One gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.

Ninety-seven percent of earth's water is saltwater in oceans and seas. Of the 3 % that is freshwater, only 1% is available for drinking, the remaining 2% is frozen in polar ice caps.

About 48,000 gallons of water are needed to produce the typical American Thanksgiving dinner for eight people.

400 gallons of water are recycled through our kidneys each day.

You can refill an 8 oz. glass of water approximately 15.000 times for the cost of a six-pack of soda.

An average of 800.000 water wells is drilled each year in the US. That's tapping into our underground water supplies at approximately 100 times each hour for domestic, farming and commercial needs.

About 60.000 public water systems across the US process 34 billion gallons of water per day for home and commercial use. 85% of the population is served by these facilities.

Did you know?

Fish eat up to 5% of their body weight daily.

A grass lawn 10'x100' consumes more than 27.000 gallons of water annually.

Floating duckweed is the world's simplest and smallest flowering plant. It has no true leaves or stems and appears as tiny green specks on the water's surface.

When Captain Cook landed at Kauai in 1778 he counted 360 fishponds covering 6,000 acres and producing about 2 million pounds of fish per year.

Water lilies, lotuses and other aquatic plants reduce pond evaporation by 10%.

Goldfish, descendants of the common crucian carp, were cultivated by the Chinese as early as the 10th century AD.

There are more than 70 species of water lilies.

All this according to Water Gardens Magazine. Good pondering and be water wise. To all of you, have a happy Christmas or Hanukkah and a wonderful New Year !

Angel Rutherford