General Facts
Health Facts
Fun Facts
General Facts
Bottled water cannot contain sweeteners
or chemical additives (other than flavors, extracts, or essences)
and must be calorie-free and sugar-free.
Bottled waters may include flavors,
extracts, and essences, but these additives must comprise
less than one percent by weight of the final product. Beverages
containing more than one- percent flavor are classified as
soft drinks.
The bottled water industry is regulated
on four levels: federal (by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
as a food product), state, industry association, and individual
company. Tap water is regulated by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and is regarded as a utility.
Unlike tap water, bottled water contains
no chlorine. In place of chlorine, some bottlers use ozone,
a form of oxygen or ultraviolet light, as the final disinfecting
agent.
Bottled water can be stored indefinitely
if stored in a cool (i.e., room temperature), dry environment
away from chemicals such as household cleaning products, and
away from solvents such as gasoline, paint thinners, and other
toxic materials.
Per capita consumption of bottled water
has grown faster than any major beverage since 1991.
Bottled water has never been responsible
for an outbreak of waterborne illness, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most tap water is drawn from surface
water, which may be subject to contamination, while more than
75% of bottled water comes from protected, underground sources.
Peter the Great drank 21 glasses of
bottled water a day to alleviate indigestion.
The Babylonians worshiped Ba, the god
of the sweet waters under the earth. Water was the symbol
of life and Ba, the "Great Physician."
Source: International Bottled
Water Association
Per capita consumption of bottled water
has grown faster than any major beverage since 1991, making
it the 6th highest beverage drunk, after soft drinks, beer,
milk, coffee, and fruit juices and fruit drinks.
Source: Bottled Water Reporter
Water is the only substance known that
occurs naturally in the 3 states of matter: liquid, solid
(ice), and gas (water vapor).
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
Water is colorless and tasteless.
Condensation is the change of water
vapor into liquid water.
Source: All About Water, by Melvin
Berger
Water covers about 71% of the earth's
surface. There are approximately 1.4 billion cubic kilometers
of water on earth.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
Approximately 97% of the earth's water
is salt water.
Approx. 3% is fresh water. Approx. two-thirds of the fresh
water is frozen at the North and South Poles.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
Water is the only substance known that
occurs naturally in the 3 states of matter: liquid, solid
(ice), and gas (water vapor).
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
Water is colorless and tasteless.
Condensation is the change of water
vapor into liquid water.
Source: All About Water, by Melvin
Berger
Water covers about 71% of the earth's
surface. There are approximately 1.4 billion cubic kilometers
of water on earth.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
Approximately 97% of the earth's water
is salt water.
Approx. 3% is fresh water. Approx. two-thirds of the fresh
water is frozen at the North and South Poles.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia
There is 50 times more water buried
in the ground than there is in all streams, rivers, and lakes
on the surface of the earth.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge
When water is absorbed into the ground,
the process is called percolation.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal
Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District
Water found underground is called ground
water.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal
Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District
Porous rocks and sand that hold underground
water are called aquifers.
Source: Junior Science Book of
Water
There are three chief sources of water
pollution: industrial wastes, sewage, and agricultural chemicals
and wastes.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
The Water Pollution Control Act was
passed by Congress over President Nixon's veto on October
18, 1972. It required industry to halt discharges by 1985,
set industry-wide standards, and provided massive federal
funding for building and improving sewage plants.
Source: Encyclopedia of American
Facts and Dates
Chicago's main water purification plant
is the largest water treatment plant in the world. It serves
approximately 2.8 million people in the Chicago area and can
produce nearly one and one-half billion gallons (5.7 billion
liters) of water per day.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
Water can never be used up. Every glass
of water you drink contains molecules of water that have been
used countless times before.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
The world's available water per capita
has decreased by more than one-third since 1970 due to the
more than 1.8 billion people added to the planet since then.
Source: Greenbeat
If you could put all the water in the
world in a 10-gallon container and you removed all the salt
water, all the polluted water, and all the frozen water in
glaciers and icebergs, you'd have only 9 drops of useable
water left.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal
Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District
Today, six out of ten people inhabit
coastal regions.
Source: Random House Atlas of
the Oceans
The first water-powered plant for generating
electricity was built in Appleton, WI, in 1882.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
The U.S. has about one-sixth of the
world's developed hydroelectric power.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
Water power supplies about 3% of the
electric power in the U.S. and about 6% of the electric power
worldwide.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge
Potable water is that intended for
human use such as drinking or cooking.
Source: McGraw Hill Encyclopedia
of Science and Technology
Water expands by about 9% as it freezes.
Source: New Encyclopedia of Science
Watermelons are 97% water.
Lettuce is 97% water.
Tomatoes are 95% water.
Carrots are 90% water.
Potatoes are 80% water.
Eggs are 74% water.
Bread is 30% water.
Cheese is 26% water.
Source: All About Water, by Melvin
Berger, Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia, &
1002 Fascinating Facts and Figures
The average American uses an estimated
100-150 gallons of water per day. Water is used as follows:
Approx. 10 gallons to brush teeth if water is left running
Approx. 10 gallons to flush a toilet
Approx. 25 gallons to take a bath
Approx. 5-10 gallons per minute of a shower
Approx. 40 gallons to run a dishwasher
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science
Encyclopedia, The New Book of Knowledge & World Book
Encyclopedia
Industry is the largest single user
of water.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia
The U.S. uses approx. 140 billion gallons
(530 billion liters) of water per day for irrigation. - It
takes about 800,000 gallons of water per day to grow an acre
of cotton. - It takes about 115 gallons of water to grow enough
wheat to bake a loaf of bread.
Source: Compton's Encyclopedia
& World Book Encyclopedia
A single oak tree can release as much
as 160 gallons (600 liters) of water daily through transpiration,
a chemical process by which water in a plant's water transport
system is released through tiny openings in the leaves.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge
Back to top |
