The Shocking Facts about Fresh Water

Posted on Mar 25, 2012 in Water Conservation by Matthew Speer 5 Comments

It is a very simple fact of life; humans need fresh water to live and without clean fresh water an average adult in good health could only survive for a few days. Considering these facts, it is surprising that every day people across the globe take this precious natural resource for granted, wasting and polluting our future away. Take a moment to think about the scenario where you wake up one morning and the go to grab a drink of water, only to find that the tap has run dry, what would you do then? Scenarios just like this are what drive us to discuss and implement water conservation methods, to protect our life giving water sources.

Fresh Water Facts You Didn’t Know

As we take a journey uncovering some shocking fresh water facts, keep in mind that while over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, less than 1 percent of that water is safe for human consumption. That’s right; once you remove the salt water, glacial ice and contaminated water, we are left with very little fresh water to live on. Take the first step in reducing your water consumption or “water footprint,” by reviewing these shocking facts about fresh water and what you can do to help conserve it.

The average American household can use around 350 gallons of water each day, though in some studies the figure goes as high as 400 gallons. Learn how to reduce your family’s water consumption by reviewing these money saving water conservation tips.
A single liter of bottled water takes a staggering 3 liters of water just to produce the bottle, fill it up and now you are talking about a 4 to 1 ratio, what a waste. Use a reusable water bottle to help cut down on packaging and reduce water waste. Find a reusable water bottle now on Amazon.com.
Nothing says comfort like a nice pair of jeans, but did you know it takes 2,900 gallons of water to make a single pair of jeans. So that one pair of stylish jeans equates to 8 families’ water use for a day. There are a handful of companies that are producing jeans using less water, so check out your favorite brand’s website before you buy.
Junk mail can be annoying and many people just throw it out, or hopefully will recycle it, however did you ever consider the production process? Junk mail sucks up 28 billion gallons of water during the production process. Sign up with DMAchoice.org to reduce the amount of clutter in your mailbox, it will keep you sane and conserve water.
There are 783 million people across the world, which is nearly 11 percent of the total population, that don’t have access to clean water. This is actually an improvement from the previous decades and the United Nations is working to reduce this number further.

With less than 1 percent of the water on Earth safe for drinking, we must rethink our actions and work to conserve water. You can make a difference by taking small steps to reduce your “water footprint,” just follow the water conservation tips provided by iSustainableEarth.com.