Most of us don’t think twice about the faucets in our home – unless it suddenly sprays water all over you, the handle breaks off, or something else unexpected occurs. People often have a love-hate relationship with their faucets because they may or may not have the features they’d like. Rather than just take faucets for granted, perhaps it is time to learn a few interesting facts about faucets. These might not make you love your faucets more, but you’ll have some nice material for small talk at the next cocktail party.

• Early faucets weren’t much more than terra cotta piping leading water into a fountain, but date back to 1700 BC.
• The first silver faucets came into use by the Ancient Romans in 1000 BC.
• Here’s a name you’ll recognize – Alfred Moen. He is credited with inventing the single-handled faucet in 1937 and selling the first one ten years later.
• The Delta faucet was invented in 1954 by Alex Manoogian, utilizing a patent he purchased from Landis H. Perry for the first ball valve.
• The average family uses the faucets in their home over 40 times and uses roughly 140 gallons of water each day.
• A leaking faucet with even a minimum drip rate of one drop per second wastes over 3,000 gallons of water over the course of a year.
• Want to save water? Here’s a great way: Turn the water off when brushing your teeth and while shaving. You could save nearly 6,000 gallons of water a year using this tip.
• There are some amazing new styles of faucets on the market today, including touchless, vessel faucets, waterfall faucets, wall-mount faucets, and more.