Water, by the numbers
Posted by Linda Schuyler
on Mar 01, 2014
World Water Day is celebrated annually on March 22nd. Organizations, governments and individuals around the world are encouraged to get involved by participating in fun and educational events to raise the profile and understanding of water.
According to Canadian Geographic which is a bi-monthly magazine of the Royal Canadian Geographical society, here are some interesting numbers about water:
- Average daily household water use in Canada, in litres: 343
- Health Canada's daily recommended freshwater usage, in litres: 60 to 80
- Minimum water use required daily per person for survival, in litres: 5
- Canada's international ranking in per-capita water use: 2nd
- Percentage of Canadians who try at least reasonably hard to conserve water: 78
- Percentage who admit to leaving the tap running when washing dishes: 44
- Percentage who admit to hosing down their driveways: 19
- Percentage of the world's wetlands in Canada: 25
- Estimated number of lakes in Canada: 2,000,000
- Approximate percentage of land area covered by lakes in Canada: 8
- Percentage of Canadians who have "no idea" where their tap water comes from: 25
- Percentage who feel freshwater is Canada's most important natural resource: 49
- Percentage concerned about the quality of water in lakes where they swim: 83
- Percentage who believe the quality of their swimming lakes is getting worse: 68
- Number of large dams in Canadian rivers and streams: 849
- Percentage of Canada's energy generation derived from hydropower: 59
- Number of Canadians who live in watersheds where people use at least 10 percent of stream flow: 22,000,000
- Percentage of freshwater used by the manufacturing industry: 19
- Amount of water required, in litres, to produce one car: 250,000
- Amount of water required, in litres, to produce one computer: 33,000