Water Facts
Facts about water, drinking water, and water-related disease
Women carrying water in Kalma Union in rural Bangladesh.
Did you know...
1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one in six people on earth.
2.6 billion people in the world lack access to improved sanitation.
Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible
for direct human use.
A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water.
A person needs 4 to 5 gallons of water per day to survive.
The average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day.
The average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day.
Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often
polluted sources.
Water systems fail at a rate of 50% or higher.
Every $1 spent on water and sanitation creates on average another $8 in costs averted and
productivity gained.
Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water live on less $2 a day.
Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more for per liter of water than wealthy people
living in the same city.
Facts about water, drinking water, and water-related disease
Women carrying water in Kalma Union in rural Bangladesh.
Did you know...
1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one in six people on earth.
2.6 billion people in the world lack access to improved sanitation.
Less than 1% of the world's fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible
for direct human use.
A person can live weeks without food, but only days without water.
A person needs 4 to 5 gallons of water per day to survive.
The average American individual uses 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day.
The average African family uses about 5 gallons of water each day.
Millions of women and children spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often
polluted sources.
Water systems fail at a rate of 50% or higher.
Every $1 spent on water and sanitation creates on average another $8 in costs averted and
productivity gained.
Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water live on less $2 a day.
Poor people living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more for per liter of water than wealthy people
living in the same city.
