Feeling thirsty? There’s a tap over there, go grab a glass of water. For most of us, water is so readily available that we don’t even think about it. But what if our water supply suddenly had to dry up? Well considering that 70% of our bodies are made up of water, we’d probably be in a bit of trouble. For the privileged the idea of not having access to running water is as far-fetched as alien life but for almost a billion people in the world, it’s a reality.
Here are a few interesting and sobering facts about water that you (probably) didn’t know about water:
1.) 884 million people worldwide don’t have access to fresh water.
2.) 12-14 million South Africans do not have access to safe drinking water.
3.) 97.5% of the water on earth is in the form of saltwater in the oceans. The remaining 2.5% is fresh water. Of the fresh water only 0.3% is in liquid form on the surface. The rest exists in the form of ice, snow, ground water and soil moisture.
4.) On average a toilet uses 8 litres of water in a single flush.
5.) Women in Africa and Asia walk and average of 6 kilometres every day to collect water.
6.) The average person in a developed nation taking a 5 minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses in an entire day.
7.) Almost 4 million people die every year from water related diseases.
8.) Out of all countries, Japan, Mexico and Nigeria consume the least amounts of water yearly.
9.) The average dishwasher uses over 100 litres per cycle.
10.) Out of all countries, The Unites States, China and India consume the largest amounts of water yearly.
11.) Drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication because the excess water dilutes the level of sodium in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.
12.) The weight that is lost after intense exercise is weight from water, not from fat.
13.) By the time a person feels thirsty their body has lost over 1% of its total water.
14.) Producing 1kg of rice uses up around 5000 litres of water.
15.) The production of a pound of coffee uses up over 11 000 litres of water.
16.) Worldwide, more people have mobile phones than toilets.
17.) Every 20 seconds a child dies from water related illness.
18.) If we continue to consume water at our present rate, we could run out of by 2040.
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Everyone can do their part to conserve this precious resource and raise awareness around water related issues. As a business there are many ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and conserve water, such as installing a mains fed water cooler from a water coolers London company that connects directly to the water supply and eliminates the need for plastic bottle refills.
This article was written by Jolly_Roger who is an avid gamer, occasional surfer and loves the outdoors.