Water Facts

1. The average North American uses more than 265 litres of water a day.

2. Each second, 16,256,000 metric tonnes of rain fall to the earth.

3. Water is the only substance that can exist as solid, liquid and gas in the average range of the earth's temperatures.

4. More than twothirds of the world's fresh water is frozen - in glaciers and polar ice.

5. If all the water on the earth and in the atmosphere were poured into Canada, it would for a pool 145 km deep.

6. Water covers 3/4 of the earth's surface but less than 1% of it is usable fresh water.

7. In Canada, 7.9 million people, or 26% of the population, rely on groundwater for domestic use. Approximately two thirds, or five million, of these users live in rural areas.

8. The earth receives no new supply of water; nature endlessly recycles it.

9. Through erosion, water moves billions of tonnes of top soil annually.

10. If all existing water could be spread evenly over a smooth sphere the size of the earth, it would cover the globe to a depth of almost 3 kilometres.

11. More than 97% of all water is salty and in the oceans. Less than 3% is fresh and most of that is in the ice caps and glaciers. Less than 1% is in lakes, streams and underground aquifers. An aquifers is an underground formation of permeable rock or loose material which can produce useful quantities of water when tapped by a well.

12. Nearly 1/2 of the earth's river water is in the Amazon river basion.

13. Lake Baikal in Siberia contains about 20% of the earth's usable fresh water and the Great Lakes contain anouther 20%.

14. A family of 4 uses about 1,230,000 litres of water annually.

15. The ear of corn needs 98 litres of water to grow, a cow needs 11 litres of water to make 4 litres of milk, a fast food meal (soft drink, burger and fries) uses 5,300 litres and it takes about 147,631 litres to make a car.