Let's Drink Water

by Janet Spencer • C. 2004 • 866-TriviaQ •
Box 1881, Helena, MT 59624 • TriviaQueen.com

The First Fact

Water will stay nine days in the atmosphere; two weeks in rivers; ten years in the largest lakes; 3,000 years in the ocean; up to 10,000 years in deep groundwater; and 10,000 years in the polar icecap.

Basic Bits

Water on earth acts like water in a pan: turn the stove burner on under a pan that's dry, and the pan will scorch and melt. Turn the burner on under a pan of water, and the water absorbs the heat and keeps the pan in good condition. Without water, our planet would be a scorching desert, unable to regulate the heat of the sun.
There is a total of 369 quintillion gallons of water on earth. If all the water were split evenly among the residents of the earth, we would each have 85,586,728,000 gallons. The amount of water on Earth has not changed since the beginning of time. It covers 75 percent of our planet.
Water is the only material that passes through the three stages of liquid, solid, and gas within a range of temperatures that can sustain human life. It is also the only substance that becomes less dense when it freezes. Otherwise, there would be no life on Earth, because the oceans would freeze from the bottom up. Soon all the world's water would be ice forever. Water dissolves more chemicals than any other substance. This is a leading factor in pollution, because water will dissolve and carry contaminants along with it.

Recipe for Tap Water

Start with raw water. Drop through a funnel-like device. Shake. Strain to remove fish and debris. Add chlorine. Add fluoride. Funnel some more. Add aluminum sulfate to settle dirt. Add charcoal to improve the bad taste. Let set. Filter and add more chlorine. Let set. Pour into a glass over ice and drink straight up.

Water, Water Everywhere

How much water is there on earth? Here are some ways to visualize it: If you poured all of the water of all of the Earth's oceans into a huge baggie, it would be one-third the size of the moon. If all the water in the oceans were spread evenly over the surface of the earth, it would be 6,000 feet deep everywhere. If all the groundwater in the world were pumped to the surface, there would be enough to cover the earth to a depth of 100 feet. (There is 30 times more water underground than in all the world's rivers and lakes.) If all the water in the atmosphere fell at once as rain, the earth would be submerged to a depth of only one inch.

It’s a Fact

Water on earth is composed of 97.2% seawater; 2.15% ice; 0.31% groundwater too deep to reach; and 0.34% usable fresh water.

Rain Facts

The average rainfall over the Earth is 35 inches yearly, ranging from Mt. Waialeale, Hawaii, which gets 460 inches; to Calama, Chile, where no rainfall has ever been recorded. Over four trillion gallons of water fall on the continental U.S. every day as precipitation. During a heavy storm when two inches of rain falls, 90 lbs. of water fall on each square yard of earth, or more than 200 tons an acre. The largest thunderstorms can be 14 miles in diameter, tower 60,000 feet tall, and cover an area of 200 square miles. Such a storm cloud can hold enough water to fill a pond a mile long, 300 feet wide, and five feet deep. Parts of Uganda and Indonesia get more than 240 stormy days a year. One inch of rain has the same amount of water as ten inches of snow.

It’s a Fact

Snow is not frozen rain— it changes directly from water vapor to snow without going through a phase as rain. Hail is frozen rain.

Ice Cap Facts

The polar ice cap contains about two thirds of the world's fresh water. At its thickest point the ice cap is over 14,000 ft. thick. Each year, some 430 cubic miles of ice become icebergs, which is enough water to fill the annual water needs of five billion people for a year. It’s been estimated that if the Antarctic ice cap were melted at a uniform rate, it would fill the Mississippi River for more than 50,000 years, or all the rivers of the world for 750 years.

Did You Know

Ice cubes will freeze clearer if they start out as warm water, which prevents tiny air bubbles from freezing inside.

Ocean Water

The thermal conductivity of water is 240 times greater than that of still air. That's why you'll feel warmer in 50°f. air than in 60°f. water. Arctic waters freeze at 30°f. instead of 32°f. because of their high salt content. A person who falls into water this cold will become unconscious after only two minutes. This is one of the reasons why so many people drowned when the Titanic sank. On the other hand, the Red Sea is the warmest sea on earth. It is maintained at 95°f. because of hot-water seeps along its floor.

