INDEPTH: WATER
By the numbers
CBC News Online | August 25, 2004
CANADA:
More than 24 million
The number of Canadians who receive municipal drinking water.
Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
About 4,000
The number of municipal water treatment plants in Canada that treat drinking water taken from lakes, rivers and groundwater sources.
Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
Less than 3%
The amount of municipally-treated water that is used for drinking.
Source: Environment Canada
1.5 litres
The amount of water the average adult drinks daily, including water used in drinks such as coffee, tea and juice.
Source: Health Canada
|
Per capita consumption of beverages, 1997
|
|
Beverage
|
Amount consumed
|
| Soft drinks | 112.6 |
Coffee | 93.7 |
Milk | 88.9 |
Alcoholic | 81.1 |
Tea | 56.6 |
Fruit juice | 27.6 |
Bottled water | 21.4 |
Vegetable juice | 1.5 |
21.4 litres
The amount of bottled water the average Canadian drank in 1997.
Source: Statistics Canada
343 litres
The amount of water the average Canadian used daily inside the home in 1998. Most indoor water is used in the bathroom.
Source: Environment Canada
50%
The percentage of all municipally-treated water used up during the summer months by people watering their lawns and gardens.
Source: Environment Canada
20%
The percentage of all municipal drinking water lost to leaks.
Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
1,600 cubic metres
The amount or water used in Canada per capita basis for all purposes. Of the 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only the United States uses more water than Canada on a per capita basis. Canada�s per capita water consumption is 65 per cent above the OECD average.
Source: OECD
30%
The percentage of Canadians who rely on groundwater for domestic use.
Source: Statistics Canada
1-2 million
The number of water wells currently in use in Canada.
Source: Environment Canada
|
Breakdown of water used in the home
|
|
Task
|
Percentage of water used
|
| Showers and baths | 35% |
Toilet Flushing | 30% |
Laundry | 20% |
Kitchen and drinking | 10% |
Cleaning | 5% |
22 million
The number of Canadians who use municipal sewer systems.
Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
About 3,000
The number of municipal wastewater treatment plants in Canada that remove contaminants and disinfect sewage before it is dumped back into Canadian waters.
Source: Federation of Canadian Municipalities
6%
The percentage of Canadians who lived in municipalities with sewers containing wastewater that received no treatment before being discharged into the environment in 1996. This was down from 28 per cent in 1983.
Source: Statistics Canada
41%
The percentage of Canadians whose water received tertiary treatment, the highest level of wastewater treatment, in 1996. This was up from 28 per cent in 1983.
Source: Statistics Canada
More than 1 trillion litres
The amount of untreated sewage dumped into our waters every year (about 3.25 billion litres per day) by 21 cities across the country.
Source: Sierra Legal Defence Fund
100%
The percentage of Canadians living in urban areas who have access to clean water. This figure is 99 per cent for rural Canada. Compare this to Afghanistan where only 19 per cent of urban residents and 11 per cent of rural residents have access to clean water.
Source: World Health Organization
More than 160
The number of waterborne disease outbreaks that were reported in Canada between 1974 and 1996. It is estimated that only one-tenth of such outbreaks are reported.
Source: Health Canada
7
The number of people who died in Walkerton, Ontario, in May 2000 when E. coli and other bacteria contaminated the town�s water supply. In total, over 2,000 people got sick.
Source: CBC News Online
100
The number of people who died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1993 due to an outbreak of the water-borne parasite cryptosporidium. In total, about 400,000 people got sick.
Source: CBC News Online
|
How much water is used per task
|
|
Task
|
Amount consumed
|
| Washing machine | 225 litres |
Shower (10 minutes) | 100 litres |
Bath | 60 litres |
Dishwasher | 40 litres |
Washing dishes by hand | 35 litres |
Toilet flush | 15-20 litres |
Brushing your teeth (with tap running) | 10 litres |
Hand washing (with tap running) | 8 litres |
About 34,000
The number of people who die each day worldwide due to diseases related to water, feces and dirt, such as cholera and infant diarrhea. In developing countries, 80 per cent of illnesses are water related.
Source: Environment Canada
20-25%
The percentage of the world�s fresh water that is in Canada.
Source: Environment Canada
891,863 square kilometres
The amount of space covered by Canada's freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers. This accounts for about nine per cent of the Canada's total area.
Source: Natural Resources Canada
Almost 3,000 cubic metres
The amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls every second in the daytime. At night about half of this water is diverted for hydroelectricity. Niagara Falls is the largest producer of electric power in the world.
Source: Info Niagara
31,328 square kilometres
The size of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories, the largest lake entirely in Canada (the Great Lakes border the U.S.). Great Bear Lake is more than five times the size of Prince Edward Island.
Source: Statistics Canada
2,681 square kilometres
The size of Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan, the largest lake in the world that drains naturally in two directions - north into the Mackenzie River basin and east into Hudson Bay.
Source: Natural Resources Canada
INTERNATIONAL:
1.1 billion
The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to clean drinking water.
2.4 billion
The estimated number of people worldwide who lack access to sanitation. Most are in Africa and Asia.
2 billion
The estimated number of people who depend on groundwater worldwide (about one-third of the world's population). Countries around the world face rapidly depleting groundwater resources, including parts of India, China, West Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union and the western United States.
About 80
The number of countries that had experienced serious water shortages by the mid 1990s. This makes up about 40 per cent of the world's population.
One-third
The proportion of the global population who live in countries with moderate-to-high water stress. Water stress occurs when water consumption exceeds 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources.
West Asia faces the severest threat. More than 90 per cent of the population in the region lives under severe water stress.
Two-thirds
The proportion of the global population that is expected to be living in water stressed conditions in less than 25 years.
40%
The increase in global water use expected by 2020.
$30 billion
The projected cost per year of bringing poor people universal access to water by 2015.
Source: United Nations Environment Programme, GEO-Global Environment Outlook 3, Past, Present and Future Perspectives
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