When it comes down to it, none of us really know what is in those neatly designed plastic bottles full of water. According to the Government Accountability Office, the regulations for tap water are more stringent than the regulations for bottled water. One might think that the American population has only two options: bad water, and bad water. In recent years, a number of experts from the primal health and raw food movements have stepped forward with another option for a healthy water supply: you could find a local spring.
Daniel Vitalis in particular has been a leading force in coaching people about the benefits of incorporating raw, living water into their lives. One of his websites, FindASpring.com, is a helpful resource if you’d like to find a natural spring near you. I’m Texan (not born, but definitely raised) and so I’m going to go over a few of the known springs in this beautiful, big ol’ state.
Aquarena Springs is located on the eastern outskirts on San Marcos. It’s right next to Texas State University, so if any of you Bobcats are reading this, definitely go and check it out! It’s free and public, as are most springs, and the headwaters make for good swimming and tubing.
Gorman Spring is northwest of Austin, in the Colorado Bend State Park. It comes straight out of the ground (no faucet, as far as I’m aware) and feeds into the Gorman Falls, which eventually flows into the Colorado River. Because it is in a state park, there is a $4 fee for anybody over 13.
These last three are located east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Cuney-Frankston Spring is located between those two towns. This one does have a spout, and it’s also public and free. The Canton Artesian Well, unlike the other wells, is actually within the town of Canton. The Crystal Springs are close to Scroggins, Texas. The spring is near a picnic area and you can either draw your water from the well, or from the faucet.
When you visit a spring to gather water, make the trip worth your while by bringing lots of containers to fill up. While glass containers are the best, they are not necessarily recommended for travel because they are heavy and may break, so non-leaching plastic containers will serve you best, at least until you get home. Keep in mind that you may want to find a way to strain the extra sediment out of your spring water, perhaps using a nutmilk bag or sprouting bag. I don’t recommend filtering it because you may end up filtering out beneficial substances, but then again nobody wants to drink sandy water either.
I live in Houston, and as you can see I listed no springs in the nearby area. If any rugged Houstonians out there know of a spring nearby, please add it to the FindASpring.com database! Wherever you live, for that matter, if you know of a spring that isn’t on the site, help everyone out by adding it. Our world is running out of clean water and we need all the help we can get!
Source:
Author/Artist – Daniel Vitalis
Page Title – Find A Spring
Site Title – www.danielvitalis.com
Author/Artist – Sara Goodman
Page Title – Fewer Regulations For Bottled Water Than Tap
Site Title – www.nytimes.com