Body Bits

70% of the earth's surface is covered by water, and 70% of the human body is water.
Blood is exactly the same saltiness as the ocean.
Blood is 83% water, and bones are 25% water. Tooth enamel, the hardest substance in the human body, is only 2% water.
The human brain weighs about three pounds, but if all the water were squeezed out of it, it would weigh only ten ounces.
You will die if you lose 12% of your water content.
The Western spadefoot toad of North America can lose 60% of its body water and still survive.
In 1959, Robert Foster of California breathed in pure oxygen before remaining underwater without oxygen for 13.5 minutes.

Down the Drain

Americans consume more water per capita than any other country. Every day, New York City alone uses one and a half billion gallons of water. Although New York and London are about the same size, New York uses three times as much water. California uses more water than any other state, but Alaska uses the most per capita.

Americans use nearly 200 gallons of water in the home daily. That includes five gallons for every flush; three gallons for brushing teeth if the water is running; 40 gallons for a bath; ten gallons to wash dishes; eight gallons to clean house; 30 gallons to wash clothes; 30 gallons for lawns and pools; and a mere two gallons for drinking and cooking. About 40% of water used in the home is flushed down the toilet. The average toilet is flushed eight times a day. It takes 13,000 gallons of water to carry away 165 gallons of body waste per person each year.

If you include all industrial and agricultural uses, the average American uses 1,900 gallons of fresh water per day. Industry and agriculture use more water than is ever taken for personal use. Agricultural accounts for 80% of the water used in the U.S. The industries that use the most water are (in order): manufacturing, chemicals, metals, paper, petroleum, food, transportation equipment, textiles, agriculture, and livestock.

Quick Bits

People living in cities that charge a flat rate for water have been found to use twice as much water as people in cities that meter water use. In Tucson, Arizona, water use per person dropped from 200 to 140 gallons a day when the price was raised significantly.
In 1977 drought-plagued San Francisco communities asked everyone to pitch in and help with water conservation. People conserved water so well that the water districts experienced large revenue losses and had to encourage people to start using water again in spite of the fact that the drought was still as bad as ever.

What Can You Do With A Gallon of Water:

It takes 40 gallons to produce one egg; 80 gallons for an ear of corn; 150 gallons for a loaf of bread; 230 gallons for a gallon of whisky; 2,500 gallons for a pound of beef; and 100,000 gallons for a new car.

Fast Facts

Hoover Dam holds as much water as would flow through the Colorado River in two years.
Old Faithful geyser gushes 33 million gallons of water each day— enough water to provide for a city of 300,000 people.
Niagara Falls has eaten its way seven miles upstream since their formation 10,000 years ago. At this rate, they will disappear into Lake Erie in about 22,000 years.
The waterfall with the greatest flow is Guaira Falls between Brazil and Paraguay. At 1,750,000 cubic ft./sec., it would fill the Capital dome in Washington, D.C. in 3/5 of a second.
The Amazon River carries more water than any other river— more than the Mississippi, the Nile, and the Yangtze rivers together.

Not a Drop to Drink

In 1969 the surface of the Cuhahoga River near Cleveland caught fire and burned for eight days due to the number of flammable chemical pollutants in the water. Ten years later, the EPA found 700 synthetic chemicals in Cincinnati's drinking water.
New York City dumps over 200 million gallons of sewage a day into the East River and the Hudson River.
There are over 100 waterborne viruses that cause diseases such as typhoid, cholera, polio, hepatitis and so on.
Pouring oil into a sewer is the same as pouring it into a stream. A single quart of motor oil can pollute a quarter of a million gallons of drinking water. A single pint can create an oil slick that covers an acre of water.
More than 700 chemicals have been found in drinking water, but municipalities test their water for less than 10.

~ Quotes ~

"By water, everything lives." -The Koran

"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water." -Mark Twain

Aswan

The Nile is the world's longest river. Every year the river floods, laying down tons of rich silt. In 1938, a flood extensively damaged expensive irrigation systems. The resulting low harvest meant starvation for many in already overcrowded Egypt. Something Had to be Done. Plans were laid for a gigantic dam. In 1960 the ground was broken for Aswan Dam. Four years and a billion and a half dollars later, the dam was completed. Disastrous flooding was avoided in 1964. In the drought years of 1972 and 1973, water provided by the dam transformed an entire desert basin to irrigated farmland. Land that had previously provided one crop per year now provided three. The dam produced 50% of Egypt's energy.

