Commentary by Christy Solo
Was filling my water cup this morning and got to thinking about…well, water. And well water and tap water and…
I’ll pause here to clarify I was filling one of my water cups. I keep one in the living room and one in the loo. Whenever I travel by car I carry at least one insulated water bottle, usually two – on birding or hiking adventures at least four. I have several gallons of backup bottled water for power outages. When I go outside to do yardwork, I also take an insulated bottle with me.
I may need an H₂O intervention.
I should also clarify I could only afford one reverse osmosis filter for my home – I’m on well water – so keeping household water cups filled is its own task because I can only fill them in the kitchen. Helps me get my steps in as it were.
If you haven’t deduced it by now, water is my favorite beverage. Without any conscious effort I drink at least one-half gallon every day.
I am of a milk people. We went through gallons and gallons when I was growing up. My brother would just walk in, grab a gallon jug from the fridge and down the whole thing on a hot day. We all – this includes my paternal extended family – drank milk with every meal. For holidays we’d have milk in a beautiful crystal pitcher on the formal dining table.
As I kid I also loved soda (okay, I still love soda) but water was always one step above – my “in between meals” beverage. The house I grew up in initially had great tap water. Then we moved to Southern California and – OOF – that tap water was beyond awful.
Moreover it was filled with white flaky sediment. Mom – ever the optimist – tried to convince me it was “just fine” to drink “you just have to let it settle.”
Y’all even at my young age I could not be convinced that water which has to “settle” is potable. I begged and pleaded and pulled my best “Bluey Begging Face” trying to convince my parents to get a Sparklets Water Cooler, but to no avail. Dad was not going to pay for something which came for free from the tap (nearly everyone one else I knew had Sparklets Water, I stand by my request to this day!)
Those SoCal years were my “Coke is now my only non-mealtime beverage” years.
Except during summer when we’d spend our vacation at Union Creek. I drank enough of that sweet, sweet Rogue River water to make up for all the water I missed the rest of the year.
Fun fact: Literally the very best water I’ve ever had is the water at the emergence point of Boundary Springs – it’s the stuff of legend. It’s a hike to get there, but if you too are a water connoisseur it’s worth it.
Luckily for me (less so for the Coca-Cola company) post SoCal the tap water everywhere else I’ve lived has been drinkable, if not Rogue River good.
Note: Do not drink water directly from the Rogue River, not below the dam (like hard not below the dam) and not above the dam either. Approximately 90% of my extended family members (myself excluded fortunately) got raging cases of Giardia from the river around Union Creek. So it goes when you drink from a river where there are free range cattle. Also why you want water from the absolute emergence point of Boundary Springs.
While not Boundary Springs quality my current well water (once excruciatingly well filtered) is a very close third place behind Boundary Springs and (also excruciatingly well filtered) Upper, Upper Rogue River water.
So let’s all raise a glass of H₂O! Sláinte!
