Do you ever wonder why your water goes through you rather than through a toilet or sink? If so, the answer is probably quite obvious: we have no water supply problem in the United States. The U.S. has plenty of fresh water, just as it did thousands of years ago. The reason why your water goes right through you is not that there’s a shortage; rather, it’s because our supply system has been overwhelmed with unprecedented amounts of demand over the past several decades.
Why Does Water Go Right Through Me?
The water goes through you because it is trying to find a way to get to the food in your stomach. The water is trying to find a way to get to the food in your stomach because it needs the energy to survive.
What Is Water?
Water is H2O
Water is H2O. It’s a compound made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It’s the universal solvent that makes up most of the Earth’s surface and is often referred to as “the universal solvent” because it dissolves just about anything.
Water has a high boiling point
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) at normal atmospheric pressure, which means that it boils at a temperature that’s above the boiling point of water at sea level (100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) but below its boiling point in an elevated altitude environment (such as in Denver or Las Vegas). That’s why you can’t boil water in your bathtub even if you turn on all the taps in your house and make sure there are no leaks—you need to be outdoors to get the water hot enough to boil.
Water is the only living substance that is invisible to the naked eye
Water doesn’t have a color, taste, or smell of its own—it’s transparent and odorless.
Almost all water on Earth is salty
Salt was created by the evaporation of seawater during the formation of our planet billions of years ago. The oceans are still full of it today because Earth’s atmosphere has never been in equilibrium with its oceans—the oceans are always evaporating and being replaced by new seawater through rainfall and snowfall. As a result, the average salt content in seawater is about 3.5 percent (slightly less than one-third that of sea level air), which means that salt makes up about 30 percent of all water on Earth (2 percent by weight). That 30 percent includes fresh water as well as saltwater—and it also includes what we call brackish water (that’s between two and five parts salt to one part freshwater) found in estuaries and marshes around the world.
Why Does Water Go Right Through Me?
1. Water is a liquid
Water is a liquid at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit) and atmospheric pressure. It requires a lot of energy to turn it into ice or steam (or even to freeze it into ice that won’t melt again), which is why the Earth’s atmosphere is mostly made up of water vapor.
2. Water has a high specific weight
Specific weight refers to the amount of mass that one gram of water can support when it’s at room temperature and atmospheric pressure—specifically, it’s 1 gram per cubic centimeter. This means that one cubic centimeter of water can weigh up to one gram at room temperature and 1 atmosphere of pressure. The same goes for all other common liquids: a cubic centimeter of gasoline weighs 1 gram; a cubic centimeter of ethanol weighs 1 gram; and so on.
3. Water doesn’t swell much when it freezes
Water doesn’t expand much when it freezes, so if you drop an ice cube into your drink, the cube will float on top because there’s not much volume change going on inside the cube as the water molecules are crammed together tighter and tighter as they get colder and colder until they eventually freeze solid—it takes less volume than you’d expect for an object to be frozen solid.
4. Water expands in a glass container
Water expands when it’s heated, so if you put your water bottle in a hot car, the water inside the bottle will expand and the bottle itself will bulge outward. This is why bottles of water are usually made out of plastic with a thicker bottom to help prevent this.
Why Does Our Drinking Water Have Such An Odor?
1. Water has a certain smell because of its chemical composition
Water is made up of two kinds of atoms: hydrogen and oxygen. It also has a certain amount of sulfur in it, but the vast majority of water molecules are two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Most other substances in nature are made up of other combinations of atoms, but water is unique in that it’s the only substance that’s pure H2O.
2. Water takes on the smell of whatever it touches first
If you put your finger into a glass filled with water, you’ll be able to smell that particular glass before you can smell anything else. This happens because there are some molecules in your body that have a scent similar to that found in urine. The pheromones that come from your own body have quite a strong smell when they come into contact with another person’s body odor. If you’re near someone who’s just peed, then you’ll notice that particular odor before any other smells as well.
