Why do we care about water on other planets?

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I'm not saying that I believe there is life on other planets. I am not certain there is, nor am I certain there is not. I'm about 50/50 on life and slightly less optimistic about intelligent life. The problem I have is when we're looking for life on other planets, we're always looking for water or ice. We're always looking for conditions ideal for HUMAN life. To me, these are not attempts to find life, but attempts to inhabit. There may very well be life on Mars, not because there's ice on Mars, but because Martian life can live on Martian resources. The same could apply to other planets. I think it's very stupid that the best and brightest of our minds believe that oxygen and water are the only conditions for life anywhere. That having been said, I don't believe there to be any life on Mercury, Venus or Mars, mainly because I think we would have found it by now or at least seen evidence of it. As for life similar to ours, I am most optimistic about Mars. The other planets are too far away to even consider investigating and Mars has an equatorial average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. I have no problem with our searches for life beginning with water, but I don't think it should end when there is no water, nor should we be optimistic when we find it. I don't think we should be optimistic until we find a water TOWER LOL. What do you guys think?