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Here for the Water
Information Program web site for regularly-posted,
region-specific, national and international water-related
articles
Background:
SOS
Related Activities:
Related
Facts:
Water and Earth:
● Three-quarters
of the Earth's surface is covered with water, yet
98 percent is salt water and not fit for consumption.
● Less than one percent of all the water on Earth is freshwater available
for human consumption.
Water and Humans:
● The human body
is more than 60 percent water. Blood is 92 percent
water, the brain and muscles are 75 percent
water, and bones are about 22 percent water.
● A human can survive for a month or more without eating food, but
only a week or so without drinking water.
Water Consumption:
● 3.9 trillion
gallons of water are consumed in the United States
per month. (AWWA Journal, June 2006)
● The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to
five gallons of water the average African family uses each day. (www.water.org)
Water and Developing Countries:
● An estimated
2.4 billion people lack adequate sanitation and
1.1 billion people are without access to safe water.
(WHO-UNICEF, 2004)
● 90 percent of wastewater in developing countries is discharged into
rivers and streams without any treatment. (UNDP,UNEP,World Bank, and the World
Resources Institute, "World Resources 2000-2001," pg. 25-26)
● There are 1.6 million deaths per year attributed to dirty water and
poor sanitation (World Watch; World Health Organization)
● In the past ten years, diarrhea related to unsanitary water has killed
more children than all the people lost to armed conflict since WWII. (WSSCC,
2004)
● At any one time, it is estimated that half the world's hospital beds
are occupied with patients suffering from waterborne diseases. (WSCC, 2004)
● The average distance that women in developing countries walk to collect
water per day is four miles and the average weight that women carry on their
heads is approximately 44 pounds. (WSSCC, 2004)
● Over 40 billion work hours are lost each year in Africa to the need
to fetch drinking water. (WHO, 2004)
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