Best Drink of Water

[mso489]

The best drink of water I recall was at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, at the swimming area of a family summer resort where they had a pipe emerging from the pebbles at the edge of the water. It was a never-ending artesian well, as it was described, providing water from deep in the aquifer around this glacially dug very deep lake. Second to that was a drink of water I had directly from a mountain stream above the habitation line, though that was approved for drinking only with the proviso that there was the remote hazard of a dead animal upstream that might have bacterial leaving, but the water was intensely chilled almost like the artesian well. I suspect that the Lake Geneva well is no longer approved for drinking water, though I like to think it is.

 

[workman]

I am fortunate in that regard, as my house gets water directly from a nearby spring. It's cold, unfiltered, crystal clear from deep beneath the mountain.

 

[cobguy]

Second to that was a drink of water I had directly from a mountain stream ...

Same here … Glacier National Park in the late Spring.
I'm also lucky to have an artesian well on my property. It's hard water that has filtered through Limestone but tastes clean and pure every time right from the tap. Slightly more rare here in Arizona.

 

[prndl]

A rivulet running down a thin crevice by the side of an old road going up Brasstown Bald in North Ga. in a '55 Chevy Bel-Air. I was 5 years old and thirsty. The water was clear as a cold diamond. I had never tasted water that good before.
Nor since.

 

[jaytex1969]

After 7 months in the Middle East during Desert Storm, we landed in Bangor, Maine at 4am and entered the terminal to a huge crowd cheering and handing us beers.
My Sergeant Major was taking the beers from us as fast as we were getting them and handing us bottled water.
That first taste of home was the nectar of the gods.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Alaska is certainly spoiled when it comes to water (for the most part). Where I live our well is fantastic cool, clear, water from a constantly running underground aquifer. Anchorage residents are spoiled with some of the best water any "big city" could possibly have, as it is all sourced from the Eklutna lake, which is fed by the Eklutna glacier just outside Anchorage. The tap water is literally glacier water that people in the lower 48 pay out the ass for in a bottle.
Unfortunately, many of the native villages are not so lucky and have significant water quality issues, and some folks further off the road system struggle with inconsistent wells. Our recent big earthquake last november shook up a lot of people's well system (ours included) so badly that it took quite a bit to clean out and repair. Fortunately for many people FEMA disaster relief aided in offsetting some of the cost once all the roads that caved in were fixed.
I think my best ever drink of water is always the one I take right after finishing field dressing a moose. The sweet, cool, water after busting your ass for hours in God's country always makes me sit back and appreciate being alive in that corner of time in the world. It's when the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment of the harvest really sinks in, and it's just refreshing as hell.

 

[didimauw]

I don't know anything about the water there, but I used to live 5 minutes away from lake Geneva. It's a wonderful albeit tourist town. Lots of nice sights. When was the last time you were there MSO?

 

[mikethompson]

Tom has officially run out of thread ideas :wink:

 

[redglow]

When I was a kid. From a garden hose on a hot/humid summer day. After cutting the grass.

 

[ashdigger]

Years ago I was hiking near the edges of Death Valley and a spring we relied on had dried up. The next day, after our water was gone we came across a shallow seep that was alive with moss, small bugs and reeked of sulphur. It was just enough water to hold over to our water cache another day away.
Every now and then when I use a match to light my pipe, I'm taken back to that hot day, warm water and miracle seep.

 

[mso489]

didi', in the 1950's what is now a conference center on Lake Geneva (Wisc.) was a family resort called College Camp, affiliated with George Williams College in Chicago, down the steep bank of the lake from Yerkes Observatory (the largest refracting telescope in the world). When my family went there, many of the standard rentals were big four-"room" tents on wooden platforms with tables in the center section with kerosene lamps. It was a great place for a kid to roam, with swimming, hiking, boat tours around the lake much of which was circled by Chicago millionaires mansions, sailboats, rowboats, crafts, and nice cool lake breezes. The last time I was there was probably '58 or '59. My older sister became a teenager and found the whole thing a drag, so we took trips instead. Here in North Carolina I have an acquaintance who grew up in nearby Williams Bay and worked at College Camp as a waitress when a student. They had an excellent kitchen and dining room, so it was a no-work vacation for parents.

 

[mso489]

mike', beverages are a big topic here.

 

[hiplainsdrifter]

I grew up with great well water out of the Oglalla Aquifer in Nebraska. I have had the opportunity to taste wild water from many streams, rivers, and lakes. I would say my favorite is out of mountain streams that are bedded on limestone.

 

[olkofri]

Best drink of water I've ever had was at the miraculous fountain at Odilienberg, Elsaß.

 

[danimalia]

I love the tap water here in the Bay Area. I believe a lot of it comes from the Hetch Hetchy in the Yosemite Valley. Goes well with a pipe!
It makes me sad to think of people who are deprived of such a simple, important thing like clean drinking water.

 

[unkleyoda]

I'm lucky, the city water where I live is very good. There are 3 companies that use it to bottle and sell, without filtering it. My wife is from central New York, and could not believe that our tap water tasted like the best bottled water.

 

[mso489]

Water is a central issue on the size of the human population and quality of life. I feel lucky to have had reasonably good luck with potable tap water and hope this continues for ongoing generations. People tend to be indifferent until something goes badly wrong. I think people in urban areas rely on recycling wastewater more than they admit to themselves, which if done carefully is sanitary and inevitable. Space station earth. A superior water supply is highly valuable.

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

Some folks say Finland has best tap water on earth. or who knows maybe this 'statement is like pure propaganda

 

[ssjones]

We live 30 minutes from Berkley Springs WV, which is famous for the mineral baths, but also has some fantastic spring water.

https://www.findaspring.com/locations/north-america/usa/berkeley-springs-wv/