What makes water an especially good solvent?

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Water dissolves many substances because of its polarity. The bonds holding water together are polar covalent, meaning electrons are pulled toward the oxygen atom. This makes the water molecule have a partial negative charge on the oxygen and partial positive charges on the hydrogens, giving it a strong dipole moment and the ability to form hydrogen bonds. That polarity lets water interact with and stabilize charged species and other polar molecules, effectively breaking apart ionic lattices and shielding ions in solution. If water were nonpolar, it wouldn’t interact well with ions or other polar solutes, so its solvating power would be much weaker. Ionic or metallic bonds describe the types of bonding in solutes or in metals, not the reason water is such a good solvent, so they don’t explain water’s dissolving capability.