5 Fun Facts About Water

Water. It makes up a surprisingly high percentage of our bodies and we come in contact with it every day – washing with it, drinking it, swimming in it, shielding ourselves from it under umbrellas. We think we know it inside and out, yet there’s so much more than meets the eye. We’ve rounded up some fascinating facts about water that might surprise you…

  1. There’s enough water on earth to fill 800 trillion Olympic-sized swimming pools

It’s pretty impossible to imagine just how much water there is around the world, but this fact puts it into perspective for you. An Olympic-sized swimming pool holds more than 660,000 gallons of water. The number of gallons of water on this earth contains too many zeros for us to write here, but it’s enough to fill 800 trillion of those swimming pools.

  1. Less than 1% of the earth’s water is drinkable

So, why do so many countries have a lack of clean water if there are such massive amounts of it on earth? Well, that’s because less than 1% of all that water is actually drinkable. The majority of the earth’s water is found in seas and oceans – i.e. salt water. This is not drinkable because the salt dehydrates you, and it makes up 97% of the earth’s water. More than 2% of the water is frozen in glaciers and the polar icecaps, making it inaccessible. The remaining fresh, drinkable water makes up less than 1% of the total amount of water on earth.

  1. Hot water freezes faster than cold water

This one is kind of mind-blowing, and the science behind why still isn’t fully understood. You’d think that filling your ice trays with water from the cold tap would be more efficient than filling it with hot water, but you’d be wrong. Scientists have found that hot water actually freezes faster than cold water! You can read more about this phenomenon here.

  1. The atmosphere contains more water than all the earth’s rivers

Think of all the water you see flowing through a river. And think of all the rivers around the world. That must add up to a lot. But did you know that there’s actually more water that you can’t see than what you see in those rivers? Yes, the earth’s atmosphere actually contains more water than all of the rivers added up around the world.

  1. A leaky faucet can waste up to 3,000 gallons of water per year

That rhythmic drip coming from your leaky faucet isn’t just annoying, it’s also incredibly wasteful. While it seems like such an insignificant amount of water, it all adds up. It adds up to around 3,000 gallons per year, to be precise. Keep your faucets and water dispensers maintained to reduce water waste.

Water is a fascinating thing that’s essential to life, so make sure you have a plentiful supply in your home or office with a spring water delivery service from Mountain Park Spring Water. Available around Martinsville, VA, and High Point, Winston Salem, and Greensboro, NC.