World Water Day Quiz?
All,
World water day slipped by without a splash! http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
Check the blog here on the topic: World Water Day 2014 blog post.
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy.
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and plastics.
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and paper.
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and trash.
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and clothes (say cotton pants).
Most people don’t realize the Nexus of water and energy and food… (virtual water).
Quick quiz:
- How much of the earth’s water is available fresh water (like rivers, streams and fresh lakes)?
- What percentage of the bottled water we drink is from a municipal water source (i.e., fine Miami tap-water)?
- How many gallons of water (typically) does it take to power a light bulb per year (in the US, based on 12 hrs per day, 60w incandescent)?
- How many gallons of water does it take to make a serving of cereal? of beef? of cotton clothes?
- How many gallons of water does the average (per capita) American use per day? All things considered, how much water per day?
Go here to find most of the answers to these questions: http://sustainzine.blogspot.com/search?q=world+water+quiz
Key: Out of about 100% correct, where do you stand?
- 5% right? Low average. You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
- 10% right? About average. You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
- 20% right? Above average. Pretty good! You probably should know a little more about our earth systems.
- 30% right? You read too much or you are a closet environmentalist.
- 40% right? Genius and a full fledged environmentalist. You probably should be blogging about sustainability issues.
- 50% or more right? No… You cheated! You looked up the answers and were actually lucky enough to find sources that were accurate/right!
ANSWER to Quiz #1: % of worlds water that is fresh and accessible?
From a past blog…
Water Facts: The Water Resources of Earth
Over 70% of our Earth's surface is covered by water ( we should really call our planet "Ocean" instead of "Earth"). Although water is seemingly abundant, the real issue is the amount of fresh water available.
• 97.5% of all water on Earth is salt water, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water
• Nearly 70% of that fresh water is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland; most of the remainder is present as soil moisture, or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater not accessible to human use.
• < 1% of the world's fresh water (~0.007% of all water on earth) is accessible for direct human uses. This is the water found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and those underground sources that are shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. Only this amount is regularly renewed by rain and snowfall, and is therefore available on a sustainable basis.
Source: http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html
A little more accuracy here:
About 1/10 of a % of all fresh water is groundwater. (.76%).
It is the fresh surface water that represents only about .007%, and about .001% in the atmosphere.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_water
Here's a picture of all the water on hearth. If it were all organized into a 1m square cube: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Earth_water_distribution.svg