What's in Your Water?
Tap Dancing: Fresh from the Faucet
Lead, iron, fluoride, copper, aluminum and arsenic have all been found in water. The amounts determine the danger.
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It must be something in the water. We who are drawn to the Wood River Valley, whether here for sport, beauty, family or fun, for a week or for a lifetime, are inspired to become and stay fit, healthy and engaged in our environment. We run, ski, bike, hike and exercise daily, rehydrating with plenty of clear, clean water as we go.
Depending on our location, the confidence level with which we draw that thirst-quenching drink of water is variable. In parts of L.A. or Mexico City, do you turn on the tap or crack open a bottled version? In Idaho, is it a different story? Is the water any cleaner, any more pure, than the metro mix? Probably. At least for the moment, it is.
Distance from power plant smokestacks and point-source pollution of manufacturing centers has insulated our mountain hamlets from the more visible contaminants of urban centers. Yet, this Valley is home to a population that knows we are part of a global pool, accepting high levels of unfriendly chemistry into our environment on a daily basis worldwide. We’re a group smart enough to know that what happens in Las Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Las Vegas if you’re talking about contamination of air and water.
Local environmental non-profit organizations are working with government agencies at every level to stay informed and active in keeping our water standards as high as possible, studying the Valley’s hydrology from the source and stewarding water’s path north to south. Still, that may not be enough.
A few clouds have begun to gather on the hydrological horizon. Recent studies have cast concerns about the quality and the quantity of the water here in Blaine County due to contamination from that bigger, global pool. Data from a recent study of Silver Creek brown trout caught in July of 2007 indicated unhealthy levels of mercury, and, while most of us do not draw our water directly from that source, the discovery is an indication other waterways may be contaminated as well. A United States Geological Survey study on water quantity released in December of 2007 announced falling water levels in wells and waterways dotting and dashing through the Blaine County landscape.
No matter how you pour it, clean, pure water is becoming more precious by the moment. The hydrologic cycle that moves water around the globe, from terra firma to atmospheric elevations and back again, also sends contaminants from one place to another following wind and weather. What came out of a smokestack in Nevada yesterday might move from water surfaces to air currents and into Idaho airspace or waters with the next storm. Examining the source of the Big Wood may not be as simple as looking to the top of Galena.
Whether pure or contaminated, water everywhere has the common chemical formula H2O, two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen. Hydrogen, the first and lightest element in the periodic table, is a tiny atom that, by itself, is quite flammable. Oxygen can also be a fire-starter in pure form. Put the two elements together as water and, instead of providing ignition, they work to extinguish fire and sustain life.
On the 4,000 vertical foot trip water takes from Galena Summit in the north to Magic Reservoir in the south, the geography and flora of the land help to cleanse and purify every drop on its way down. Sand, gravel, cattails and wetlands all work to filter the water naturally. Early Blaine County residents once took their water directly from the river. Today, wells throughout the cities and county now provide drinking water for most residents. Municipal systems pump water up from wells and into homes, office buildings and schools. Private wells throughout the county provide drinking water for a large number of rural residents.
Sun Valley, on the north end of the county, hasn’t seen any contaminant violations to speak of according to recently retired District Water and Sewer Manager Jack Brown. While there have been some errors attributed to water sampling, any question about contamination has been answered by proper resampling. Brown says that the natural filtration of water flowing down from Galena to the underground aquifer could not be designed better if it were planned and constructed using modern technology, making use of stream bank filtration as it flows through sand and gravel. >>>
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