Image Via National Geographic “7 Billion”

For the majority of the world, getting access to clean drinking water is hard. It is both time-consuming and risky. So what do we know about drinking water and sanitation on a global scale. It’s easy for us in western countries, our taps are flowing with clean water ready to drink. We live in a watery world, with the average American/ Australia lifestyle is fueled by nearly 2,000 gallons (7000 litres) of H2O a day. What may come as a surprise is that very little of that—only five percent—runs through toilets, taps, and garden hoses at home. Nearly 95 percent of your water footprint is hidden in the food you eat, energy you use, products you buy, and services you rely on.

Here are some statistics worth knowing about water on a global scale:

  • On average, women in developing countries walk 3.7 miles (6 Kilometers) a day to get clean drinking water
  • Italy consumes more bottled water than any other nation on earth. Averaging around 185 litres of bottled water per person. The united states sits at just over 100 litres with Mexico coming in second with 165 litres.
  • Clean drinking water can come from various sources. The main sources being surface water, ground water and desalination. Depending on where you live, your water is drawn from any of these sources.
  • A staggering 1 in 8 people do not have access to clean drinking water. That is close to 900 million people. According to the world health organisation, close to 36% of people living in Africa do not have access to safe drinking water with 40% without adequate sanitation.
  • Every day, 4800 people die from water borne diseases. According to the US Centres for Disease control, most water born disease causes bowel illness, which is the second largest killer of children in the world. Water is contaminated by various reasons. The most common is waste from farms and factories and there is growing concern over the medicines and toiletries are having on our water quality.
  • The most effective methods of sanitizing water is boiling it, you can even put it into a PET bottle and sit it in the direct sun light or use chlorine tablets. There are several known methods for making water safe for drinking. Dirty water, and lack of hygiene, kills 3.3 million people a year, the majority of those children.
  • Everyday, around the world, 14,500 desalination plants give 60 billion litres of water a day servicing 300 million people. The water is extracted from the ocean or brackish groundwater that is too salty to drink. Desalination makes it drinkable.
  • The pacific institute predicts that to produce a 1 litre bottle of water, it actually takes 3 litres of water to produce it.
  • A staggering 46% of people around the world do not have water piped to their homes. They rely on wells, communal spigots, water trucks, lakes and of course dirty rivers. Charities such as Charity:Water play a large role in solving this problem.
  • Only 2.5% of the world’s water is fresh and of that 2.5%, 2/3rd is frozen. That leaves less than 1% to grow our crops, cool our power plants and to supply drinking and bathing water to our homes.
  • Farming and ranching now accounts for 64% of all water usage across the planet. Irrigation grows 40% of the world’s food and makes it possible to feed the planets “almost 7 billion people”.
  • The average American and Australian uses 380 litres of water a day, more than 15 times that used by people in developing countries. Millions of the worlds poorest people live on less than 20 litres a day.
  • China owns around 22,000 large-scale dams. That is just under half of the worlds estimated 45,000 dams. Theses 45,000 dams catch 14% of all precipitation run off , provide water to up to 40% of irrigated land and give 65 countries more than half of their electricity needs. The costs of running these dams is enormous, in both financial costs and displacement of communities.
  • It actually takes a whopping 2900 gallons to produce 1 pair of denim jeans. A water intensive crop, cotton is also heavily fertilised!

The amount of moisture on Earth has not changed. The water the dinosaurs drank millions of years ago is the same water that falls as rain today. But will there be enough for a more crowded world? We know the average American and Australian lifestyle is kept afloat by  twice the global average. The bright side is, by pledging to cut your water footprint, you can help return more water to rivers, lakes, wetlands, underground aquifers, and freshwater species.

Ready for the challenge? Nat Geo can help: Here: 

To help reduce your footprint, National Geographic have also provided a list of tips below:

Toilets, Taps, Showers, Laundry, and Dishes

  • Most front-loading machines are energy and water-efficient, using just over 20 gallons a load, while most top-loading machines, unless they are energy-efficient, use 40 gallons per load.

Yards and Pools



  • That quarter pounder is worth more than 30 average American showers. One of the easiest ways to slim your water footprint is to eat less meat and dairy. Another way is to choose grass-fed, and not grain-fed, since it can take a lot of water to grow corn and other feed crops.

Electricity, Fuel Economy, and Airline Travel

  • Washing a car uses about 150 gallons of water, so by washing less often you can cut back your water use.
  • A gallon of gasoline takes nearly 13 gallons of water to produce. Combine your errands, car pool to work, or take public transportation to cut both your energy and water use.

Industry—Apparel, Home Furnishings, Electronics, and Paper
