WaterSmart Facts
| Overview |
| Water Facts |
| Water Tips |
| Water Efficiency Guide |
| How to Get Involved |
Canadian Water Facts from Environment Canada
Water Use
- A 5-minute shower with a low-flow shower head uses only 35 litres of water.
- A 5-minute shower with a standard shower head uses 100 litres of water
- A single lawn sprinkler spraying 19 litres per minute uses 50% more water in just one hour than a combination of ten toilet flushes, two 5-minute showers, two dishwasher loads, and a full load of clothes.
- Approximately 10 litres of water is required to manufacture 1 litre of gasoline.
- Approximately 1000 kilograms of water is required to grow 1 kilogram of potatoes.
- Many homes lose more water from leaky taps than they need for cooking and drinking.
- Toilets (while consuming nearly one quarter of our municipal water supply) use over 40% more water than needed.
- Worldwide water withdrawals from water bodies have risen from 250 cubic metres/person/year in 1900 to over 700 cubic metres today.
- During the summer, about half of all treated water is sprayed onto lawns and gardens.
- Water consumption usually drops 18-25% after a water meter is installed.
- Less than 3% of the water produced at a large municipal water treatment plant is used for drinking purposes.
- On average, 14% of municipal piped water is lost in pipeline leaks - up to 30% in some communities.
- The Great Lakes support 45% of Canada's industrial capacity
- The Great Lakes Basin is home to 90% of Ontario's population and 40% of Canada's economic activity
- The Great Lakes support 25% of Canada's agricultural capacity
- The Great Lakes provide drinking water to 8.5 million Canadians
- It is estimated that in 1999, 26.5 million Canadians received central water services
- African and Asian women walk an average of 6 kilometres each trip in order to fetch water
- It is recommended that people drink 2 to 3 litres (about 8 glasses) of fluid every day.
- Approximately 300 litres of water is required to produce 1 kilogram of paper.
- It takes about 215 000 litres of water to produce one metric ton of steel.
- Today, around 3 800 cubic kilometres of fresh water is withdrawn annually from the world's lakes, rivers and aquifers. This is twice the volume extracted 50 years ago
- Residential indoor water use in Canada: toilet - 30%; bathing and showering - 35%; laundry - 20%; kitchen and drinking - 10%; cleaning - 5%.
Our Body
- About 83% of our blood is water. It helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature.
- Each day humans must replace 2.4 litres of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten.
- In the developing countries, 80% of illnesses are water-related.
- More than 5 million people die each year from diseases caused by unsafe drinking water, lack of sanitation and insufficient water for hygiene. In fact, over 2 million deaths occur each year from water-related diarrhea alone.
- You can survive about a month without food, but only 5 to 7 days without water.
Water Cycle
- Freshwater lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers hold only 2.5% of the world's water. By comparison, saltwater oceans and seas contain 97.5% of the world's water supply.
- Of the total world's freshwater supply, about one third is found underground.
- Once evaporated, a water molecule spends about 10 days in the air.
Contaminants
- One litre of oil can contaminate up to 2 million litres of water.
- Acid rain with a pH of 3.6 has 100 times the acidity of normal rain with a pH of 5.6.
- Estimates vary, but it is commonly believed that there are up to 100 000 chemicals in commercial use worldwide.
