WATER FACTS
Index
Bottled Water Storage Tips
Bottled Water Definitions & Facts
Water & Health Facts
General Facts
Fun Facts
Bottled Water Storage Tips
  • Bottled water should only be stored with other food products. Never store near strong smelling products such as moth balls, bleach, gasoline, or laundry detergents. Even onions will affect the smell and taste of the bottled water.
  • Avoid storing bottled water where anything could spill on the outside of the bottles. This could cause a problem with the taste or odor of the water.
  • Please rotate your inventory. The freshest bottled water will be the best tasting bottled water. A maximum shelf life of two years is recommended for bottled water.
  • Avoid storing bottled water in direct sunlight for long periods of time. Sunlight may affect the flavor of the water.
  • Bottled water should not be allowed to freeze. Freezing bottled water can cause the precipitation of white solids, which are harmless. These white particles are actually minerals that were separated from the water by extreme temperature change. Freezing may also cause the bottle material to stretch, deform and/or rupture.
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Bottled Water Definitions & Facts
The different types of bottled water are artesian water/artesian well water, mineral water, purified water, sparkling bottled water, spring water, and well water.



Definitions
Artesian water/artesian well water: Bottled water from a well that taps a confined aquifer (a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand) in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer.
Mineral water: Bottled water containing not less than 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. Mineral water is distinguished from other types of bottled water by its constant level and relative proportions of mineral and trace elements at the point of emergence from the source. No minerals can be added to this product.
Purified water: Water that has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes and that meets the definition of purified water in the United States Pharmacopia.
Sparkling bottled water: Water that, after treatment and possible replacement with carbon dioxide, contains the same amount of carbon dioxide that it had at emergence from the source. Soda water, selzer water, and tonic water, which may contain sugar and calories, are not the same as sparkling bottled water.
Spring water: Bottled water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth. Spring water must be collected only at the spring or through a borehole tapping the underground formation finding the spring. There must be a natural force causing the water to flow to the surface through a natural orifice.
Well water: Bottled water from a hole bored, drilled, or otherwise constructed in the ground, which taps the water of an aquifer.



Facts
  • Bottled water cannot contain sweeteners or chemical additives (other than flavors, extracts, or essences) and must be calorie-free and sugar-free.
  • Bottled waters may include flavors, extracts, and essences, but these additives must comprise less than one percent by weight of the final product. Beverages containing more than one percent flavor are classified as soft drinks.
  • The bottled water industry is regulated on four levels: federal (by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food product), state, industry association, and individual company. Tap water is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is regarded as a utility.
  • Unlike tap water, bottled water contains no chlorine. In place of chlorine, some bottlers use ozone, a form of oxygen or ultraviolet light, as the final disinfecting agent.
  • Bottled water can be stored indefinitely if stored in a cool (i.e., room temperature), dry environment away from chemicals such as household cleaning products and away from other solvents such as gasoline, paint thinners, and other toxic materials.
  • Per capita consumption of bottled water has grown faster than any major beverage since 1991, making it the 6th highest beverage drunk, after soft drinks, beer, milk, coffee, and fruit juices and fruit drinks.
  • Bottled water has never been responsible for an outbreak of waterborne illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Most tap water is drawn from surface water, which may be subject to contamination, while more than 75% of bottled water comes from protected, underground sources.
  • Peter the Great drank 21 glasses of bottled water a day to alleviate indigestion.
  • The Babylonians worshiped Ba, the god of the sweet waters under the earth. Water was the symbol of life and Ba, the "Great Physician."
Source: International Bottled Water Association
Per capita consumption of bottled water has grown faster than any major beverage since 1991, making it the 6th highest beverage drunk, after soft drinks, beer, milk, coffee, and fruit juices and fruit drinks.

