FACTS:

85 percent of your brain is water.

The human body is nearly 70 percent water. Every organ from your brain to your heart to your liver is a spongy, water- filled mass fed by red, watery blood carrying dissolved sugar, minerals, gases and hormones.

Water is known as a universal solvent because so many things can dissolve in it - sugar in coffee, salt in soup, bubble bath in your bath water and physiologically, oxygen in your blood.

The waste that is filtered through our kidneys is dissolved in water.

If we cannot have water, we will be poisoned.

Water keeps us from over-heating by seeing through our pores in sweat.

The lungs, eyes, joints and skin all need to remain damp with water.

Each muscle in our bodies consists of nearly 80 percent water, including our hearts.

Our bodies lose water by the minute: More than a cup of water dissipates through our breath every day.

We lose several cups of water in our urine daily.

On hot days we lose cup after cup in sweat.

We can live a month or longer without food, but only a few days without water.

THE SCIENTIFIC FACTS ON WATER

The smallest amount of water is a single molecule. The familiar scientific name of H2O tells us what the water molecule is made of - two atoms of hydrogen (H2) and one atom of oxygen (O). Linking the three objects together including the atoms creates a triangle.

Water molecules are powerful in dissolving substances because of this triangular shape. Each little triangle is positively charged at the bottom, where the two hydrogen atoms angle away from each other. At the top they are negatively charged and this is where the oxygen atom perches. Each water molecule has an electrical polarity similar to the polarity of a magnet with its own opposite ends. When a substance such as salt or sugar is dropped into water, their molecules are pulled apart by their electrical attraction for the water molecules. The substance then dissolves.

Knowing all this, one can see why our bodies need water on a daily basis. The kidney's use water to flush toxins, our eyes see more clearly when covered with a watery substance, our joints are like hinges that need to be oiled with water daily and we all know how our skin can dry out and crack when it isn't plumped up with water. Water also contains important minerals and is by far the most economical drink and the most beneficial. Bottled water is good, too, but shouldn't be the only water you drink, as you deprive yourself of the minerals and such you get with tap water. So, go - have a big glass of water and think of all the rewards your body will reap!