Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
California. Periodic restrictions on water use also are a way of life in
other desert and mountain states like Colorado, Arizona, and New
Mexico. But what about water shortages and restrictions in places
like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; Sarasota,
Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Colstrip, Montana; Dodge City, Kansas;
or Brentwood, New Hampshire?
OUR ENDLESS THIRST
The United States sucks up about 410 billion gallons of water every
single day, 349 billion of which are freshwater. That's nearly 150
trillion gallons of water used every year in this country, according
to the latest (2005) data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
which compiles water-use numbers every fi ve years.
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To put water
use in perspective, consider that the average American uses about
one hundred gallons of water every day. That's about 36,000 gallons
a year. (An average-sized backyard swimming pool might hold 18,000
to 20,000 gallons or more of water.) These numbers vary, depending
on who's counting and where they're counting—geography, weather,
personal use, and politics fi gure into the equation, too.
WATER FACTS
How much is one million gallons of water? According to
the U.S. Geological Survey:
A good-sized bathtub holds 50 gallons, so it takes 20,000
baths to equal one million gallons.
A swimming pool that holds a million gallons would
have to be about 267 feet long (almost as long as a foot-
ball fi eld), 50 feet wide, and 10 feet deep.
For more, check out the USGS web site, http://ga.water
.usgs.gov/edu/mgd.html.
Beyond those numbers, the amount of water our lifestyles
require can be mind-boggling. It takes about fi ve gallons of water
just to produce a single gallon of gasoline! If that's not consump-
tion enough, to pump, treat, and supply water to our homes also
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