Is Your Rocky Mountain Water Really That Pure?

Mountain water is fresh. Mountain water is clean. Mountain water is pure. Wait…not so fast…

“Would you like water, or mountain water?”

Mountain water is more than what flows across the Continental Divide, down streams and rivers, through pipes and into your Denver area home.

The term itself, an archetype used in the names and logos of bottled water companies, is a phrase deep-seeded in the roots of popular culture – one that creates a perception so long thought of in the parlance of our times, that it may as well be a reality. Hold on…

While the Denver area is not known for major droughts or contaminated water on a regular basis, pulling surface water from the mountains has its perils. Debris and runoff can impact turbidity, and nitrogen deposition in lakes and streams can influence soils, which worsens over time.

In the plains, soil is usually thicker than in the mountains. This allows more filtering. The mountains have little to no soil or other loose surface material to serve as a filter. When the water moves through the rocks, it picks up metals, minerals, dissolved nutrients and other chemicals. These may or may not pose health risks.

There are also growing concerns about the population explosion around the area, and water servicing and treatment plans to serve a residential area that projects to double in size by the year 2050. The Colorado River, a major source of water for the entire state and Southwest Region of the U.S., faces critical conservation issues.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

“The Colorado River is severely threatened by human overuse, environmental issues, and poor river management technique. As an extremely over-apportioned water resource, the water quality of the river is jeopardized by agricultural overdraw, which increases the salinity of the river.”

Additionally, early algae blooms in the summer caused by warmth in the Denver area cause an unpleasant smell and taste difference. A Culligan® Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System can take care of this issue, while also helping to re-purify what hasn’t been filtered out from some of the most common contaminants found in treating Denver water caused by septic systems, fertilizers, animal waste, and de-icing road salts.