Nitrogen Agitation In dip and Dunk Machines

Ok in my lab i use the Dip and Dunk processors.Nitrogen is used to agitate the chemistry in these machines.

The Nitrogen is fed from the regulator into a water tank where the nitrogen passes through water before it goes into the pipes which goes into the machine.

What i don't understand is the point of the water? I have been told that it is to moisten the nitrogen as it is too dry to use directly into the machine, however i don't understand why its so important? what happens if I don't pass the nitrogen through water first? does my tank evaporation increase? does the nitrogen damage the machine some how?

all I know is its what ever lab here does and I do the same. only I dont know exactly why, can someone explain this to me?

Steve;

We never used water at EK AFAIK, but then our Nitrogen was piped in to every lab and may have been centrally treated. I never saw it used in photo labs that I visited though.

PE