Interesting Facts

According to research carried out by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy and water filter company Brita UK, Brits are needlessly buying bottled water in restaurants and pubs because they feel too awkward to ask for free tap water. (Many people are unaware of the fact that, in England, Scotland and Wales, licensed premises such as bars, restaurants and theatres are required by law to provide free drinking water on request (although they can charge for the use of a glass). Of course there is nothing worse than an awkward Brit, and I fully understand our reluctance to dare to ask for something for nothing.)

Scientists in Canada have been able to prove what we have all suspected; people pee in the swimming pool. (Whilst it is not possible to find the actual  culprit (the colour of the water doesn't change), after monitoring  two public pools in Canada the researchers found that a typical large swimming pool (   a large pool (about one-third the size of an Olympic pool) contains  75 litres of urine – enough to fill a medium-sized dustbin. If you don't swim in public pools, but you enjoy a spa experience, they also tested hot tubs, which were found to have far higher urine levels.  In one anonymous survey,  19% of adults admitted  to having urinated in a swimming pool at least once. And it seems professional swimmers are the worst offenders, as they don't have "time" to get out and use the facilities. Please!  Eew!  I can swear, with my hand on my heart that I have never peed in the pool.  I always go before I swim  ...

According to a new study conducted at Loughborough University, drivers who are dehydrated can be as dangerous as those who are drunk or on drugs. (The study showed that drivers who drank only 25 ml of water an hour made more than twice the number of mistakes as drivers who had drunk enough water. Professor Maughan, who published the findings, said, “We all deplore drink driving, but we don't usually think about the effects of other things that affect our driving skills, and one of those is not drinking and dehydration. There is no question that driving while incapable through drink or drugs increases the risk of accidents, but our findings highlight an unrecognised danger and suggest that drivers should be encouraged to make sure they are properly hydrated.” I can see it now:- Policeman: "Sir, you are 3 times over the legal limit." Driver: "At least I'm not dehydrated, officer.")

The ancient, 9,000 year old alcoholic drink, mead, is making a bit of a comeback in the UK. (Mead, an alcoholic drink of fermented honey and water, reached the height of its popularity in the Middle Ages, to become the preserve of medieval re-enactment groups, and pagans in modern times.  But now, thanks to the popularity of Harry Potter, historical TV dramas, and fantasy series like Game of Thrones, it's becoming trendy again. Well, you know what they say?  What goes around, comes around.)

The Bill and Melinda Gate's foundation has managed to help develop a waste plant that converts the sludge from sewers, which contains solid human waste (pooh) into drinkable water and bioenergy. (The Janicki Omniprocessor, designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy, an engineering firm based north of Seattle, could be a solution to poor sanitation in developing countries, which kills around 700,000 children every year. Bill Gates trusts it enough to drink a glass of extracted water, so ... Maybe a smaller household version could be created, and we can all benefit.)

A businessman meeting a client in a London hotel (The Wellesley in Knightsbridge) was charged £75.00 for 3 bottles of water (yes water). (The water, San Pellegrino, which usually costs about 60p a bottle, actually costs a profit mongering £5.50 per bottle in this particular tourist trap, and there was also a service charge of £8.33, but if you can do mental arithmetic, you'll see that that still doesn't add up: It would have been £24.83. Which is bad enough. But no, the Wellesley, seemingly owned by Arab Investments´ City and Country Hotels, has a minimum charge of £25 per person for anyone using its bar after 4pm. They should remember that the blessings of water come with human responsibility for its proper use. Is there anything he can do? No.  That's why when you are eating out in the UK, it's important to check the prices on the menu and ask if there is any cover / service charge. Of course at a business meeting, you don't want to be seen to be niggar...

Fizzy drinks are on average, 5,000 times more acidic than water, which has a neutral pH level. (This is having a disastrous affect on people's teeth. A normal sized can of pop contains approximately nine teaspoons of sugar, and regular consumption of these sugary drinks increases the risk of tooth decay by over 200%. According to dentists, who are at the front line of the battle against tooth decay, if you drink a lot of canned or bottled fizzy pop, you might as well stick your teeth in an acid bath. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 1969 Australians used to drink about 47 litres per person in a year, in 2012 it was estimated to be over 100 litres, and rising. That's almost 300 cans a year! Australian peridontist, Dr Amis Lidums, said "Teeth initially become quite sensitive and they'll start to become shorter as the protective enamel over the surface of the teeth disappears." Almost 60 per cent of children aged five to sixteen consume ...

