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  • The United States uses some 450 billion gallons of water every day. Only 6% of that - 27 billion gallons - is taken by public water supply systems.
  • A person should consume 2.5 quarts of water per day (from all sources of water, food, etc.) to maintain health.
  • Indoors nearly 40% of the water used gets flushed down toilets, and more than 30% is used in showers and baths.
  • A single birch tree will give off 70 gallons of water per day in evaporation.
  • Water is the most common substance on earth.
  • There are over 59,000 public water systems in the United States.
  • Water is the only substance on earth naturally found in the three true element forms: solid, liquid and gas.
  • Water makes up 66% of the human body and 75% of the human brain.
  • Nearly 97% of the world's water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for all of humanity's needs.
  • Human blood is 83% water.
  • If you let the water run when you brush your teeth or wash your face, most of it will be wasted. Just take what you need and save the rest.
  • An acre of corn will give off 4,000 gallons of water per day in evaporation.
  • A dairy cow must drink four gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk.
  • Delaying lawn watering during the first cool weeks of spring encourages deeper rooting and makes your lawn healthier for the rest of the summer.
  • An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 9 - 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.
  • Less than 1% of the treated water produced by water utilities is actually consumed. The rest goes on lawns, in washing machines, and down toilets and drains.
  • The earth's surface is approximately 80% water, about 362 trillion gallons.
  • Each day the sun evaporates 1,000,000,000,000 (a trillion) tons of water.
  • The first municipal water filtration works opened in Paisley, Scotland, in 1832.
  • If you have a fish tank in your home, you can use the dirty water, when you clean the tank, on your houseplants. It's rich in nitrogen and phosphorous and you use the same water twice.
  • If U.S. citizens averaged only 4 or 5 flushes per day, it would amount to more than 5 billion gallons of water down the drain.
  • If everyone in the United States flushed the toilet just one less time per day, we could save a lakeful of water about a mile long, a mile wide, and four feet deep every day.
  • Some people thoughtlessly flush away tissues and other bits of trash in the toilet. Using a wastebasket, instead, will save all those gallons of water.
  • One inch of rain equals 27,000 gallons of water per acre.
  • One gallon of gasoline can contaminate 750,000 gallons of water.
  • Using a hose to sweep instead of a broom will waste, unnecessarily, some 25 gallons of water in five minutes of hosing.
  • Industries released 197 million pounds of toxic chemicals into waterways in 1990.
  • Typically, at least 50% of water consumed by households is used outdoors. Inside your house, bathroom facilities claim nearly 75% of the water used.
  • A single dripping faucet can waste far more water in a single day than one person needs for drinking in an entire week. Don't wait to fix a drip!
  • Little leaks add up in a hurry. A faucet drip that totals only 2 tablespoons a minute comes to 15 gallons a day. That's 105 gallons a week and 5,460 wasted gallons a year.
  • It takes 39,090 gallons of water to manufacture a new car, excluding the tires.
  • There are over 1 million miles of water pipelines in the United States.
  • 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 only a few days in the atmosphere.
  • 300 million gallons of water are needed to produce a single day's supply of U.S. newsprint.
  • The average household in Pennsylvania uses 107,000 gallons of water annually.
  • Each person uses about 70 gallons of water a day at home.
  • More than 13 million households get their water from their own private wells and are responsible for treating and pumping the water themselves.
  • It takes 1,500 gallons of water to process one barrel of beer.
  • It takes 120 gallons of water to produce one egg.
  • It takes 2,072 gallons of water to produce 4 new automobile tires.
  • One inch of rainfall drops 7,000 gallons, or nearly 30 tons of water, on a 60' x 180' piece of land.
  • It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil.
  • There's as much water in the world today as there was thousands of years ago. Actually, it's the same water. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank.
  • If everyone in the U.S. could manage to use just one less gallon of water per shower every day, we could save some 85 billion gallons per year. 
  • In 1974, Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure that drinking water is safe for human consumption.
  • The average five-minute shower takes between 15 and 25 gallons of water.
  • Showerheads are now required by law to release no more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Super low-flow showerheads deliver as little as 1.25 gallons per minute.
  • A person can survive without food for more than 30 days, but less than a week without water.
  • You can test your toilet for leaks by putting 10 drops of food coloring in the tank. Don't flush for 15 minutes. If the colored water shows up in the bowl, the tank is leaking.
  • Public water systems process and supply over 35 billion gallons of water daily.
  • Over 42, 000 gallons of water are needed to grow and prepare the food for a typical Thanksgiving dinner.
  • The United States uses some 450 billion gallons of water every day. Only 6% of that - 27 billion gallons - is taken by public water supply systems.
  • In the United States, average daily water consumption is 185 gallons per person.
  • Every glass of water brought to your table in a restaurant requires another two glasses of water to wash and rinse the glass.
  • You can refill an 8 oz. glass of water approximately 15,000 times for the same cost as a six-pack of soda.
  • A watermelon is 93% water.
  • A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.
  • About 800,000 water wells are drilled each year in the U.S. for domestic, farming, commercial, and water testing purposes.
  1. Is it safe to drink water directly from a garden hose?
  2. Where do I begin to investigate to see if there is a leak somewhere in my house?
  3. Is bottled water as safe as tap water?
  4. We would like to reduce our water bills, but we don't like the idea of water-flow restrictors. Can you provide us with any advice?
  5. What are those colored lines I see painted on the sidewalk or on the roadway?

wizardWelcome to the NWWA!

We're proud to deliver the highest quality water from our state-of-the-art Forest Park Water treatment facility for the lowest possible rates. Learn about our treatment process.

 

Need a speaker for a classroom or your group's meeting? Our staff will be happy to teach your group about conservation, water quality, treatment and distribution.  Fill out this form to request a speaker.

 

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