I currently live in the high desert of Utah. For many years I lived in the low desert of Arizona. In both places water can be hard to come by. Springs are few and far between except in the mountains. When I started on my way to connecting myself to the sources of food, water, and shelter in my life, water was one of those things I wanted to find a pure source of more than anything. I read about how good “wild” water was. I needed to know.

mountain stream in the high unitas, wild water

I began doing research, and of course, in places where water naturally falls from the sky on a weekly basis, there are springs everywhere. When I lived in France and Italy they have fountains all over the country side that are potable. You just have to choose the source you like the best. Same goes for all these other places. There was infrastructure for the spring water. In the intermountain west it’s a little less obvious. You need to know people who know where to find it.

I’m put this warning right now (Please don’t drink water where you don’t know the source of it! Don’t drink directly from streams or ponds or lakes. Getting giardia is going to ruin your gut for alteast a month. It is not fun. If you have no other water source but one that it’s main source is unknown, boil or filter it.)

clean, potable spring water

Now that I’ve made my official warning, let’s drink some wild water! There is something about drinking water right out of rock that you know has been tested to be potable is absolutely thirst quenching. I’m lucky enough to live near a spring like this. If the modern world ended and we didn’t have running water anymore I could still hike to this place and get water.

What does wild water taste like? Well, it varies depending on where you get it from, but over all, it’s sweet and clean and sort feels alive. There is a vitality in it that I can’t quiet put to words since water is not actually alive.

There is a huge different in the taste between tap water and fresh flowing, deep earth cold, water. Tap water feels dead. The chlorine ruins the taste. If you’ve ever been to Phoenix and drunk the tap water you know what I am talking about.

Wild water is still amazing even if you have to filter it.

Here are some tips for drinking wild water:

If possible have a local show you a vetted spring that they regularly drink from.
Make sure the water comes directly from the rocks or hill side and is flowing well
If you find a new to your spring, but you are unsure take some water home and get it tested
When hiking, always bring a filter. The water will still taste amazing.
Fast flowing water doesn’t always mean clean water. In the picture above I knew this water was coming from a spring near by, but i couldn’t see where through the brush and I had also seen deer and moose wandering around, which could mean gross stuff (ie. poop) in the water. Better to be safe than sorry. This water tasted incredible and was so cold!

If you are interested in finding potable spring water and trying out some wild water in your area, here’s a cool searchable map of the US.

Do you have a spring or maybe an arteisan well near you? Have you tasted wild water before? Let me know in the comments below.