Environmental Justice

Water:


Quick Facts


 

Did you know...?

Water_-_Facts Although 71% of Earth’s surface is covered by water, 97% of it is salt water and essentially useless for consumption.  In fact, of the remaining 3% of freshwater on Earth, most of it is frozen in icecaps, inaccessible, or contaminated.  That leaves us with roughly 1% of the water on our planet to sustain life.

 

Conserve and Protect... Like all natural resources, the freshwater supply on Earth is finite - perhaps more than we realize.  In addition to keeping our rivers and lakes beautiful, we need to be concerned about protecting the quality of all of our freshwater supplies.  

When we know more about water, its scarcity, and how to protect it, we can begin changing the quantities and ways in which we use water and promote a more sustainable future.

 

Other facts about water:

 

-We drink very little of our drinking water...

In general, less than 1% of treated water produced by water utilities is actually consumed.  The rest goes into washing machines, onto lawns, and down toilets and drains.

 

-We flush about 40% of household water down the toilet...

If everyone in the U.S. flushed just one less time per day, we could save a lakeful of water a mile long, a mile wide, and four feet deep every day!

 

-We all live in a watershed...

A watershed is an area of land that drains to the lowest point, usually a river or stream.  What you do on your property affects nearby water supplies, even if you don’t live on the river or stream.

 

-The Salt Lake Valley is home to over 800,000 residents...

Virtually all of these people live in what can be considered the Jordan River watershed.  That’s 800,000 opportunities for watershed pollution!  Please do your part to keep our water supplies clean. Find out how

 

-There are more than 70,000 known water pollutants...

Humans have a large influence over the factors that determine water quality as we contribute numerous substances and contaminants that are not naturally present in water.