Did you know that… 10 impressive facts about water

Did you know that…

1 … 6,000 litres of water are used for a fast-food meal consisting of a burger, chips and a soft drink? Around 140 litres of water are needed for one cup of coffee. Producing one kilo of beef requires 15,000 litres. By comparison, a tomato plant needs just 50 litres of water to grow one kilogram of fruit.

2 … you are not allowed to drink sparkling water in space? This is because conventional mineral water bottles are not permitted on space stations. For one thing, they would be far too heavy. For another, because of the large openings of the bottles, the liquid would escape after the cap was unscrewed and could no longer be captured. Containers with liquids that are taken on board a space station therefore have only a small hole instead of a conventional closure. In open space, even opening the bottle would cause problems. If you open it too quickly, almost all of the contents shoot out, because the carbon dioxide escapes immediately.

3 … water basically does not go off? Above all, it does not become harmful to health. In the past, water did not even have a best-before date, as it was assumed to keep indefinitely. It now does have an expiry date, because this is mandatory for all foodstuffs today and because PET packaging is not as suitable for carbonated water as glass bottles. Over time, it allows the carbon dioxide to escape.

4 … only just under a fifth of the world’s population lives in households connected to water pipes? Many people around the world have only 10 litres of water or less available per day. This amount of water is already needed in Western households to flush the toilet once.

5 … most water worldwide is not consumed in households? Agriculture uses around 70% of the water.

6 … if you turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, you save approximately 15 litres of water? And a dripping tap wastes around 5,000 litres of water per year. That is why you should always make sure to repair taps that drip.

7 … industry needs quite a lot of water? Around 20,000 litres of water are needed to produce a car, 18 litres for one kilo of steel and just under three litres for one sheet of paper.

8 … water is the only chemical compound that occurs naturally in all three states of matter? Liquid as water, solid as ice and gaseous as steam.

9 … using a dishwasher saves significantly more water than washing up by hand? However, this requires an energy-saving and fully loaded dishwasher.

10 … a full bathtub holds around 140 litres of water? When showering, you only need about a third of that. And if you turn off the tap while soaping and shampooing, you can save another half of the water.

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