Water Facts

Water in glass containers in testing areaDid You Know?

  • Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day.
  • On average, a person uses about 100 gallons of water a day, but only drinks about a half gallon per day.
  • Children in the first 6 months of life consume seven times as much water per pound as the average American adult.
  • 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 human use - agricultural, residential, manufacturing, community, and individual
  • A person can live for about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
  • 70% of your skin is water.
  • A tomato is 95% water.
  • Running the water while brushing your teeth wastes up to 4 gallons a minute.
  • The bathroom is the room in the house where most water is used. (The toilet is the number one water-using appliance in the home).
  • 1.5 to 7 gallons of water are used to flush a toilet.
  • A five minute shower takes 10 to 25 gallons of water.
  • An automatic dishwasher uses 9 to 12 gallons of water to wash one load.