Wherever water flows, there is life. Without water, all life forms cease to exist. From the simple microbe to the complex human being, water plays a critical role in our survival. Many living organisms live entirely in water; those that don’t, need to extract water from their environment.

All life forms on earth – bacteria, plants, animals, and humans – depend on water for health and survival. Bacteria need water to dissolve food. Plants need water to create energy to grow. Animals need water for metabolism, to regulate their temperature, support their weight, hide from predators, and move from one location to another.

Humans rely on water for hydration, digestion, detoxification, cooking, cleaning, transportation, and recreation. Without water, there would be no food, no energy, no life. More than just a simple mixture of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, water is essential for sustaining life.

Fun Water Facts

How much do you know about water and its role in different forms of life? Here are some fun facts that may surprise you.

Microbial Sphere
	A bacterium is made up of 80-90% water. Sweat is odourless, but when sweat is digested by bacteria living on our skin, a sulfurous, onion-y, or even meaty smell is released, causing body odour. The distinctively earthy ‘after-the-rain’ smell is actually the smell of spores of Actinomycetes bacteria in the moist air.

Plant World
	85% of all plant life is found in the ocean. Microscopic marine plants thrive even in the Arctic Ocean under 3-foot thick ice! New plants require less water at more frequent intervals while older, more mature plants require more water at less frequent intervals. The baobab tree in Africa can store 1,000 to 120,000 litres of water in its swollen trunk and can survive for 10 years without rain.

Animal Kingdom
	The scales on the skin of a snake can store water according to their needs and their environment. Elephants drink up to 100 litres of water a day and cannot survive for more than 48 hours without hydration. The humps found on camels can carry more than 130 litres of water!

Marine Domain
	Freshwater fish never drink water because their bodies are saltier than the surrounding water. When goldfish are kept in the dark, their colour will become much paler due to the light-sensitive pigments in their cells. Sharks do not have bones. Instead, their skeletal system comprises cartilage, which contains mostly water.

Human Beings

A human being drinks around 1 cubic metre (1000 litres) of water a year. In the first 6 months of life, babies drink 7 times as much water per kilogramme of weight than an adult. Only 1% of all water on earth comes from freshwater that is directly accessible for human use! The ‘stickiness’ of water gives it a high surface tension that enables water to pull blood up the narrow vessels in the body against the force of gravity.