"The State"

[Dave Grubb]

Mystery water hose in woods of U.P. became source of contention between residents, state.

GREENLAND TOWNSHIP — There’s mystery water flowing from a hose that sticks out of a hole in the ground in an Upper Peninsula ghost town. And people in the area have been drinking it for years.

“It is probably the purest water you’d ever taste,” said Ron Store, a 56-year-old Ontonagon County commissioner. “You can put this stuff in a glass jar, sit it on your porch for a month and it’s not going to turn green. That’s how good this stuff is.”

This water is found in Lake Mine, a ghost town that sits inside the boundaries of Greenland Township, just east of the Lake Superior coast in the western Upper Peninsula. The well it comes from is little more than a cluster of old concrete pilings poking out of the ground in remembrance of something that once stood there, and in the middle is a hole that’s framed by a few blocks of wood and topped by a metal grate. Underneath is an old pipe with a few valves and spigots, and from there the hose emerges.

It's just off a trail in the woods, where it’s shrouded by vegetation in the summer, hidden by snow during winter, hard to spot regardless.

For a century, the only people aware of it were those who lived nearby and drank it, and who passed down knowledge of this secret well in the woods. “Everybody around here knew, and everybody would use it quietly,” Store said.

That changed when the state found out.

We have a number of similar "public" wells in PA. The State has learned playing the bully didn't work out well----so at our local well, after unsuccessfully trying to close it they gave up and replaced an old steel pipe with a new PVC pipe and installed wooden walkways.

[UTAH]

We've got some artesian wells in old downtown SLC that existed when Native Americans occupied our land. No one claimed ownership, so the city took control of them. Most of our people here don't know they exist - which is just fine with the handful of people who gladly collect the water.

It'll be interesting to see if there is a change as water availability in the Western U.S. drops. We're spending millions of dollars to save the Great Salt Lake. For if it dries up, its pollutants could contaminate and harm thousands of people in surrounding communities.

Hunter

[Dave Grubb]

I have been following the water level for some time.
I have a regular weekly routine. I check water levels in Lake Powell, Mead, Salt Lake and Hetch Hetchy in California. All are currently rising, with a long way left to go.

[UTAH]

All are currently rising, with a long way left to go.

We were fortunate enough to have two "wet" years in a row in the West. It's long-term water availability that's the issue. Impacted states, and the Feds, have started funding viable solutions (at significant expense). We get it right, our communities will continue to thrive. We get it wrong, we will be forced to limit growth.

Hunter