With the largest population, China's domestic water demands are highest at over 70 billion m³ per year. India, the next largest populace is the third largest municipal water user. The United States, despite having a much lower population, is the second largest user as a result of higher per capita water demands.
According to the water usage statistics by Our World in Data, China is the biggest consumer of water for domestic purposes like cleaning, cooking, drinking, and washing and uses over 70 billion m3 annually.
Brazil. Brazil has the highest volume of renewable fresh water resources, totaling approximately 8,233 cubic kilometers. The freshwater in Brazil accounts for approximately 12% of the world's fresh water resources. The Amazon Region in Brazil contains over 70% of the total fresh water in Brazil.
Water footprint of countries
In absolute terms, the countries with the highest water footprints are (in billion tons per year): India: 987.38. China: 883.39. US: 696.01.
Australia has some of the biggest water footprints in the world – it ranks #9 with 1,156 gallons of water per person daily. Australia is among the top 10 countries with the highest level of water usage in the world – 1,156 of water per person daily.
Australia has a water footprint of 1393m3/cap/yr, which is above the global average. Of the nations sampled, Australia has the highest rate of internal domestic water use per person of 341m3/cap/yr. National water footprints have two components: the internal and external footprints.
Water is the world's most consumed drink, however, 97% of water on Earth is non-drinkable salt water.
Countries in the global north tend to use a much lower share of water for agriculture; Germany and the Netherlands use less than one percent.
Melbourne Water is proud to have taken out top honours at the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia competition.
Most of the tap water in Australia meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines set by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), which ensure that tap water is safe and free from harmful contaminants, such as bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and heavy metals.
The Maldives is 99% water and more than 80% of its 1,190 islands are just one metre above sea level. Yet many young Maldivians, particularly girls, do not know how to swim.
By far, the industry that uses the most water in Australia is agriculture.
The Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry supplied over 99% of distributed water. Distributed water use is driven by demand from the Agriculture industry, which used 60% of all distributed water in 2020-21: Agricultural distributed water use increased by 57% from 2019-20 to 7,093 GL.
The #1 water waster in your home is the toilet.
A leaking toilet can waste 15,000 gallons of water a month. To check if your toilet has a leak, place several drops of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color seeps into the toilet bowl within 30 minutes without flushing, your toilet has a leak.
Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage worldwide. In fact, after water and tea, beer is the most commonly-consumed drink in the world. Beer is also most likely the oldest alcoholic drink in history.
Tea is the second most widely consumed beverage in the world.
While there are a few places that boast extremely clean water, such as Canada, Iceland, Antarctica, or even Upstate New York, the team of scientists determined that the cleanest water in the world was in the Patagonia region of Chile, Puerto Williams.
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens owned more water rights than any other individuals in America, with rights over enough of the Ogallala Aquifer to drain approximately 200,000 acre-feet (or 65 billion gallons of water) a year.
Around the world, agriculture is the leading cause of water degradation. In the United States, agricultural pollution is the top source of contamination in rivers and streams, the second-biggest source in wetlands, and the third main source in lakes.
Water usage in Australia
Crops including cereals, cotton, and sugar cane all require large volumes of water for irrigation. The Murray-Darling Basin, one of the largest and most significant agricultural areas in Australia, depends on access to millions of liters of water each year for agricultural purposes.
During fiscal year 2021, approximately 0.81 megaliters of water were consumed per capita in Tasmania. This was the highest per capita consumption across all states in Australia, and was largely attributed to high industry water consumption.
Sydney Water is Australia's largest water utility, providing water, wastewater, recycled water and some stormwater services to Greater Sydney.