However, the dam holds back not only water but also silt. The quality of the surrounding farms is becoming exhausted. Huge amounts of chemical fertilizers must now be used. The river below the dam, because it has no silt, moves faster. The riverbed is eroding at an alarming rate, eating away at bridges, roads, and smaller dams. Because no silt is being deposited at the Nile River Delta, the Mediterranean Sea is washing away the coastline. Without the organic matter in the silt, the shrimp, fish, and sardines have disappeared, throwing thousands of coastal fishermen out of work. Furthermore, the water table has risen in the area, and water brings up salt, making the land useless. The floods of the Nile used to flush this salt out. With no cleansing floods, the amounts of industrial, human, and animal pollution has reached new highs. Rat populations used to be checked by the annual floods— but now their numbers skyrocket. A tiny parasite that lives in snails causes disease in humans. The parasite used to be controlled by dry periods between floods. Now that there are no dry periods, the spread of the disease is rampant. Aswan Dam brought many benefits to the area, but it also brought unexpected troubles.

Outrageous Ideas

In 1966 a proposal to dam the Colorado River and flood the Grand Canyon received attention in Washington, D.C. The extra water would supply the southwestern states. Secretary of the Interior Secretary Stewart Udall claimed that flooding the canyon would allow tourists to get a close look at the canyon walls from boats. The Sierra Club countered with an ad that said, "Should we flood the Sistine Chapel so that tourists can get closer to the ceiling?" Congress was inundated with protests and the plan was dropped.
Glenn Seaborg was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1960s. He suggested using a small atomic bomb to close the Straits of Gibralter, closing the Mediterranean Sea and causing water levels to rise. The water could then be used to irrigate the Sahara Desert. "Of course," he said, "the advantages of a verdant Sahara would have to be weighed against the loss of Venice and other sea level cities."
During World War II, Great Britain toyed with the idea of towing a huge iceberg down from the North Pole, then carving it into a huge floating aircraft carrier. If it should be hit by bombs, repairs could be made merely by filling the holes with water and letting it freeze. The war ended before this plan could be implemented.

Trivial Drivel

A rat can go without water longer than a camel can.
Some types of ant can remain underwater for nine days and still survive.
Sheep will not drink from running water, hence the phrase in the 23^rd Psalm, “He leadeth me beside still waters”.
Over 85% of the earth's creatures live their entire lives in water.
A jellyfish is 95% water; a bean weevil is 48%.
A baked sunflower seed is 5% water; peanutbutter 2%; watermelon 97%.
The largest swimming pool is in Casablanca, Morocco. It covers an area of almost nine acres.
There are 150 different kinds of bottled water served at the "Bar a Eaux" ('Water Bar') in Paris.

Stay Out of Hot Water

Household accidents are responsible for much grief in this world. One kind of accident can be avoided simply by turning down the thermostat on the hot water heater. Toddlers have been known to turn on the hot water faucets and douse themselves with scalding water. Water at 150°f. can cause a third-degree burn in only one second. But water at 124° takes three minutes to cause damage. Water at 124°f. is hot enough for any household chore, and it will save on energy bills.

It’s a Fact

Martin Van Buren lost his bid for re-election in 1840 partly due to the fact that taxpayers thought his recent installation of the first hot water heater in the White House was wasteful. He liked to heat his bathwater.

Quiz Whiz

What percent of the earth’s water is moving between riverbanks at any given moment?
Which has a higher percent of water: a grown-up, or a baby?
How much water does it take to maintain a typical golf course per day?
Which pours faster: warm water, or cold water?

Less than .01% of the earth's water is moving between riverbanks.
Baby's bodies are a higher percent of water than grown-ups.
An 18-hole golf course can require up to a million gallons of water a day.
Warm water pours faster than cold water.

The Final Fact

The price of a night's stay in an underwater room at Jules' Underwater Lodge in Key Largo, including food and air, is $300.