How much water a day?

[kermit911]

How much water a day does the human body need to live?

[kazza12345]

are you asking what the minimum amount is?  i guess it would vary depending on the age of the person and their general health.  Or are you asking what the recommended amount is?

[brachiopod]

....aswell as ambient temperature / humidity.

Me, I don't drink the stuff. Happier with a pint of cider.

 

(Cue answers saying cider is a solution of ethanol in water; you shouldn't drink alcohol in a hot climate; alcoholic drinks dehydrate you etc etc.)

[chris99]

you can go without water for 1-2 weeks but then if you didnt have any after that you would die

[Sam172]

It's possible to go for 15 days without any water. That is of course if you stay in the shade all the time, don't move and hardly ever eat.

The average person loses 2-3 litres of water per day. Even 1 litre is lost if nothing is done, and the person is in the shade all day.

By the time 1/5 of the water in the body is lost then you...well....you have great difficulty in staying alive. Considering water makes up most of the body, it's pretty important.

I'd say about 2 litres of water a day (that can come through drink, food, etc) and you can survive. 1.5 litres a day if you're not really doing much at all.
That's about the minimum without having a negative net water intake per day.

[QmunkE]

If you drop someone off in the middle of the Sahara, they will obviously need water much more quickly than if they were sat in a room somewhere temperate.

Are you sure about that figure of 1-2 weeks? I think that's a bit of an overestimate - according to the Wikipedia:

To function properly the body requires between one and seven litres/quarts of water per day to avoid dehydration, the precise amount depending on the level of activity, temperature, humidity, and other factors.

Seems to me that you'd die much sooner than two weeks...

[stevie21]

I thought that you could last about 1-2 weeks without food as long as you had water but lasted no more than about 5 days without water.
Where I get these "facts" from I have no idea so don't base your thesis on them

[Peter Pedant]

I still think its 750 mls a day for a 70 kg man, although this amswer seems to have gone missing since last night.