Harwich Water Department - Water Conservation & Protection

55 Facts, Figures & Follies of Water Conservation

Water conservation is something we all should practice. Except for the air we breathe, water is the single most important element in our lives. It's too precious to waste. Here are some useful facts and simple suggestions that will help you understand more about water. They'll help you save hundreds, even thousands, of gallons per month without any great inconvenience.

1. 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. Perhaps Columbus sailed across it.
   
2. 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-all its agricultural, manufacturing, community, and personal household needs.
3. The United States uses some 450 billion gallons of water every day. Only about 6% of that-27 billion gallons-is taken by public water supply systems. The U.S. daily average of water pumped by those systems is 185 gallons per person.
4. We drink very little of our drinking water. Generally speaking, 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.
5. For the price of a single 12-ounce can of soda -about 50 cents-many communities deliver up to 1,000 gallons of fresh, clean drinking water to homes 24' hours a day. If drinking water and soda pop were equally costly, your water bill would skyrocket more than 10,000%.
6. 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.
7. Every glass of water brought to your table in a restaurant requires another two glasses of water to wash and rinse the glass. Since nearly 70 million meals are served each day in US restaurants, we'd save more than 26 million gallons of water if only one person in four declined the complimentary glassful.
8. If you have a lawn, chances are it's your biggest water gobbler. Typically, at least 50% of water consumed by households is used outdoors. Inside your house, bathroom facilities claim nearly 75% of the water used.
9. Indoor water use statistics vary from family to family and in various parts of the country, but they average out pretty reliably. Nearly 40% gets flushed down toilets, more than 30% is used in showers and baths, the laundry and dishwashing take about 15%, leaks claim 5% or more, which leaves about 10% for everything else.
10. How many times a day is the toilet flushed in your house? If US citizens averaged only four or five flushes per day, it would amount to more than 5 billion gallons of water down the drain. That's enough to supply drinking water to the entire population of Chicago for more than 6 years.
11. Little leaks add up in a hurry. A faucet drip or invisible toilet leak that totals only two tablespoons a minute comes to 15 gallons a day. That's 105 gallons a week and 5,460 wasted gallons of water a year.

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