It never fails to amaze me how something so mundane and universal could be something that is so essential to life. Much of my life is spent in search of oddities, foraging for mushrooms and plants that nobody has ever tasted before. Showing people how to feed themselves from the land, and yet water often goes as this ingredient that is taken for granted. We ignore it, forget about it, and definitely do not show it the reverence that it deserves. And despite all of that, water makes up about 60% of your total body weight. Without this one ingredient all life on this precious blue planet would be gone.

Throughout the ancient world water was universally regarded as sacred. A gift from the creator to be honored and revered. Increasingly we are reminded by health experts to stay hydrated due to the many health benefits of doing so, but this reminder never instills in us the proper gratitude and love for this substance that we need so very much. One can go on for weeks without food, but the human body can only last a few days without water. There is far more than meets the eye with this substance.

Chemically speaking water is two hydrogen atoms attached to one oxygen atom. But everyone that reads this article will have tasted good flavored water and bad flavored water. Water is more than just the atoms that structure it. Far and away, the most exquisite water that I have ever tasted -the water that I never have to remind myself to drink- is spring water. Cold, refreshing, and full of life giving properties that have inspired people to go to great lengths to collect and store it.

A spring is a point at which water flows from an aquifer to the Earth's surface. Springs can manifest themselves in numerous different ways, but to simplify it is easiest to think of a spring as water that is naturally flowing out of the earth below. This water typically has spent an incredible amount of time being filtered by the rocks and sand and thus is often regarded as a good source of water for drinking purposes. Although spring water is almost always clean and drinkable, not all springs will have good tasting water. Taste is of course subjective, but most people find very iron rich water to be disagreeable. Many of the springs in Northern Michigan have a lot of iron. Some of our favorite springs have very low iron.

Why drink spring water?

The modern life is very convenient in terms of staying hydrated. We no longer have to pull up bucket after bucket on a rope from a well our grandfather dug by hand. Nor must we walk a mile to the nearest river to harvest our days supply of water. Our life is a life of luxury when we look through a lens into history. Water is ubiquitous in our lives. In my lifetime I have watched water go from something that most people drank at water fountains to a substance that is put into plastic bottles and offered to me everywhere I go. Some of these plastic bottles even say "Spring Water" on their labels. Harvesting and drinking true wild water is something that should be done for numerous reasons, but higher on the list than anything else is because true wild spring water has not once been tampered with. It is full of life, and often tastes better than any other water available.

Wild unfiltered(except of course by the earth itself) water is a storehouse of nutrition above and beyond the water that flows from your tap and the water that comes to you in plastic. First of all, many spring waters contain calcium and magnesium. While these two simple ingredients found on every drug store shelf might not sound very impressive, they come in a more bio-available form and they also come free in the water. Calcium and Magnesium work together synergistically in your body. Magnesium is vital for over 300 biochemical reactions in the body, and it is currently thought that 50 percent of the U.S. population is deficient in Magnesium. Contrast this with most municipal waters and you start to see why some people might go in search of a spring. Finding spring water is easy, findaspring.com is an entire website dedicated to mapping out natural springs around the world. This is where the real rubber meets the road. You will need to have a game plan for storage and decide if you will go often or only every once in a while. There are pros and cons to both of these approaches. Once you have found a spring you can fill up in any container you desire, but I suggest glass containers as plastic leaches into your water slowly over time. If you do not feel safe about carrying water in glass, the next best option is to find a plastic container that is not predisposed to leaching. #2 HDPE plastics are probably your best option. All containers for gathering spring water should be kept clean.

Most springs that you can fill up at are safe, but I personally like drinking from the springs that have been tested or have a long history of use by others. If you find a spring that has not been tested, getting a water quality test is fairly easy these days. These things will put your mind at ease to worry about other things. Some people I know gather spring water, then still run it through a filter at home to be safe, but I think this misses the point entirely of drinking spring water. Our planet has gifted us with a clean, healthy drinking water that requires no filtration, so why filter out what goodness the water had in it to begin with? If you insist on filtration you may want to consider adding minerals to your filtered water so that your body actually absorbs it.

There are two approaches to gathering spring water, neither of which is better than the other. One approach is to go often to your spot and fill up once a week or so. The other is to make a day out of it and gather a months supply of spring water all at once. I personally like to go more frequently, gathering only 5-7 gallons at a time. One of my good friends from Kentucky (Ben Belty that’s you!) will gather upwards of 50 gallons at a time. You might choose option one if you live nearer to your spring, or option two if you live far away from it. Our family favorite spring is a hard hike of hills, tree roots, twists and turns, and as such carrying a full five gallon container back out is no easy feat. I consider my journeys to the spring to be one part water gathering, and one part heavy exercise.

Due to the living nature of spring water if you keep your containers out exposed to sunlight micro algae will start to form in the bottle which gives your bottle a green hue. The best way to stop micro algae is to both have clean containers and store your water in locations that do not receive direct sunlight. For those that collect large amounts at once this step is very important. Think basement, cellar, or closet. If you live in a small apartment you can simply wrap the bottle in a thick towel that does not allow the sun through. Although the presence of a green hue to your bottle may startle you it is not a thing worth spending too much time worrying about. A little bit of elbow grease and a good place to hide the water is all you need.

I first began my love affair with spring water close to nine years ago. The taste was tantalizing, the experience of being in the forest was serene, and the feeling of working for something was fulfilling. Nine years later I am still in awe of spring water. It amazes me that this water is freely given to those that would seek it out. I can honestly say that while I may not gather spring water every single week, I will always go at least sporadically throughout my life. The experience is such that I would not ever willingly give it up.

A popular slogan being shared on social media these days is "Water is Life". It is refreshing to see people truly start to see the sacred in our water supply. Interaction with and immersion into the natural world often has the propensity to move us into a love and a will to protect nature. We protect what we love. If you decide to drink spring water, you will love it. Even in the times when you scarcely have time to gather it, you will still think fondly of it. Then you will realize that spring water is just one thing among many that deserve our reverence and our protection. The world will seem like a more beautiful place when you form this relationship with this incredibly beautiful and rare substance.

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