Pop Quiz: Water Consumption in the U.S.
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island 
on 03.13.08
Answer: B. According to lowimpactliving.com, "The United States uses, on average, about 345 BILLION gallons of fresh water per day," which is "enough water to cover the state of Rhode Island to a depth of one foot." Of this, 136 billion gallons are for irrigation, another 136 billion for cooling electric power plants, 47 billion for public and domestic supply, and roughly 20 billion are for industrial uses. Most striking is the fact that by saving energy and switching to renewable energy sources, not only do we avoid the emission of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, we also save tremendous amounts of water.
Source: http://www.lowimpactliving.com/pages/your-impacts/water1
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Wow, only 16% got it right [atm]. I wonder what we would attribute that too, poor mathematical understanding of how much water the various options really is, or poor understanding of how much water we actually use.
I thought is was more impressive that 46% of people think that they flood their homes every day with water.....
Maybe their is just a large population of people from New Oleans voting today.
Am I the only one who sees the answer DIRECTLY below the question? I wasn't exactly looking for it or anything, but I couldn't miss it. So why on earth would I now vote for the incorrect answer?
lol lorryfach you're not supposed to click the Jump until after you've voted.
Wow. I knew the answer before jumping the page.
Use reasoning skills people.
A. Too large. If that were true, it's be so hard to believe how civilization could exist today in the US.
B. Sounded pretty reasonable enough.
C. Again, kind of a large sum to imagine.
So, B is correct.
Wow it's pretty disgusting that all you guys can comment on is how in the world people got the question wrong! Maybe instead you should be more concerned about how much water we are using and wasting. It's meant to be an eye opener.
i think it's rather messed up that the USA uses fresh water to cool power plants.
I like the article about The U.S. is known to have one of the cleanest and safest drinking water systems in the world. In too many parts of the world this luxury is not enjoyed. On a regular basis many people...including women and children...are known to die from drinking water contaminated with water born parasites and diseases....it would be an incredible act of love and compassion if we here in the U.S. could make an effort to reduce our bottled water consumption by a few bottles a week or month and give that money to charity. There are quite a few charitable organizations that are involved in well digging and providing water filters for impoverished communities around the world ( World Vision is one...1-888-511-6511 ) who do not have the money or resources available to do this themselves. In doing so we can potentially save lives and reduce suffering. We also do incredible good to the planet by reducing the oil consumption that goes into making plastic water bottles and by reducing the amount of landfill space that is used every year (reportedly 30 million water bottles and 41 million barrels of oil to transport and refrigerate that bottled water). We can make a difference.