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All Wet

[whitespace] Bruce Clergue

Drips and Drabs

97 percent of the earth's water is seawater, 2 percent is ice, and the remaining 1 percent is cycling around as fresh water. Of that, half is too deep to access. If all the earth's water fit into a gallon jug, the available fresh water would fit into a tablespoon.

  • Total U.S. fresh water usage: 402 billion gals/day

  • Average gallons per day per person in U.S. household use: 74

  • Santa Cruz city average usage: 73 gallons per person per day

  • Soquel Creek water district average usage: 76 gallons per person per day

  • North Coast average usage: 84 gallons per person per day

  • Scotts Valley average usage: 116 gallons per person per day

  • Central Coast average usage: 113 gallons per person per day

  • At 36 billion gallons/day, California is the nation's heaviest water user, followed by Texas (29.6 Bgal/d), Illinois (19.9 Bgal/d) and Florida (18.2 Bgal/d).

  • 80 percent of California's fresh water is used in agriculture.


Source: USGS, Soquel Creek Water District, City of Santa Cruz

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From the September 8-15, 1999 issue of Metro Santa Cruz.

Copyright © Metro Publishing Inc. Maintained by Boulevards New Media.



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