[imardmd1]

There is another credible viewpoint that the water Jesus was referring to was neither the water of disciples baptism nor water of parturition (amniotic fluid), but rather the God-applied water of washing by the word, a spiritual event, leading to a spiritual birth, not a physical one.

At least, it sounds more convincing to me. That is, spiritual rebirth comes by faith, and faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the (spoken) word, and the spoken word by a human preaching the words and will of God (which He spoke and were written down by men of old chosen for it by the Holy Ghost).

[MHGinTN]

Don’t look now but you have rightly attached the use of water to the ritual an observant Jew would use for reciting the Laws of Moses, especially when away from a designated place for worship. There was a tool included with the ten which indicated if the water to be used had motion, an indication of spiritual connection.