This is an interesting question. The guideline I have heard over and over is 2L/day. I wondered what this is based on. Wikipedia says the 2L/day guideline comes

This is an interesting question. The guideline I have heard over and over is 2L/day. I wondered what this is based on. Wikipedia says the 2L/day guideline comes from the EPA, and the corresponding British guideline is 1.8L/day. Following the links on Wikipedia I got to this article: http://www.aafp.org/afp/991115ap/2269.html http://www.aafp.org/afp/991115ap/2269.html It lists low fluid intake (as well as restricted access to a bathroom) as a risk factor in kidney stone formation. However, another article (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12576800 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12576800) reports some conflicting results. Apparently, as people drink more water, they consume more sodium to compensate, negating some of the benefits. I wonder what someone who actually knows about this would say. Also, 2L isn't that much, but I wonder if I drink 8 glasses of water a day. An experiment is in order.