List three properties of water and how each is useful to many species on earth.

Water is a unique substance without which life on Earth would be nothing like it is, if life could exist at all.
One important property of water is that it is a polar molecule. This allows water to dissolve polar and ionic substances. Cells of living things contain water as the solvent. The amino acids and sugars we use for food and for synthesis of biomolecules are dissolved in water in our cells, as are ATP, NADH, and the ions that transmit nerve signals. Because it is polar, water does not dissolve nonpolar substances like hydrocarbons, allowing for the existence of the lipid bilayer that makes up cell membranes, containing cells and keeping the contents in, while keeping out substances that are potentially harmful to the cell.
A second important property is that liquid water has a very high specific heat capacity. Compared to other substances, water can take in a great deal of energy with a relatively small rise in temperature, and it can release a large amount of energy with a relatively small decrease in temperature. This means when water is present, temperatures fluctuate much less than in dry areas, and the temperatures of bodies of water change slowly. Thus organisms that live in and around water are protected from temperature extremes. Since you only asked for three properties, I will include the other thermodynamic properties of water here. Water requires a large amount of energy to melt, and vaporizing it requires an even greater amount. The large amount of energy taken up or given off in these phase changes further helps stabilize temperatures around the Earth, and also allows living things to regulate their body temperature using evaporation of water.
Of course another property is also important: water is a liquid at the range of temperatures most suited for life. It could not function as solvent in living things if it was not. No other substance on Earth exists in all three phases—solid, liquid, and gas—within the temperature range experienced by living things. I’ll throw in a bonus property relevant to phase changes. Because of the capability of its molecules to form “hydrogen bonds,” solid water forms a particular, open structure that is less dense than liquid water. In other words, water expands when it freezes, whereas most substances do not: they are more dense in their solid phase. This means that ice floats on top of water. This property makes aquatic life possible in many places. If ice sank to the bottom of a body of water, organisms would not be able to dig into the sediment at the bottom of bodies of water in the winter when food is scarce. Insulated by the water above it, in many bodies of water the ice would never melt, preventing plants from taking root, fish from having a place to lay their eggs, and many of the other things that are essential to aquatic ecosystems.
There is a great deal more that can be said about water’s unique suitability to support life, but here are three important properties with one extra. We living things are truly fortunate that water is exactly what it is!