A graph illustrating water usage in Berlin during World Cup Germany vs Portugal match is going viral on on Reddit and Imgur.
The graph, released by Berlin’s waterworks (BWB), depicts how when fans attentively watch the game, there is relatively little pressure on the water pumps. However, as soon as the half time whistle is blown, thousands of football fans all run to the bathroom at the same time, activating water pumps across Berlin.
The Berliner Wasserbetriebe claims it takes several precautions around peak match times to ensure normal water usage in the capital city, including allowing water pumps to run high before highly anticipated games.
BWB also report that just before half time is called approximately 5,000 litres of water are pumped per second. In the few minutes following the halftime announcement this number is quickly doubled.
Berliner Wasserbetriebe released a chart to illustrate water usage levels in Berlin before, during and after the Germany’s first World Cup match against Portugal.
Graph illustrating activity before, during and after the Germany vs. Portugal match. © Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Similar statistics were released during the Olympic games by a water utilty company in Edmonton, Canada, to illustrate the attention span of Canadians during hockey matches. It is thought that Canadians paid more attention while the game was in play, and also had less toilet breaks when they were winning the game.
@rowast have you ever seen the graph of water use in Edmonton during the 2010 olympics? http://t.co/AFPqt9OdUC
— Robert Marchini (@rhcm123) June 2, 2014
Featured image: finger pushing button and flushing toilet via Shutterstock Copyright: Rasulov