Was wondering why I would choose water 17 over OR, given the amount of features OR has.

If you think it looks better for whatever reason then use it, I doubt the author expects people to choose it over OR. Personally, I still like enhanced water best and don't use reloaded since I don't care for 90% of the features.

I do not use reloaded also since it adds so many things I do not like or want in my game. I do like the water in it.

Never heard of Water 17 might look into it when I get in the mood for Oblivion and if I want to play with mods for that session.

I'm not sure the logic of this. In OR, you can disable everything you don't want in the INI file while still having the benefits of all the engine fixes. On top of that, by disabling the OR water, you can still use Water 17 if you want.

I just had a look at the list of bug fixes in the mod's description. I'll be honest, I've never noticed any of these bugs. It would not be worth it to me to install this thing and comply with all of its requirements just to get a handful of little bug fixes. As a matter of principle I dislike the idea of installing a mod and disabling virtually every single thing it does. That just doesn't seem right to me.

But to get back on topic, I don't use the water mods under discussion so i can't offer any suggestions. I use a very tiny water mod (it changes just two parameters) that makes water clearer when viewed from the shore and allows me to see further underwater. I don't feel a need to radically overhaul the look of Oblivion's water.

Like Lady Selene stated why install a mod if I am going to disable most of it. Besides I find Oblivion to be quite stable the last time I played with just using Oblivion Stutter Remover.