Seven tenths of the Earth is covered with water (about 71 percent) and it is responsible for the presence of life here. Our bodies are typically 69 percent water by weight - that’s a lot! If you weigh 75 kilos then nearly 52 kilos (two large Jerry cans) of you is water, the rest of your body is only 23 kilos worth of matter.

It is unsurprising then that water is important to us, it’s our third survival priority after air and shelter and, to no small degree, our need for shelter is about maintaining homeostasis, our need to keep our temperature and fluid concentrations relatively constant. We can only survive for about four days without water.

Water really is the element responsible for life. Liquid water seems to be a prerequisite for organic life in the Universe so efforts to find other life in space is concentrated on systems with the potential for liquid water. Water was here on Earth before air, the atmosphere was created by early micro organisms photosynthesising and releasing oxygen as a byproduct of the reaction; something that all green plants still helpfully continue to do for us.

Water is almost everywhere on this planet even if it’s not obvious. Where there is any life at all it must be present somehow. It’s in our bodies and in the bodies of every other living thing, it flows through our landscape as if it were the lifeblood of the world, endlessly circulating from the sea to the sky and back again, via plants, rivers and puddles, mist in the valleys and snow on the mountain tops.

We are drawn to water. Waterside houses are prized locations, we love to visit the sea-side and to splash in the surf, we swim and sail and paddle and play in water, we build ponds in our gardens. We love it.

One of the most wonderful things is to swim in wild places. There is something magical about being in water and in nature and it is one of the best ways to unplug and reconnect.