It’s a sad state of affairs, but water just doesn’t get any respect these days. Most people take safe, clean water for granted, particularly those living in modern, developed countries. It makes you wonder if every natural disaster involving water, such as floods, tsunamis, or torrential rains, or the lack of water, such as drought or desertification, isn’t the world’s water supply’s way of trying to get our attention and command some respect. We rarely stop to think that for most of the world’s population, clean water is a luxury not to be taken for granted.
The ancient civilizations had a healthy appreciation for water; the Greeks and Romans and just about every other civilization worshiped it in the form of gods. Our more immediate ancestors knew that water was the difference between life and death, prosperity or bust on the frontier.
If you’ve ever gone any length of time without access to running water, you know things start to get miserable really fast. So let’s take a moment out of our busy day to be thankful for clean water and everything it means to us. Here are some fun and surprising facts about water to heighten your appreciation of this most fundamental of life’s necessities.
- Water is the only substance that can be a liquid, a solid or a gas.
- Most people have heard that our bodies are mostly water, but you may not know that the human brain is almost 75% water.
- On average, a person uses 100 gallons of water a day, and a household uses 100,000 gallons annually.
- A lot of people wish their car could run on water but may not realize that it takes about 39,000 gallons of the stuff to manufacture one, tires included.
- Although you might complain about your water bill if you’re unlucky enough to have one, the truth is that on average, water in the U.S. costs about $2 per 1,000 gallons or a penny for 5 gallons.
- On the other hand, the total costs for water systems in the U.S. annually including treatment and distribution tops $3.5 billion. Not counting plumber’s fees.
- A human being needs at minimum 2.5 quarts of water every day to maintain health, and though you could do without food for a month or more, a week without water would be fatal. Don’t ask how they know this.
Don’t take your water for granted, contact Greco & Haines today and get the details on their comprehensive water-testing services to make sure you’re getting clean, uncontaminated water and if not, what you can do about it. Greco & Haines have been Connecticut’s water experts for more than 50 years.