General Water Facts

Osoyoos Lake fall colours. Photo Credit Alicia Osland

Almost 80% of the earth’s surface is covered with water.

97 percent of the water on earth is salt water. Salt water is filled with salt and other minerals. Humans cannot drink this water. It is difficult and expensive to remove the salt.

The minimum amount of water needed to meet a person’s daily needs, according to the World Health Organization, is five gallons or approximately 19 litres.

Two percent of the water on earth is glacier ice at the North and South Poles. This ice is fresh water and could be melted down. But it is too far away from where people live to be usable.

Less than one percent of all the water on earth is fresh water that we can actually use. We use this small amount of water for drinking, transportation, heating and cooling, industry and many other purposes.

The average man requires 2-5 litres of water a day. His brain is 85% water.

A large apple tree requires 500 litres in the summer.

500 litres of water is required to produce 500 grams of corn.

11,000 litres of water is required for 500 grams of meat.

Water consumption has almost doubled in the last 50 years.

A child born in the developed world consumes 30 to 50 times the water resources of one in the developing world.

Producing a fast food lunch–hamburger, french fries, and a soft drink–uses 1500 gallons of water. This includes the water needed to raise the potatoes, the grain for the bun and the grain needed to feed the cattle, and the production of the soda.

In the meantime, here’s something for you to mull over: one glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100 per cent of the dieters in a recent University study; and lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.

Are you getting your eight glasses a day?