the water does the water go away and make it look like your flying in the air like in SWG? How does the water look? Good? Bad? Is there a setting to turn the water effects up and down? If so is there a great change between the two?

Are there lakes and streams in the game?
Yes
If so can you swim across them?
Yes, but sometimes you get eaten by angry mobs...
Can you go underwater?
Yes. The undeads can even stay underwater for as long as they want to, though all other races must breath from time to time. Potions or spells may be used to help with breathing underwater as well.
If you can swim, when you have the view go below the surface of the water does the water go away and make it look like your flying in the air like in SWG?
No, bugs like these do not exist in WoW (at least I have not seen it)
How does the water look? Good? Bad?
Very realistic, except I'd like to see some waves - I guess that's the next challenge, because so far I think Blizzard has done a great job with the water in wow (as well as the ambient sounds of the world).
Is there a setting to turn the water effects up and down?
Yes.
If so is there a great change between the two?
If your video card supports it the game takes advantage of it. The water has a glistening effect now, so it sort of sparkles in different places. It is much more picturesque, but overall it fits the cartoony theme and is not quite as realistic looking as DAOCs. It is however much more fun to swim in than DAOC.

Additionally the turbidity of the water (cleanliness/clarity but god turbidity is a good nerdy word) is variable in WoW. Some water is pristine and clear, other water is green and slimy looking other water is really murky and you can't see very far.

Okay, I hate publicly asking n00b questions, but I'm stuck and its not on the Stratics site or any other site, nor is it even on the main WoW site. For the life of me I can't figure out how to use a leather-working kit in making armor. How do you add it in there?

You don't add it into a recipe. An armor kit is made via the leather-working skin (be it light medium or heavy depending upon the hide being used). Once you have made the armor kit, right click it and then select the item that you want imbued with the +8 +16 +24 armor (doesn't have to be leather at all). This works on all types of armor cloth-plate. Just to mention, they do NOT stack with enchants, unfortunately.

Is there an elite version of each kind of pet???

Short answer: Yes, there are elite pets.

Longer answer:
yes, *most* basic pet models are available in an Elite Form. Bears, Wolves, Raptors, Boars, Spiders. Also I have heard that there are/were tamable turtles and zebras, both of which definatly have elite forms available, but I don't know if they were tamable or not. But of course not everything is tamable, such as kodos for instance. There is a good thread on the official hunter forums with a listing of animals that are an aren't tamable at all as well as some listings of elite mobs. However, the more important answer to the question posed is that with the latest patch, elite pets no longer do any more damage than a normal pet. In other words effectively rendering the point of whether your pet is elite or not moot. To quote the patch notes from September 18th.
Hunters:
Pets have increased stats, damage, and armor.
Tamed elite mobs no longer deal extra damage.
Pets now properly scale to appropriate sizes.
Creatures in the world know a few new pet abilities. You can learn them by taming certain beasts and letting them use such abilities. Once you learn them, you can teach them to other pets.
Concussive Shot duration has been increased.
Beast Taming has been renamed to Tame Beast.
Feed Pet is now an ability, not a spell.