Water is life. Water is survival. If there is no water, there would be no human race. Water is the only thing in our universe that can sustain life, and it is only our planet in the entire universe, which has so much water and so much life. Nature has blessed us with so many things in the shape of water and life.
Let’s look at some of the fantastic water facts, facts which we ignore most of the time. So, next time, when you use water, remember it is the most precious thing and use it wisely. Conserve water, conserve life, and save the environment.
Also see: Top 26 FAQs about Pure Water you should Know
25 Amazing Water Facts
- Water is made up of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen, two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen combine to form one molecule of water.
- Coronavirus does not spread through water.
- The human body is composed of 60-65 percent of water. All the major organs in the human body contain a specific percentage of water. For example, the brain and heart have around 70 percent water, bones have 30% water, lungs have 83%, skin 64%, kidneys 79%, and blood contains about 92% water. 2/3rd of the total water in your body is found in your cells.
- A newborn baby has around 78% water in the body.
- Water can be easily converted into three different states, solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (vapors).
- Water has the highest solubility, and it can dissolve nearly all liquid things in it.
- The total area covered by water on our earth is around 70%, and the total volume is approximately 1.4 billion KM. Most of the water found on earth is in oceans. There are seven oceans, namely, the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans. The names of seas are far more than oceans, and it is difficult to remember them.
- The Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest known point in the oceans.
- The water found in seas is salty, and every kilogram of water contains around 35 grams of salt in it. Most of the countries are now installing plants to filter seawater and make it fit for drinking purposes to meet the increasing demand.
- 7% of freshwater on earth is trapped in glaciers and cannot be used by human beings.
- The freezing and boiling point of water changes as impurities are added in it. The best school experiment was the addition of salt in water and to monitor its boiling point and freezing point. The boiling point increases, and the freezing point decreases when salt is added to it.
- The boiling point of water is directly linked with the altitude at which it is being boiled. It is the reason why water takes more time to boil at mountains and less time to boil in plain areas.
- One unusual behavior of water is known as the Mpemba Effect; it says that hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some specific conditions.
- The longest river in the world is river Nile (6650 KM), followed by river Amazon (6400 KM). The longest river in the USA is the Missouri River (3770 KM).
- The water cycle is one of the most important processes to occur naturally in our environment. It includes evaporation, condensation into clouds, and then rain. It continues throughout the year, and hence we receive rainfall all over the world.
- Water can defy gravity when placed in narrow tubes. This is one of the most famous science experiments in schools. This process is known as capillary action. It is the reason water helps blood move in your body.
- Water is used to create electricity. Hydropower is one of the most environmentally friendly and cheapest ways to produce electricity. Sea tides are also being used to produce electricity all around the globe.
- Water sports are the most famous sport all around the world. They are famous for people of all age groups. Common sports include swimming, surfing, waterskiing, balloon fight, water pool games, and many others.
- Water has so many different measuring units, for example, ounce, liter, gallon, cubic meter, pounds, and cubic foot. Different units are adopted according to the culture, and working standards in the country.
- You will be surprised to know that around 400 billion gallons of water are used by the American people every year, and an average American household consumes around 100,000 gallons of water.
- If you don’t close your tap while brushing, you are wasting around 3-4 gallons every time you brush. Make sure you close it next time.
- If your faucet is leaking one drop/second, it will end up wasting around 3000 gallons in a year.
- Make sure your bath with a bucket; you can save a lot of water. A bathtub uses around 70 gallons of water. A shower consumes around 15-25 gallons, and a bucket bath uses around 5-10 gallons of water.
- An American resident uses around 100 gallons of water per day. Average Europeans use around 50 gallons, whereas someone living in underdeveloped sub-Saharan countries only gets to use 2-5 gallons per day.
- The WHO recommends that your average daily usage must not increase 2 gallons/day. So, next time you waste water, think about it.
We don’t realize the importance of water in our daily life. The following figures will help you understand how we use and waste our water sometimes.
- A sheet of paper: 2.6 gallons
- 17 ounce of plastic: 6.3 gallons
- 2 pounds of rice: 924 gallons
- 2 pounds of beef: 3962 gallons
- 1 cup Coffee beans: 53 gallons
- 2 slices of bread: 27 gallons
- 1 cheese filling: 18 gallons
- 1 pint of beer: 20 gallons
- 1-day food for a family: 6800 gallons
- 1 gallon of milk: 1000 gallons
- 1 burger: 634 gallons
- 1 cycle of normal size dishwasher: 4 gallons
- Hand washing the same number of dishes: 20 gallons
- Pair of jeans: 2641, just forget how much is wasted on washing it every time.
- Cotton T-shirt: 713 gallons
- Manufacturing a New Car: 39090 gallons
- You would be surprised to know that an average live tree has around 35-55% water by its weight.
- The water pipes and aqueducts in the US and Canada are so large that they can circle the globes 40 times, just imagine what the pipes all around the globe can do.
15 Drinking-Water Facts
- Pure water has no smell and taste. The taste found in water is due to the presence of minerals in it. We are used to drinking water containing minerals and other contaminants; that is why we feel the taste of pure water a bit odd.
- Pure water is a neutral liquid with a pH of 7.
- The common contaminants in the drinking water are as follows
- Microorganisms
- Heavy metals
- Sediments
- Chlorine
- Nitrates
- Fluoride
- Pharmaceuticals
- Radioactive waste contaminants
- Mercury
- PFAS
- Agricultural and Industrial Chemicals
- A lot of people like to drink bottled water, but very few know that it comes from the same place from where your tap water comes. ¼ of bottled water is just packed and supplied without any filtration. It is the very reason that using a water filter is recommended for your tap water instead of drinking bottled water.
- If we stop spending even half of what we spend on bottled water every year, it will be enough to provide safe drinking water to everyone around the world.
- Drinking 8 glasses of water every day from water bottles costs around 1400-1500$ a year, whereas drinking from water filter installed at your home costs around 100 dollars a year.
- You will be surprised to know that around 780 million people do not have access to clean drinking water around the globe.
- Around 2 billion people drink contaminated water around the world.
- Unsafe and unhealthy water kills around 200 children in an hour.
- The primary cause of diarrhea is water pollution and water contamination. Around 801,000 children younger than 5 years of age die due to diarrhea. This makes approximately 220 hundred deaths every day due to diarrhea. Unsafe drinking water lack of water contributes to about 88% of deaths from diarrheal diseases. Overall, 15 million children die all around the globe due to water pollution annually.
- Due to typhoid, 25,000 Americans died because of water contamination in 1900; chlorine treatment has reduced this number to only 20/year.
- A cucumber contains 95% water in it. You must consume cucumber in your daily life as a substitute for water. You will be surprised to know that jellyfish contain around 95% water as well.
- You can survive for nearly 3-4 weeks without food, but you cannot live for more than 1 week without water. This estimate is based on the fact that you are not consuming anything liquid or fulfilling your water needs through other sources.
- Water is the most important element that regulates the temperature of the human body and helps in maintaining a stable internal environment.
- As the human brain is made of water, lack of water affects our cognitive process, and it can also lead us towards depression.
Final Word
Nothing we say can highlight the importance of water in its true aspect; we are running out of consumable water. By 2025, 2/3rd of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas. Water shortage is a multifaceted dragon, and it will be difficult to handle. The recent example being the Cape Town water crisis in 2018; though it was managed successfully, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Another dimension to worry about is the quality of tap water at your home, make sure you install a water filter to get rid of all the contaminants in drinking water and drink only pure and healthy water.
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