Water & Health Facts
Level of activity and body weight determine the amount of water a person needs to maintain proper hydration. In general, people should drink eight 8-oz. servings of water per day, adding more for each hour of activity.
Source: International Bottled Water Association

Thirst is not a good indicator that the body needs to be replenished with liquids.
Source: International Bottled Water Association

A person will die after 4-10 days without water. Most people could live a month or longer without food.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia

If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%-2%, you feel very thirsty. If it's reduced by 5%, your skin will shrink and you'll have difficulty moving your muscles or thinking clearly. If it's reduced by 10%, you'll die.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

The average adult loses about two and one-half quarts of water per day through elimination of body waste, sweating, breathing.
Source: Junior Science Book of Water

Last year, more than 45 million Americans drank tap water from sources containing Cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite found in the feces of infected humans or animals, in their raw or finished water. In 1993, more than 100 people died in Milwaukee because of Cryptosporidium in their tap water.
Source: National Association of People with AIDS

To reduce risk of exposure to Cryptosporidium and other microbial contaminants, drink: - tap water that has been at a full and rolling boil for one minute. - bottled water that is from a protected underground source or that has been subjected to distillation, reverse osmosis, or one micron filtration. - water run through point-of-use filters that are NSF certified 53 for cyst removal.
Source: National Association of People with AIDS

Current testing methods for Cryptosporidium are imprecise and miss about 90% of the parasites in the raw and finished water.
Source: National Association of People with AIDS

Approx. 75% of U.S. community water suplies are disinfected with chlorine to kill disease-causing germs. But disinfection does not remove chemicals and metals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), chloroform, arsenic, lead, and mercury.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

Water polluted with human and animal wastes can spread typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and other diseases.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

In the 1854 epidemic of the Broad Street Pump in London, 616 deaths from cholera occurred in 40 days as a result of infected human sewage leaking into the well.
Source: McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

The treatment of water to remove pathogenic organisms had its beginnings in about 1892, after Dr. Robert Koch had traced the cholera epidemic in Hamburg, Germany, to its unfiltered water supply.
Source: Encyclopedia Americana

In the 4th century BC, Hippocrates, "the Father of Medicine," advocated the boiling and filtering of polluted water before drinking.
General Facts
Water is the only substance known that occurs naturally in the 3 states of matter: liquid, solid (ice), and gas (water vapor).
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia

Water is colorless and tasteless.
Condensation is the change of water vapor into liquid water.
Source: All About Water, by Melvin Berger

Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface. There are approximately 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water on earth.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia

Approximately 97% of the earth's water is salt water. Approx. 3% is fresh water. Approx. two-thirds of the fresh water is frozen at the North and South Poles.
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia

There is 50 times more water buried in the ground than there is in all streams, rivers, and lakes on the surface of the earth.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

When water is absorbed into the ground, the process is called percolation.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District

Water found underground is called ground water.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District

Porous rocks and sand that hold underground water are called aquifers.
Source: Junior Science Book of Water

There are three chief sources of water pollution: industrial wastes, sewage, and agricultural chemicals and wastes.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The Water Pollution Control Act was passed by Congress over President Nixon's veto on October 18, 1972. It required industry to halt discharges by 1985, set industry-wide standards, and provided massive federal funding for building and improving sewage plants.
Source: Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates

Chicago's main water purification plant is the largest water treatment plant in the world. It serves approximately 2.8 million people in the Chicago area and can produce nearly one and one-half billion gallons (5.7 billion liters) of water per day.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

Water can never be used up. Every glass of water you drink contains molecules of water that have been used countless times before.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The world's available water per capita has decreased by more than one-third since 1970 due to the more than 1.8 billion people added to the planet since then.
Source: Greenbeat

If you could put all the water in the world in a 10-gallon container and you removed all the salt water, all the polluted water, and all the frozen water in glaciers and icebergs, you'd have only 9 drops of useable water left.
Source: Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidience District & Fort Bend Subsidence District

Today, six out of ten people inhabit coastal regions.
Source: Random House Atlas of the Oceans

The first water-powered plant for generating electricity was built in Appleton, WI, in 1882.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The U.S. has about one-sixth of the world's developed hydroelectric power.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

Water power supplies about 3% of the electric power in the U.S. and about 6% of the electric power worldwide.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

Potable water is that intended for human use such as drinking or cooking.
Source: McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Water expands by about 9% as it freezes.
Source: New Encyclopedia of Science