3. Water doesn’t really have an odor of its own
You can’t really smell water, at least not in the same way that you can smell stuff like an apple or grape juice. This is because water molecules are so small and close together that they don’t interact with your nose the same way that air molecules do, which is why you can’t smell water.
4. Water has a slight odor because of the bacteria in it
The reason why drinking water smells slightly different from tap water is that you’re always re-introducing some bacteria back into your system after you’ve been drinking tap water—which means that there are some bacteria already present in your body, but they’re just not living as actively as they would be if they were in a bottle of bottled water. The bacteria present in tap water are always living at their maximum rate—which means that there’s a lot more going on with them than there would be if they were just sitting around on their own—so while those same bacteria are present in bottled waters as well, they’re not quite as active and so the difference between them and the ones found in tap water isn’t quite as noticeable (this is also why bottled waters usually taste better than tap waters).
How Does Artificial Turf Change The Availability Of Potable Water?
1. Turf can reduce the amount of water available for potable use by as much as 20%
The reason that artificial turf can reduce the amount of water available for potable use is that it’s not just any old grass that you’re playing on. Artificial turf is made out of a special type of grass called “polymer excretion type” (PEX), which means that the fibers in the grass are made out of a synthetic material that breaks down into small bits when exposed to sunlight, so they don’t decay as quickly as regular grass would. This means that if you were to mow your lawn every week, then your lawn would be replaced in about two months—but artificial turf could take up to four years to completely decompose.
2. Artificial turf doesn’t filter out pollutants adequately
When you play on artificial turf, you’re not really playing on a patch of dirt—you’re playing on an area covered with a layer of grass called a “coir mat.” The coir mat is made up of millions and millions of tiny fibers which act like little sponges—so when it rains, all these fibers are soaked up by the rainwater. Unfortunately, these tiny fibers are still very porous—they allow plenty of water to get through them but not much air at all because they’re so small and close together (this is why coir mats tend to smell when they get wet). So if it rains heavily enough, then all those tiny pores in the coir mat will be filled with water, and you’ll end up with a lot less water to drink than if it hadn’t rained at all.
3. Artificial turf can change the microclimates of your yard
The reason that artificial turf is so popular is that it’s cheap, but the truth is that it’s not just about the money—it’s also about the practicality. Artificial turf is made out of synthetic fibers which are much more porous than regular grass—so they allow a lot more water to get through them than regular grass would. The ones in your yard might be covered by your lawn mower, but they’re still there and they’re still doing their job of filtering out pollutants and contaminants from the air around them (this means that each time you mow your lawn, you’re removing millions of tiny fibers from your yard). These tiny fibers are generally made out of polypropylene or polyethylene (or other similar materials), which means that they break down into small bits when exposed to sunlight, so they don’t decay as quickly as grass would (this is why we wear sunscreens when we go outside). These tiny bits then get mixed together with all kinds of other particles, so when you play on artificial turf all those particles will be mixed together with all those tiny fibers in a way that isn’t possible on regular grass—and this means that when you play on artificial turf, then there will be less water available for drinking purposes.
4. Artificial turf is expensive
Artificial turf is generally cheap to buy but requires a lot of maintenance to keep it looking nice and healthy. This means that you’ll need to replace the coir mat regularly (which can cost anywhere from $50 – $200) If you’re going to get an artificial lawn, then you should expect to spend at least $800 on it. This kind of upkeep can really add up over time if you’re playing in your yard regularly with lots of children, which can add up to $1000.
5. Artificial turf has some very dangerous chemicals in it
One of the main reasons why people love artificial grass so much is because they don’t have to mow their lawn as often as they would on regular grass—but unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t any dangerous chemicals on the surface of an artificial lawn.
Bottom Line
WeAreWater is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about water and the environment. We aim to bring attention to the causes and effects of water shortages and to encourage public action to address them. WeAreWater is not a scientific organization and makes educated guesses based on available data. However, the information we present is based on extensive research, including a review of professional journals, peer-reviewed books, and media reports. Unfortunately, technology and global trade have made running water supplies in other countries very affordable.
