Water has a number of unique properties that are essential to life which determine it’s environmental chemical behaviour. The important properties of water are as follows;
• It is an excellent solvent which assists in transportation of nutrients and waste products, making biological processes possible in an aqueous medium.
• It has the highest dielectric constant among the common liquids, which causes the high solubility of ionic substances and their ionisation in solution.
• It is transparent to visible and longer-wavelength fraction of UV light, allowing light required for photo synthesis to reach considerable depths in bodies of water
• It has a maximum density as a liquid at 4 oC which restricts vertical circulation in stratified bodies of water.
• It has higher heat of evaporation than any other material which determines transfer of heat and water molecules between the atmosphere and bodies of water.
• It has higher heat capacity than any other liquid except ammonia which helps in stabilisation of temperature of organism and geographical region.