14 DAY TRIAL // 1.About 97% of the water is found in the oceans and seas, 2% in glaciers and ice caps, 0.6% in the table water and 0.02% in rivers and lakes. Water vapors found in the atmosphere and forming the clouds represent 0.001%. Annual rainfall and snowfall on Earth is of 113,000 million cubic meters. This would satisfy human needs, if they fell uniformly. Snowfall and winter rainfall are extremely important for maintaining the level of the water table.
The oceans contain 1.37 billion cubic km of water, the clouds 500,000 cubic km, the extractable water table - 7,000,000 cubic km, the ice - 30,000,000, the deep water table - 53,000,000 (the flow of all rivers for 132 years); reservoirs and lakes contain 125,000 cubic km, swamps 3,600, rivers 1,700.
2.You can survive for over a month without food, but just a few days without water. The water consume per capita in western countries goes up to 660 liters. 22% (150 liters) are for home use and represent the equivalent of two bath tubes.
3.For making a car, 38,000 liters of water are consumed in the U.S., while for making a tonne of printed material, 180,000 liters of water are consumed in Canada.
4.Hydroelectric energy represents 66% of Canada's needs. In Norway, the number goes up to 99%!
5.While in the UK 76% of the water consume is made by industries, in the agricultural Southern California, 85% goes to agriculture (irrigations), 9% represents home use and 6% goes to industries. In Israel, 30% of the farmland requires irrigation; in Egypt - 99%.
6.River and lake transportation has declined, but by the St. Lawrence River, 45 million tonnes of commodities go from the U.S. and Canada to Europe.
7.In the last 40 years, water consume has boomed due to the emergence of automatic washing machines, car wash installations, garden aspersoirs and flushing toilets. The number has greatly increased in U.S. alone. A garden aspersoir consumes about 1,000 liters of water daily, as much as a 4-person family.
8.Two thirds of Africa are affected by low rainfall and drought, which cause famine and death of the livestock. The Sahara Desert is expanding continuously and it is estimated that, in the last 60 years, it has swallowed over 70 million hectares of terrain. Millions of women lose several hours daily transporting the water from great distances, water that can be contaminated in many cases, causing deadly epidemics. Deserts are expanding also in Asia, South America and even southwestern U.S. (California).
9.Deforestation favors floods. Less water will be retained by soil and plants, and the water from rainfall or melting snow fuels torrents and rivers. Protection against floods means the building of tall dikes along the rivers and the widening of their bed through dredging. This is how Mississippi was tamed.
10.Water coming from calcareous soils contains a lot of magnesium and tends to be hard. Soap does not form a foam in contact with this water, so it cannot be used in the textile industry or others, as it corrodes the gears through salt deposits.
11.Cuyahoga River, crossing the industrial belt of Cleveland and Akron, before flowing into the Lake Erie, literally ignited due to the heavy contamination in 1936 and 1969.
12.Warm water discharged by the thermal centrals into the rivers and lakes lead to the decrease of the oxygen level in the water, killing fish and other animals.
13.The largest reservoir in the world is Lake Volta, in Ghana: 8,502 km? (3,275 square miles). Reservoirs produce energy and impede floods (by accumulating the rainfall during the rainy season).
14.Aquiferous waters can lower if extracted more rapidly than their recover ability, especially in the case of those located over calcareous, or sandy beds. That's why in some areas in the U.S. and Europe, the excess water of the rivers is discharged into these layers.
15.Just one droplet of water can contain 60 million bacteria, while the cleanest water has only 100 bacteria per cubic cm.
18.A medium sized cloud weigh 300,000 tonnes.
19.World's seas and oceans contain 2 million tonnes of gold.
20.In one hour, a cabbage sweats one liter of water and a tall tree 205 liters.