According to research carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge  has found that dehydration can affect the way teenagers' brains function. (School pupils taking exams  could benefit from drinking a glass of water beforehand, as being dehydrated is enough to effect the neural activity in key parts of their brains which, as a result, have to work harder to achieve the same tasks. I fear I might be constantly dehydrated.)

The UK is undergoing its worst drought since 1976. (Ridiculously, every day, 3.4bn litres of water leaks from the system. This is almost a quarter of the entire supply. And to add insult to injury, the water companies (who make huge profits every year) have been told they don't need to reduce this until 2015. Since the privatisation of the water industry in 1989, leakage reduction targets were set for the 21 water companies, but leaks have only been reduced across England and Wales by 5% over the past 13 years. Why? Well probably because, of the £2bn in pre-tax profits from 2010 - 2011, they paid out £1.5bn in dividends to shareholders. Money that could have been spent on preserving one of our most precious resources. So, never mind Wiki leaks, what about Water leaks?)

There are more than 210,000 miles of water pipes that serve 23m properties across England and Wales. (This is a length equivalent to eight times the circumference of the Earth. According to OFWAT (the economic regulator of water and sewer companies in England and Wales) it would cost £100bn to replace them all.)

According to a study commissioned by chocolate biscuit brand Rocky, the summer of 1976 was the best time to be a child in Britain. (From the perspective of the grown-ups, it wasn’t the best of years. In 1976 there was a national water shortage, inflation reached 27 per cent, there were widespread strikes and the West Indies cricket team left us grovelling for mercy. From the perspective of children, it was great. It was the hottest summer for more than 350 years and children spent hours outside, riding their Raleigh Chopper bikes or bouncing on Space Hoppers. Ah - Space Hoppers, those were the days.) Source  

According to a study by Unilever an eight-minute shower uses 62 litres of hot water. (People generally believe that taking a shower is more environmentally friendly than a bath, and this water consumption compares favourably against a bath, which uses an average of 80 litres, but if you use a power shower - an appliance that adds extra pressure to the water flow - then an eight-minute shower requires twice as much water and energy as a bath.  Maybe the answer is to share.)

The tiny water flea has more genes than you or I do. (It was the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced, and if you don't believe that it could be more complex than magnificent you, the average human has about 20,000 to 25,000 genes, whereas this little critter has  31,000 genes.  Which makes it the animal with the most genes to date.  As if that wasn't enough.  more than a third of the genes in the water flea are unique, and have never been seen before.  You see size really doesn't count, it's the actual count that matters.)

Human blood most closely resembles sea water in terms of it's chemical composition!

According to a study carried out at Virginia Tech, USA, drinking water before meals can help people to lose weight. (The scientists found that slimmers can lose an average of 5lb extra if they drink two glasses of water three times a day before meals.)

According to US scientists from the University of Colorado, dirty shower heads can deliver a face full of harmful bacteria that causes lung disease. (Levels of Mycobacterium avium on shower heads were 100 times higher than those found in typical household water supplies. Spurting water can distribute bacteria-filled droplets which suspend themselves in the air and can easily be inhaled into the deepest parts of the lungs. I'm just going to clean the shower now.)

According to government figures, a child under 10 is admitted to hospital due to alcohol problems every 3 days in England. (It's not that surprising when you realise that some supermarkets offer beer at 54p a pint, and a 750ml bottle of branded water, sells for the equivalent of 57p a pint.)

Lake Baikal in Russia holds about a fifth of the world's fresh water. (At 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), it is also the deepest lake in the world. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, so let's hope that preserves its future.)

According to figures presented at the 61st International Water Conference, between 1940 and 1990, world water usage increased four-fold. (This isn't sustainable. Even within the United States, water is being withdrawn faster from underground aquifers than it can be replenished. One aquifer near El Paso, Texas, which serves both the U.S. and Mexico, is expected to run dry by 2020.)

According to the Peace Corp's website, of all the water on earth, 97.5 percent is salt water. Of the remaining 2.5 percent of fresh water, some 70 percent is frozen in the polar ice caps. The other 30 percent is mostly present as soil moisture or lies in underground aquifers. (This means that less than 1 percent of the world's fresh water (or only about 0.007 percent of all the water on Earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.)