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WATER USE

Water is used for many things, from electricity production to dishwashing. Some of the government's facts on water:

A person uses about two gallons of water for brushing teeth.

When taking a five-minute shower, a person is soaked by 25 gallons to 50 gallons of water.

Automatic dishwashers generally use nine gallons to 12 gallons, but someone washing dishes by hand generally uses 20.

The 56,000 public water systems in the United States process 34 billion gallons of water every day.

Of all the earth's water, only 1 percent is suitable for drinking.

Many animals, fruits and vegetables are mostly made of water. An elephant is 70 percent water, a chicken is 75 percent water, an ear of corn is 80 percent, and a tomato is 95 percent water. An adult human being is 50 percent to 65 percent water, a child 75 percent.

It takes 1,851 gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil.

Twenty-four gallons are needed to make one pound of plastic.

SOURCE: Environmental Protection Agency