Gazette Numerical Wizard Bea Sharper brings you up to date on the current water news in numbers. These facts surfaced in water news stories during September 2014.

Percentage of trash found on Australian beaches that is plastic — 75%. 

Percentage of dead seabirds examined in a recent study that had plastic in their guts — 43%. 

Percentage of people in Georgia who drink water from private wells — 43%. 

Estimated percentage of US wells that have over 10 ppb arsenic — 7%. 

Estimated number of private wells in Georgia in 2012 — 648,000. 

Percentage of these wells that were tested during 2012 — 3.5%. 

Percentage of beer samples tested recently that contained plastic microfibers — 100% 

Number of years that it takes most plastic water bottles to decompose — 500. 

Number of African children who die each day of diarrhea – 4,000.

Amount that the California Water Resources Control Board has already allotted to buy bottled water for residents of East Porterville, which has run out of water. – $500, 000. 

Amount it would cost to connect East Porterville homes to the nearest municipal supply – $50,000,000. 

Time required for such a connection (if there were no political objections) – 5 years.

Year when the US Toxic Substances Control Act went into effect — 1976.

Number of times it has been updated since 1940 — 0.

Number of registered chemical compounds that have been recorded by the EPA — 84,000.

Number of these that have been tested fully for health effects on humans — unknown, but a tiny fraction of the total.

Rank by size in 1900 of the now dry Aral Sea among the world’s lakes — 4.

Number of residents of Sao Paolo, Brazil, which is dangerously close to running out of water — 20,000,000.

Current percentage of capacity of Cantareira, the lake complex that supplies half the water for Sao Paolo — 7.6%.

Fraction of China’s farmland that is located in the northern part of the country — 2/3.

Fraction of China’s natural available freshwater that is in the northern part of the country — 1/5.

Year in which Mao Zedong first proposed sending water from southern China to the north — 1952.

Year in which the new Grand Canal project sending water to the north was completed — 2014.

Number of people moved from their homes to make room for the great new canal — 330,000 plus.

Factor by which Chinese industry uses more water than the average western industrial country — 10 times.

Gallons of sea water needed to produce one gallon of potable water by reverse osmosis desalination — 2.

Daily production capacity of the largest sea water desalination in the United States, located at Carlsbad, CA — 50,000,000.

Daily production of the modest sized plant in Santa Barbara, CA — 2, 800,000.

Number of US desalination plants currently in planning or under construction — 15.

Number in Mexico — 3.

Number of square miles covered by the extension of the great marine sanctuary created in September 2014 — 490,000.

Amount of increase in the antimony content of bottled water stored at 158 degrees F. as compared with the same water stored at refrigerator conditions – 319-fold.

According to recent NSF research, percentage of Americans who are concerned about contaminants in tap water — 82%.

Percentage who are concerned about detergents — 24%.

Rank of pesticides among the concerns documented in the survey — #1.

El Capitan girls water polo scores — 6-3, 4-2, 3-1.

These items appeared originally in the Pure Water Occasional during Sept. 2o14.