I agree with the no water for breakfast. It doesn't work for some reason. A juice is needed.

But yeah. I'm with you. My not-girlfriend's parents don't ever drink water, and that's all I ever have to drink when I have guests, excepting beer and liquor.

As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was “Good to taste but not to waste!,” state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money.

Officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a dry-cleaning solvent had oozed into the water, records show.

The village avoided scrutiny by telling state regulators in 1986 that they would get all of their tap water from Lake Michigan, and would use the well only in an emergency. But records show Crestwood kept drawing well water on a routine basis—relying on it for up to 20 percent of the village’s water supply some months.

^ You sir are not a functioning alcoholic then. A functioning alcoholic keeps a bottle of water beside my their bed for when I they wake up in the middle of the night and are thirsty. When I they slam the whole bottle of water I they don't wake up with a hangover.

^ You sir are not a functioning alcoholic then. A functioning alcoholic keeps a bottle of water beside my their bed for when I they wake up in the middle of the night and are thirsty. When I they slam the whole bottle of water I they don't wake up with a hangover.

It's the miracle cure!

Virtually every health-conscious person can quote the recommendation: Drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day. Other beverages-coffee, tea, soda, beer, even orange juice-don't count. Watermelon? Not a chance.

There's no denying that water is good for you, but does everyone really need to drink 64 ounces or more every day? According to Heinz Valtin, a retired professor of physiology from Dartmouth Medical School who specialized in kidney research and spent 45 years studying the biological system that keeps the water in our bodies in balance, the answer is no.

Valtin says that for people who have specific health concerns, such as kidney stones or a tendency to develop urinary tract infections, drinking lots of water can be beneficial. But after an extensive search in 2002 for the origins of what is commonly referred to as the "8 x 8" guideline and a review of associated health claims, he reports finding no scientific evidence supporting the notion that healthy individuals need to consume large quantities of water. In 2008 Dan Negoianu and Stanley Goldfarb reviewed the evidence for the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. They came to a similar conclusion: "There is no clear evidence of benefit from drinking increased amounts of water."

In fact, Valtin found that the 8 x 8 guideline may have originated from a misunderstanding. In 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board, now part of the National Academy of Sciences's Institute of Medicine, suggested that a person consume one milliliter of water (about one fifth of a teaspoon) for each calorie of food. The math is pretty simple: A daily diet of around 1,900 calories would dictate the consumption of 1,900 milliliters of water, an amount remarkably close to 64 ounces. But many dieticians and other people failed to notice a critical point: namely, that much of the daily need for water could be met by the water content found in food.

The Board revisited the question of water consumption in 2004. Its panel on "dietary preference intakes for electrolytes and water" noted that women who appear adequately hydrated consume about 91 ounces (2.7 liters) of water a day and men about 125 ounces (3.7 liters). These seemingly large quantities come from a variety of sources-including coffee, tea, milk, soda, juice, fruits, vegetables and other foods. Instead of recommending how much extra water a person should drink to maintain health, the panel simply concluded that "the vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration needs by letting thirst be their guide."

Advocates of the 8 x 8 guideline sometimes claim that thirst is a poor hydration indicator. They assert that many people are so chronically dehydrated they no longer recognize their bodies' signals for water. Barbara Rolls, professor of nutrition sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, disagrees. Her studies, she says, "found no evidence that people are chronically dehydrated." Although some drugs can cause problems with thirst regulation and the elderly may not experience thirst as intensely as younger people, Rolls maintains that most healthy people are adequately hydrated.

Weight loss is another benefit often touted by proponents of the 8 x 8 guideline. They claim people mistake thirst for hunger, which causes them to eat when they are really just thirsty. They also allege that drinking water suppresses appetite. Given the obesity crisis, every little bit (or drop) helps.

But Rolls disagrees, arguing that "drinking water and waiting for pounds to melt away does not work. We all wish it were that simple." She explains that "hunger and thirst are controlled by separate systems in the body. People are unlikely to mistake thirst for hunger." Furthermore, she reports that her studies "never found that drinking water with or before a meal affected appetite." Nevertheless, there are some elements of truth in the misperception. Rolls did find that water-rich foods-as opposed to stand-alone water-tended to help people consume fewer calories. And, she says, "there is a way that water can help with weight loss-if you use water as a substitute for a caloric beverage."

Neither Rolls nor Valtin opposes the idea of including water in a healthy diet. They both note that the body needs water to function properly and that dehydration hurts the body. They do object, however, to the notion that a universally true guideline governs ideal water consumption. "Water requirements depend so much on outside temperature, activity levels and other factors that there isn't one rule that fits everybody," Rolls says. And Valtin cautions that in some situations drinking too much water can actually be dangerous, even fatal.

So how much water should you drink? Here's their advice: If you have specific medical concerns, talk to your doctor. But if you are healthy, Rolls recommends that you "have a beverage with meals and drink when you are thirsty." In other words, heed your thirst signals, enjoy that watermelon, and stop feeling guilty for not guzzling those extra glasses.

I've only had tap water once in my life, so I will probably never drink it. I will cook with it or make coffee with it, but if I'm drinking straight water I drink it from a bottle.

Link!
Water, water everywhere -- but for Kevin Freedman, there are just two or three litres to drink and 22 litres for the rest of his daily needs.The conservation-minded Winnipegger plans to cut his water use to just 25 litres per day this month.

That means parsing it out for drinking, washing, cooking and other necessities.

Freedman, 28, said he hopes to draw attention to the need for water conservation worldwide, and to get people thinking about how much H2O they use daily.

"We have a lot of water in Canada, but we don't have an unlimited amount of water," said Freedman, on staff at the YMCA-YWCA of Winnipeg who is earning a master's degree in non-profit management.

Twenty-five litres might not seem so frugal, but the average Canadian uses about 350 litres daily, according to Environment Canada.

Compare that to some developing countries, where usage can be just 10 to 20 litres daily.

An older toilet can use 20 litres of water in a single flush, he said.

He plans to flush less this month and pour water directly into the toilet for a forced flush that uses less water.

Handwashing clothes will be routine, since a top-loading washing machine can use 100 to 140 litres of water per wash.

Instead of showering, Freedman will wash using a cloth and bucket of water. Even low-flow shower heads use five to six litres of water per minute, he said, and older showers use more than double that.

Freedman said he's up for the challenge after living for a few years in a part of Indonesia where bathing with a cloth and bucket was the norm. His shower uses eight to 10 litres per minute and that means even a few minutes "would be all the water I'd have for the day," he said.

Freedman said he'll use a trio of refillable bottles to keep track of drinking water and will limit his use of dishes.

He has set up a Facebook group, titled Water as a Right Conservation Challenge, aimed at getting the word out. He plans to blog his progress at theweeklyregale.blogspot.com, and is collecting donations for UNICEF.

Raising awareness is more important than pledges, Freedman said, but he'd like the cash to go toward a school sanitation system worth $5,000.