic purposes.
• 2/3rds of all water used domestically is used in the bathroom.
• It takes approximately 3 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water.
• Approximately 39,000 gallons of water are used to manufacture one new automobile.
• The amount of water used to irrigate residential landscapes could solve the world’s water problems.
• 1850 gallons of water are used to produce one barrel of crude oil.

WASTE FACTS ABOUT WATER: While people all over the world are dying from an unavailable access to potable water sources, the average person in a developed country wastes enough water that could sustain those in need.

• Every five minutes of shower time will waste enough water to supply a third world family of three for a week.
• Flushing toilets is the largest source of wasted water by volume.
• Letting the water run while brushing your teeth will waste enough water to save the life of a child.
• Washing your car uses enough water to supply a small village for an entire week.
• The water used for irrigation in the US in one day can supply a small country for an entire year.
• A short ten minute shower will waste nearly fifteen times more water than a bath.
• Americans use five times more water then Europeans use.
• It is estimated that most people unnecessarily flush the toilet about six times each day.
• An automatic dishwasher will use approximately four times more water than washing dishes by hand.
• Upgrading a washing machine can save a family of four nearly 3,000 gallons of water each year.

CONTAMINATION FACTS ABOUT WATER: The lack of clean, safe water sources and sanitation is the world’s single most frequent cause of disease and infection for nearly half of the world’s current population.

• Drinking impure, contaminated water is the leading cause of epidemic disease in developing countries.
• There are more than 2100 known contaminants and poisons that may be present in unfiltered drinking water.
• Lead in drinking water is known to cause learning disorders and birth defects in children.
• Nearly 900 million people, 1 out of every 8 in the world today, lack access to clean, safe water sources.
• Unsanitary water sources cause more deaths through disease than any war claims through guns.
• Every 16 seconds, a child dies from a water related illness.
• Children in poor environments carry as many as 1,000 parasitic worms contracted from water sources.
• The three “D’s” are the leading cause of water related deaths in the world; Dysentery, Diarrhea and Dehydration.
• Most of the worlds water related deaths occur with children under five years of age.
• Nearly 1.5 million children die each year from contaminated water sources worldwide.

ECONOMIC FACTS ABOUT WATER: While many countries struggle to strengthen their economy, nothing can help improve their economic conditions more than investing in an improved water supply system for the local residents.

• More people in the world have mobile telephones than people who have a toilet.
• 443 million school days are lost each year to water related illnesses.
• Poor people pay nearly ten times more for the same volume of water as a rich person does in the same community.
• Water can be used to create inexpensive hydroelectric power.
• For every dollar spent on improved water supplies, eight dollars is returned to the donating country’s economy.
• For every dollar spent on improved water supplies, four dollars is returned to the receiving country’s economy.
• Over 30 billion hours are spent walking to and from unprotected water supplies by children, instead of going to school.
• 80 billion hours are wasted by women walking to and from water collection points rather than doing other more productive activities.
• Bottled water can cost as much as 1000 times more to an economy than tap water.
• The economic losses from poor water sources exceeds more than $500 billion dollars annually.