WATER FACTS
Did you know...
...that about 70% of the earth is covered in water...that freshwater lakes, rivers, ice and snow and underground aquifers hold only 2.5% of the world's water (saltwater oceans and seas contain 97.5% of the world's water supply)...that 68.9% of the Earth's fresh water exists in the form of glaciers and permanent snow cover...that of the world's freshwater supply, 30.8% is groundwater, including soil moisture, swamp water, and permafrost...that only 0.3% of total global fresh water is stored in lakes and rivers...and that 50% of the world's wetlands have been lost since 1900?
...that Canada's rivers annually discharge 7% of the world's renewable water supply (105,000 cubic metres per second)...that almost 9% of Canada's total area is covered by fresh water...that Canada has more of its territory covered by lakes than any other country in the world (8%)...that the Great Lakes are the largest system of fresh, surface water on Earth, containing roughly 18% of the world's fresh, surface water...and that approximately 60% of Canada's fresh water drains North, while 85% of the population lives within 300 kms of the southern border with the United States?
...that the daily per capita use of water in residential areas of North America and Japan is 350 litres, 200 litres in Europe, and 10-20 litres in sub-Saharan Africa...that 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation...that 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases...that 3,900 children die every day from water borne diseases…and that worldwide, one billion people lack access to safe drinking water?
...that approximately 300 litres of water is required to produce one kg of paper...and that it takes about 215,000 litres of water to produce one metric ton of steel; 1,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of wheat; 1,400 litres for 1 kg of rice, and 13,000 litres for one kg of beef?
