Responsible for pretty much all life on earth and an essential part of food production, manufacturing and daily life, water is one of the world’s most important ingredients. To make sure you truly appreciate this wondrous substance and give water the credit it deserves, here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about H2O.

1. Though there are more than 332,500,000 cubic miles of water on earth, less than 1% of it is fresh and accessible – even when you include bottled water.

2. On the International Space Station, 93% of the astronauts’ perspiration and urine is recycled back into drinking water using a state of the art water recovery system.

3. Watering plants during the day can cause delicate foliage to burn. According to Discover Magazine: “Droplets clinging to the leaves can act as little magnifying glasses, focusing sunlight and causing the plants to burn”.

4. The vast majority of the water we consume is used for farming. Agriculture accounts for around 70% of water consumption while other industries use around 20% and just 10% of water is used in the home.

5. Over the last 50 years, the amount of fresh water that’s consumed has gone up by a whopping 300%.

6. Though we each need around two to four litres of water per day for drinking, a huge 2,000 – 5,000 litres of water are required to produce one person’s daily food intake. Some foods however need a lot more water than others with a single hamburger requiring 11,000 litres of water to produce.

7. Many communities around the world are still without running water. Every day, women and children spend a total of 150 million hours collecting water, something that results in many young people missing out on an education.

8. In other parts of the world water is still taken very much for granted. In New York City alone 36 million gallons of water leak from the supply system every day.

9. Water isn’t always going to be as plentiful as it is now. By 2030, the world’s fresh water supply is expected to fall short by up to 40%, causing water to become a major political issue and putting communities at risk.

10. At birth, water makes up approximately 80% of our body weight. However by the time we become adults, that figure has shrunk to around 70%.

To find out more about water, and about how you can improve the quality of H2O in your home, explore our website today.

[Photo by MartinStr]