---

A Few Things To Know About Water

---

Water is essential to life as we know it

• Makes up 70% of our body
• Makes up 85% of blood
• Helps digest food, lubricate joints, regulate body temperatures, transport nutrients

Humans can live much longer without food than they can without water

• The average adult must replace 2 to 3 quarts of water daily
  • Average from 13,000 to 20,000 gallons over a normal lifetime

Water is used for

• Food production
• Power generation
• Transportation
• Recreation
• Heating
• Cooling
• Fire fighting
• Cooking
• Bathing

What is water?

• Exists in three forms (solid, liquid, gas)
• In its pure form, colorless, odorless, and tasteless
• Present in the air as vapor at all temperatures

How much water is available?

• One of the most abundant substances on Earth
• Oceans cover 70% of the planet's surface
• If Earth were a perfect sphere, entire globe would be covered by 800 feet of water
• Oceans, or salt water, make up about 97% of all water
• 3% is fresh water
  • Two-thirds of this water is in ice at the North and South Poles
  • 1% of total water on Earth is available for common uses
• At any given time, only 0.001 per cent of the total water is in atmosphere
• Average rainfall in the United States is 30 inches per year
  • Alabama has an average of 55 inches per year, second only to Louisiana's 57 inches per year in the United States
• Of the total liquid fresh water on earth
  • 98% is groundwater
  • 2% is surface, which accounts for most water uses
• The United States has 2 million miles of streams and more than 30 million acres of lakes and reservoirs
  • Huge reserves of fresh water underground supplies about half of the drinking water in our country
• Alabama has superb water resources
• Surface water
  • 14 major river systems or basins
  • 348,826 acres of lakes and reservoirs
  • 400,000 acres of estuaries
  • More than 3 millions acres of wetlands and marshes
  • Provides 56% of the drinking water in Alabama
• Groundwater
  • Provides 44% of home water supplies
  • A primary source of water for South Alabama where groundwater is readily available and of good quality
  • Some rural areas draw up to 90% of supplies from groundwater

How much water do we use?

• The average American family of four uses
  • 88,000 gallons a year
  • 240 gallons a day
  • 60 gallons per person per day, mostly in the bathroom
• In manufacturing, various amounts of water are used in production
  • 148 gallons for a Sunday newspaper
  • 32 gallons for a pound of steel
  • 158 gallons for a pound of aluminum
  • 800,000 gallons a year to provide one person with food
    • 148 gallons for a loaf of bread
    • 285 gallons for a pound of ground

Who owns the water?

• Depends on the location of the water over time
• In Alabama
  • In general, surface water belongs to the individual landowner, except in municipal limits of incorporated cities
  • Rural landowners are entitled to all the surface water they can retain and use on their land
  • Riparian Rights Doctrine
    • Water in its natural state, or a water course, can be used only on that land through which it flows
• Reasonable Use Doctrine
  • Riparian water may be used for any purpose so long as quality and quantity of flow are adequate for other downstream riparian owners
    • Normally requires a permitting program, which Alabama does not have
• Public Trust Doctrine
  • Private rights to use water may be limited by the need to preserve environmental, scenic, recreational, or scientific areas that benefit all
  • Not yet adopted in all states, including Alabama

Source: Water Quality Control Handbook, Circular ANR 790, Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Auburn University, Alabama