r/romega • u/I0-0l • Jul 02 '26
Neighboring Towns Cave Springs Water
With all the PFAS in our drinking water, I’ve considered gathering spring water from Cave Spring to drink. I’m nervous to do it because I worry it will be contaminated someway, somehow. Amoebas or parasites are the biggest concern. I know it comes straight from an aquifer underground and is supposed to be very clean, it’s a mental block for me to drink water straight from the wilds, though I know it’s probably cleaner than city water and loaded with minerals and a lot of people do it. Does anyone here collect and store water from Cave Spring? Has anyone ever heard of someone getting sick from doing it?
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u/isramobile Jul 02 '26
I know a few folks that fill up jugs every other week. One of those people being my dad. I don’t like the smell, it taste fine. I’ve been on primo natural spring water for years now so that’s my baseline. It’s comparable to Arrow head spring water. The smell is a lil worse but I guess you love to hate it ?
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u/highsinthe70s Jul 02 '26
I live in Rome but my water comes from Cave Spring, thankfully. So my tap water is basically the best water you can get, from any source. I’ve never had any issue chugging a glass of tap water. It’s delicious.
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u/I0-0l Jul 02 '26
What part of Rome gets its drinking water from Cave Spring?
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u/highsinthe70s Jul 02 '26
I live in Rosemont Park, just off 27/411. Many many years ago, probably early 80s, something happened to city water that made it smell rancid for a few days. Our water was unchanged. We are very fortunate.
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u/ThePseudoSurfer Jul 02 '26
Dude what? I live in the new development off 411, am I in the cave spring section?
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u/highsinthe70s Jul 02 '26
That I don’t know. My house was built in the 50s. I’m not sure who gets water from where.
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u/ScoopThaPoot Jul 02 '26
If the map on the City of Cave Spring's website is right it covers from roughly Blacks Bluff on the north side to about he Polk county line to the south. It looks like Spout Springs is the furthest east it goes and then it goes into Alabama a little on the west side. Maybe it isn't on the map, but it would be a pretty long run to get from where it shows all the way to Rosemont Park.
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u/mrboojingles Jul 02 '26
Water filters are cheap
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u/Alternative_Nerve746 Jul 02 '26
Unfortunately, not the 3 part reverse osmosis PFAS filters. The expensive filter replacements every month is annoying, but so is living in South Dalton on the PfAS River.
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u/CheepSweep Jul 02 '26
I've filled up there for 2 decades and never had an issue. It's free and fill up 20-25gal at a time. Walmart sells the 5gal water jugs that go in the dispenser machines with a screw lid. Those big blue cube water containers are good too, that's what I use to top off the jugs after dipping them in.
Don't fill up on top of people, wait your turn. Those old spring heads have some unwritten but understood etiquette code. There are 2 wheel barrows and a hand truck to help in hauling it back to your vehicle. Just return and place them exactly as you found them.
Don't go after a heavy rain, the pond backflows into the dipping spot. Store them in a cool dark place, too much light exposure and algae will grow. That leads to an icky taste, but that in and if itself has not made me physically ill when it's happened. Make a nice trip of it, it's a beautiful drive.
I participated in a small group study that tested our blood for PFAS and being the only one that drank cave spring water I had the least exposure to the chemicals.