The FACT Water is Life on Earth Planet

Water is the most abundant and most important element on the planet and the biggest source of life. Discover some curiosities about water that you probably don’t know…

How many curiosities about water do you know?

The universal solvent, water, is the most abundant element on the planet and possibly the most important. Life originated in it millions of years ago and it constantly returns to it. We have used it to grow and change as a civilization, although in return we have made it pay the price, dirtying and contaminating it to the point of making it unsuitable for our own benefit. This is the dilemma of water on our planet and this is also the opportunity to learn much more about it and thus, perhaps, begin to learn to value it.

Some curiosities about water

1.- Most (about 70%) of the earth is covered with water. Of that total mass of water, only 3% is fresh water (97% is salty) and of that tiny percentage, only 2% is easily accessible, since the rest is frozen. If we were to chase a water molecule over a period of 100 years, we would see it spend 98 of those years in a liquid state in the oceans, 20 months frozen at the poles or mountains, 2 weeks flowing in freshwater channels such as lakes or rivers, and just a few days in a gaseous state in the atmosphere.

2.- The human body is composed mainly of water, in fact it accounts for 55% of its adult weight. It is estimated that a person should ideally drink about two liters of water a day, and that in extreme conditions, a human being can survive for a month without eating any food, but barely a week without drinking water.

3.- Many of our daily foods contain very high levels of water. A tomato is fundamentally water (about 95% of its composition). Other foods rich in water are spinach (90% of its content), apples (85%) and potatoes (80%). Interestingly, to hatch an egg, a hen needs to drink about 450 liters of water.

4.- 7,000 liters of water are spent in the refining process of a barrel of crude oil and 148,000 in the manufacture of an average car.

5.- UN estimates suggest that by 2025 there will be 1.8 million people suffering from a lack of drinking water.

6.- Raindrops have a spherical shape, not tear drops as we have always represented them.

Towards sustainable consumption

Dealing with the destructive mode of water consumption that we have had until now is one of the priorities of the contemporary world.

Drought

What is the use of feeding a powerful industrial apparatus with drinking water, if we then suffer from thirst and drought, or get sick from drinking contaminated water? It is the big question that many of us should ask ourselves. One of the curiosities about water is that it is free and belongs to everyone, and is the symbol of the great vital generosity of the planet.