None can say better than Leonardo da Vinci:

“Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong, sometimes acid and sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet and sometimes thick or thin, sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or pestilence, sometime health-giving, sometimes poisonous. It suffers change into as many natures as are the different places through which it passes. And as the mirror changes with the colour of its subject, so it alters with the nature of the place, becoming noisome, laxative, astringent, sulfurous, salty, incarnadined, mournful, raging, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat or slim. Sometimes it starts a conflagration, sometimes it extinguishes one; is warm and is cold, carries away or sets down, hollows out or builds up, tears or establishes, fills or empties, raises itself or burrows down, speeds or is still; is the cause at times of life or death, or increase or privation, nourishes at times and at others does the contrary; at times has a tang, at times is without savor, sometimes submerging the valleys with great floods. In time and with water, everything changes”

• 01.004 head of the hobbits who lived across The Water,
• 01.005 that was to be found either under The Hill or over The Hill or across The Water,
• 01.006 and across The Water
• 01.013 You might try over The Hill or across The Water.’
• 01.070 far over The Water
• 01.083 Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up –
• 02.002 boiled water,
• 02.019 across The Water,
• 02.029 his cloak was full of water;
• 02.087 We ain’t got no water,
• 02.088 and yer can fetch the water yerself,
• 03.007 showing where water might be.
• 03.008 and running water at the bottom.
• 03.011 They could hear the voice of hurrying water
• 03.011 and there was a light on the valley-side across the water.
• 03.024 across the water
• 03.025 as quick as water flows,
• 03.027 “It is long enough without watering it.”
• 03.049 and then they went down to the water
• 03.050 and the sun dancing on the water.
• 04.002 – except by the noise of water
• 05.010 he trotted splash into water!
• 05.010 drops drip-drip-dripping from an unseen roof into the water below;
• 05.011 in the water.
• 05.012 Deep down here by the dark water
• 05.012 if they ever came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water,
• 05.047 who never had anything to do with the water if he could help it.
• 05.050 in the water,
• 05.056 He flapped into the water
• 05.108 down to Gollum’s water.
• 05.122 for he was leaving the water further
• 06.065 and looking for water.
• 07.117 but the water was too deep
• 07.126 Water, he said,
• 07.126 Water is not easy to find there,
• 07.126 I will provide you with skins for carrying water,
• 08.008 for they had none too much water,
• 08.008 when one day they found their path blocked by a running water.
• 08.008 in its water.
• 08.015 which is low just there where the path goes down into the water.’
• 08.018 in the water!
• 08.029 and cleared the water with a mighty jump.
• 08.030 and then toppled back into the dark water,
• 08.031 above the water
• 08.145 and meat and water,
• 09.003 The water flowed dark and swift
• 09.019 built out on bridges far into the water
• 09.050 and was pushed over into the cold water some feet below.
• 09.050 smacking into the water,
• 09.054 Down into the water he fell,
• 09.054 into the cold dark water with the barrel on top of him.
• 09.055 Though his ears were full of water,
• 09.055 in icy water,
• 09.057 and whether a lot of water was getting into their tubs.
• 09.057 in the water,
• 09.058 He managed to keep his head above the water,
• 09.059 The breeze was cold but better than the water,
• 09.060 and being rather leaky had now shipped a small amount of water.
• 09.061 and there it was joined to the main water of the Forest River
• 09.061 There was a dim sheet of water no longer overshadowed,
• 09.061 Then the hurrying water of the Forest River
• 09.062 that he could see near the water’s edge.
• 09.065 in the shallow water
• 10.002 filled with the waters of the river which broke up
• 10.002 but still a strong water flowed on steadily through the midst.
• 10.003 and rains had swollen the waters
• 10.005 the river gathered all its wandering waters together
• 10.006 that any water that was not the sea could look so big.
• 10.006 filled with deep waters
• 10.006 the doubled waters poured out again
• 10.007 and there had been fleets of boats on the waters,
• 10.007 along the shores when the waters sank in a drought.
• 10.010 through the shallow water to lie groaning on the shore.
• 10.012 in the cold water
• 10.021 and all the waters of the lake turn yellow right away.
• 10.028 This was a wide circle of quiet water
• 11.006 and gazing out from it over the narrow water,
• 11.008 Out of it the waters of the Running River sprang;
• 11.008 and the water,
• 11.008 The only sound was the sound of the stony water,
• 12.022 the waters rose
• 12.054 and draws them alive again from the water.
• 12.097 like water
• 12.103 and up the water you came without a doubt.
• 13.046 a sound of water fell upon their ears,
• 13.048 there issued a boiling water,
• 13.049 Now before them the water fell noisily outward
• 13.064 but they forded the water without much difficulty,
• 13.064 and water.
• Chapter XIV FIRE and WATER
• 14.011 in the town was filled with water,
• 14.012 in deep water –
• 14.015 though all had been drenched with water before he came.
• 14.015 Once more water was flung by a hundred hands
• 14.016 into the water on every side.
• 14.028 He was drenched with water,
• 14.042 but great store of goods he sent ahead by water.
• 14.043 for ever after they had a dread of the water
• 14.043 into the shivering water
• 16.017 where he had to cross the water,
• 16.017 and fell into the cold water with a splash.
• 19.002 The white water flowing,
• 19.005 and led them across the water to the house of Elrond.
• 19.014 Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!
• 19.023 The water was swollen
• 19.037 and across the Water;