Three million lakes in Alaska

By Jack Brummet, h2O Ed.

Photo of Symphony lake courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.  Photo by Frank Kovalchek, 2009

It's kind of a mind-effer that there are three million lakes in Alaska [statistic via Wikipedia/media].  That is more than four lakes for each person living there. Eat your heart out Minne-land of 10,000 lakes-sota.

Seattle, with 100,000 less people than Alaska, has five lakes. One of them is large.  And then there is the shore of Puget Sound.  Of Seattle's total area, 41% is under water.

Aerial photo of Seattle permission of  Wikipedia User:Jelson25, via Wikipedia Commons.

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Free public artesian well water in Lynnwood, Washington

By Jack Brummet, Hydration Ed.

One of the last Artesian wells in Washington State is not too far from Seattle.  You can go there 24/7 and fill up containers.  There may be a wait, even late at night.

Directions:  2331 164th St. SW, Lynnwood  Take I-5 exit 183 and go right on 164th 3-4/10 of a mile to the bottom of the hill and you will see cars on the north side. GPS: 47.850159, -122.265591.

"This is fresh flowing water right out of the ground. No treatment and that's what they want," said Arden Blackledge, General Manager of the Alderwood Water District, which monitors and tests the water monthly. 

According to the Alderwood Water and Wastewater District: 

"This well, known as Well No. 5, or the 164th Street Artesian Well, is in excess of 400 feet in depth and is cased to approximately 120 feet.  The well flows at about 10 gallons per minute. 

"The source of water at the well is an underground aquifer (a water-bearing layer of permeable rock, sand or gravel).  The well taps the Intercity Aquifer at approximately 200 feet.

"Alderwood Water & Wastewater District maintains this flowing artesian well as a community source of water for those who prefer untreated water."


From a Yelp comment: "This is some of the best tasting water I have ever had. Makes FIJI WATER taste like sewage!"

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Poem: Water In Motion

By Jack Brummet

Water in perpetual motion

Drifts into the troposphere
Accumulates and returns to earth
To join ice rain and snow
In the hills and mountains
Rolling into aquifers and underground lakes
Chasms fissures streams
Valleys craters hollows
Creeks rivers lakes and oceans—
The only thing on earth
That never gets old.
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Marco Rubio's drinking problem

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

During Marco Rubio’s official GOP-Tea Party response to the President’s State of the Union address last night, it was clear he was struggling with cotton mouth, and at one point, wiped a drop of sweat away.  So, yeah, he took a drink of water.  Now, a day later, there are hundreds or articles, blog posts, talk show rants, tweets, memes and of course, a now-famous animated GIF of him drinking the water. 

"His words may or may not be long remembered, but 
Senator Marco Rubio's swig lives on and on and on."  (Reuters)

Interestingly, FDR drank water during one of his speeches, and was roundly praised for it.  As David Michael Ryfe wrote in "Franklin Roosevelt and The Fireside Chats,":  "He often employed such personal touches as stopping to take a drink of water during the broadcasts."

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Poem: The Water

1
The water, in perpetual motion,
Drifts into the troposphere,
Accumulates, and returns to earth
To join the rain and snow,
In the hills and mountains,
Rolling into aquifers and underground lakes,
Chasms, fissures, streams,
Valleys, craters, hollows,
Creeks, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

2
Is water the only thing
On this earth
That never gets old?
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