Water, water, it’s everywhere.
So much so, that we too often take it for granted – but where would we be without it!
Here are 10 quirky little factoids about the rain that falls from the sky, which you may never have given a moment’s thought to, but which we hope you will feel suitably refreshed to know!
- Don’t let it be said that we aren’t extravagant in this day and age. We get through around 150 litres of water every day – nearly ten times the amount that our great grandparents would have used.
- It may not look much at first glance – but a garden hose or sprinkler will spurt away the same amount of water in just 60 minutes as the average family of four will use in a 24 hour period. No wonder, hose pipes and the like are the first things to be given the heave-ho during a drought.
- When the heavens open, your average roof collects about 85,000 litres of water each year.
- To stay fit, healthy and to help concentration, you should drink between 6 and 8 glasses of water per day, according to health experts.
- It might seem surprising, but a dishwasher uses far less water than doing the washing up by hand. In fact, you are likely to use four times more water standing at the sink cleaning the dishes. And if you insist on rinsing each plate or cup under the tap to wash off any detergent, then the whole exercise could use as much as ten times more water than the machine would.
- That persistent dripping tap will annually leak away over 5500 litres of water a year. By fixing the washer, you won’t just be saving a precious commodity – you’ll also be better off to the tune of £18 a year.
- It’s not just robots and metal that help make a modern-day car. Each smallish model that rolls off the production line will account for 450,000 litres of water in its creation. The vehicle itself will also weigh the equivalent of a cubic metre of water – about a tonne.
- A third of our daily household water goes down the pan flushing the loo with only about 2% of water coming into the home actually being consumed.
- It might not look like it, but trees are composed of roughly 75% water. This might explain why they tend to do better when saturated rather than dessicated. The Forestry Commission reckon that during a prolonged parched summer spell, one fifth of the trees they inspect either die or are seriously damaged by dry conditions.
- If you use a power shower for more than five minutes at a time, it will draw down more water than it takes to fill a bath (approx 100 litres per go). Conventional showers are much more economic, however, using only a third as much as a bath.
So there you have it. As you’ve probably guessed by now, we are passionate about water and how it is used. We hope you feel the same way.
Happy watering!