Water Facts
At Hydrachem it has always been about the water. We firmly believe that everyone on the planet deserves access to safe, clean water. We also believe that the water on our planet deserves to be protected and preserved at all costs.
We really love water, so below we share some of our favourite facts about it.
General
- Water can dissolve more substances than any other liquid including sulfuric acid
- A leaky tap that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year
- To create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water
- NASA has discovered water in the form of ice on the moon
- A bath uses up to 70 gallons of water; a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons
- By 2050, at least 1 in 4 people will likely live in a country affected by chronic or recurring fresh-water shortages.
Frozen Water
- 7% of the fresh water on Earth is trapped in glaciers
- The freezing point of water lowers as the amount of salt dissolved in it increases. With average levels of salt, seawater freezes at -2 °C (28.4 °F).
- Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the Mpemba effect)
- Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica
- In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere
Biology
- A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water
- Water makes up about 66 percent of the human body
- 70% of the human brain is water
- Drinking too much water can be fatal (known as water intoxication).
- A jellyfish and a cucumber are each 95% water
Our Planet
- Water is the most important resource in the world
- If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 litre jug, the fresh water available for us would equal only about one tablespoon
- Water regulates the Earth’s temperature
- There is more fresh water in the atmosphere than in all of the rivers on the planet combined
- Ocean tides are caused by the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun acting on ocean water.
- 90% of all natural disasters are water-related.
Poverty
- 80% of all illness in the developing world is water related
- Unsafe water kills 200 children every hour
- Collectively, South African women and children walk a daily distance equivalent to 16 trips to the moon and back to fetch water.
- 844 million people lack basic drinking water access, more than 1 of every 10 people on the planet.
- Women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours hauling water every day.
- Every day, more than 800 children under age 5 die from diarrhea attributed to poor water and sanitation.