  • Watermelons are 97% water.
  • Lettuce is 97% water.
  • Tomatoes are 95% water.
  • Carrots are 90% water.
  • Potatoes are 80% water.
  • Eggs are 74% water
  • Bread is 30% water.
  • Cheese is 26% water
Source: All About Water, by Melvin Berger, Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia, & 1002 Fascinating Facts and Figures

The average American uses an estimated 100-150 gallons of water per day. Water is used as follows:
  • Approx. 10 gallons to brush teeth if water is left running
  • Approx. 10 gallons to flush a toilet
  • Approx. 25 gallons to take a bath
  • Approx. 5-10 gallons per minute of a shower
  • Approx. 40 gallons to run a dishwasher
Source: Raintree Illustrated Science Encyclopedia, The New Book of Knowledge & World Book Encyclopedia

Industry is the largest single user of water.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The U.S. uses approx. 140 billion gallons (530 billion liters) of water per day for irrigation. - It takes about 800,000 gallons of water per day to grow an acre of cotton. - It takes about 115 gallons of water to grow enough wheat to bake a loaf of bread.
Source: Compton's Encyclopedia & World Book Encyclopedia

A single oak tree can release as much as 160 gallons (600 liters) of water daily through transpiration, a chemical process by which water in a plant's water transport system is released through tiny openings in the leaves.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge
Fun Facts
Approximately 2/3 of a person's body weight is water. Blood is 92% water. The brain is 75% water. Muscles are 75% water. Bones are 22% water.
Source: International Bottled Water Association

All living things are comprised mostly of water:
  • Earthworms = 80% water
  • Elephants = 70% water
  • People = 65% water
  • Mice = 65% water
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

An average person takes in approximately two and one-half quarts (2.4 liters) of water per day. This translates into 16,000 gallons (60,600 liters) of water during his/her life.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

An elephant can drink up to 53 gallons of water in one trunk fill-up. This is more than an average person drinks in a month.
Source: Kratt's Creatures PBS TV show

Kangaroo rats never drink water, and their diet consists of dry seeds and other foods that contain little water. Their bodies produce water when food inside them combines with the oxygen they breathe.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

A camel can go an entire winter without drinking any water. When a camel needs water but none is available, its body begins to burn the fat in its hump, producing water.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

Bald eagles can actually swim. They use an overhand movement of the wings that is very much like the butterfly stroke.
Source: Endangered Animals Club

Water boatmen, belonging to the family Corixidae, are the only water bug that can take flight directly from the water.
Source: Compton's Encyclopedia

The fastest swimming fish are sailfish and swordfish, which have been recorded at speeds of 60 mph.
Source: Questions About the Oceans, by Dubach

Roots of the alfalfa plant often go down 25 feet or more in search of water.
Source: Junior Science Book of Water

Industrial uses of water:
  • It takes about 80 gallons of water to make the paper for one Sunday paper.
  • It takes about 20 gallons of water per pound of steel produced.
  • It takes about 15 gallons of water to brew a gallon of beer.
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The world's highest waterfall is the Angel Fall waterfall in Venezuela -- 2,648 feet (807 meters).
Source: World Book Encyclopedia

The saltiest ocean is the Atlantic, with a salinity of 37.5 parts per thousand in the northern subtropical region. The Arctic and Antarctic oceans are the least salty.
Source: Questions About the Oceans, by Dubach

Some parts of India get as much as 400 inches of rain during the rainy season.
Source: Junior Science Book of Water

The longest undisputed bottle drift on record is a bottle that traveled an estimated 16,000 statute miles from Perth, Australia to Miami, Florida over a period of nearly 5 years.
Source: Questions About the Oceans, by Dubach

An estimated 150 million dollars worth of treasure from Spanish ships that sank while crossing from the Caribbean to Spain has never been salvaged.
Source: Questions About the Oceans, by Dubach

The only organized team game for swimmers is water polo, which was started in England in 1870.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

Ralph W. Samuelson started the sport of waterskiing in Lake City, MN, in 1922 using skis he'd made from two long pine boards.
Source: The New Book of Knowledge

Who said, "When the well's dry, we know the worth of the water?"
Benjamin Franklin