Water is said to be the future blue gold and will be a tradable commodity of greater value than oil, this is the opinion of several writers and environmentalists, the following are highlights from various articles.

• 1.4 trillion litres (1.4 billion km3) is the total volume of water on earth.
• 119 million litres of surface water vanish every year.
• 74,200,000 litres evaporate in the atmosphere.
• 97.5 of the earth’s water is salt water, only 2.5% is fresh water.
• 70% of all water is polar ice.
• 1% of fresh water (0.007%) of water on earth) is suitable for human consumption.
• 667 litres is the amount of water used in the average American household per day.
• 140 litres is the European average per person per day.
• 14 litres is the African and Asian average per household.
• 19 litres is the minimum amount of water needed to meet a persons daily needs (source: WHO)
• The three largest water users are: Agriculture 67%, Industry 19%, and Municipal or residential 9%.
• 5000 deaths a day are caused by lack of clean drinking water.
• According to the charity Water Aid, an estimated 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water, with a result being that one child dies of a water-related disease every 15 seconds.
• Humans can live for weeks without food, but only days without water.
• At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients who are suffering from water-related disease.

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