The Charms of Different Waters

Last night, during a conversation about the qualities of bottled water, my brother remarked that tap water tastes no different from bottled water.  Water, after all, is just water.  This is very true, water is and will remain Dihydrogen monoxide unless its very stable bonds are broken by agents such as potassium, which can make water explode.  Regardless of its stability, water can dissolve quite a lot of things, such as salt or sugar.  Water collects minerals that dissolve into it and produces different kinds of quality depending on what was at hand.  The Genessee river in Rochester, for example, is brown and muddy as it exits into Lake Ontario, owing to sediments suspended in it from the rich soils and eroded rock that it flows through. The Ottawa river is somewhat black or tea-coloured for most of its length, owing to intense amounts of tannins that result from an abundance of plants and trees that fall into its poorly acid buffering granite watercourses.   The Detroit and Niagara rivers are usually the same aquamarine that much of the Great Lakes are, a near ocean like shade that results from the Lakes' incredible absorption capabilities and underlying dolomite fields.

Tannin rich waters from just downstream of Miner's falls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  The water is quite clean, despite appearances.  It varies from golden to a dark brown.  Great to swim in, probably not so great to drink, unless you have a tolerant body or need a good spring cleaning.  I myself have drunk some pretty potent water from the Petawawa river without once contracting beaver fever.   Most people need to boil it, though, after which it can be some of the best tasting water around.

Then we can take a look at Lake Michigan, with its lovely greenish blues that are nice to swim in, even if the waters feel a bit more gritty.  They have a chalkier taste to them, pretty much what Chicago and Detroit tap water tastes like, minus the trace amounts of chlorine.  This lovely spot is where the Manistee river gently flows into Lake Michigan.  You can float on your back down the river right into the lake, and depending on the time of year you do it, such a swim will involve a nice thermal surprise.  

The waters all taste different, and they all even feel different on the skin.  Bottled waters, if sourced naturally from springs or exposed bodies of water, will taste different based on mineral concentrations and specifics.  Poland Spring, for instance, tastes very smooth and slightly crisp, because it comes from a slightly acidic source within granite bedrock deep in Maine.  Evian has a more alkaline taste to it, because it comes from an area of the Alps with concentrations of calcium in the surrounding rock.  While you are forking over sometimes as much as five dollars for bottled water, which is ridiculous in itself, the truth remains that water can taste different and is not universally the same everywhere in the world.  Case in point?  The ocean!

In the ocean, another factor comes into play that might not have effect on the taste of water except in larger lakes and rivers, namely that of what else is swimming in it.  No, I don't mean whales and tuna, but I do mean macro-algae like kelp, coral masses, and even concentrations of bacteria that are more at home in the primordial conditions of the world sea than on shore or in inland bodies of fresh water.  Then there is salt.  Just look at what it can do to water in the ocean.

Nice, no?  Sure, you can get some pretty intense foam in a lake on a stormy day, but walking into the ocean on a wave blessed beach is like stepping into the ultimate Jacuzzi.  The salt perfects whatever else might be in there, which can include hundreds of different minerals.  Sea salt is an excellent exfoliant, and once the salt is either washed off or falls off the skin, your outermost layer feels fantastic.  Salinity is not uniform throughout the world ocean, and can vary based on a number of factors including temperatures and how many tequila shots the mermaids in the area happen to be drinking.   That picture above, and these below, were taken at Cabrillo National Monument, in San Diego.   In the first picture, you can see the kelp forests growing beneath the surface.  In the last shot, you can make out some of the tide pools that are just teeming with life.

Southern California has incredible water.  It is rather cool for its latitude, moderately salty, and is softened by the amount of kelp that grows about 100 feet offshore for much of the length of the coast.  The bottoms are generally sandy, even though much of the coast can be rugged, and there are far less dangerous creatures in the water than are found offshore in Florida and much of the Gulf Coast.  This is probably because eastern and southern beaches have warmer waters, and are much more saline.  The beaches of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are, however, worth visiting, and their waters are preferred to those of California by many people.

In any case, the oceans surrounding North America are special.  While I would prefer to live on a lake, and one special lake in particular, having a second home on the sea somewhere would be a nice thing too.  Breathing comes easier by the shore, and moist winds can actually help lower blood pressure.  The air even contains ionized oxygen molecules that add to the already calming physical and psychological effects that standing next to a large body of water brings.

Our waters are a wonderful place to begin a better exploration of our continent.  Our predecessors certainly thought so.