LITTLE ROCK — Dear Otus,
I don’t understand this notice I got from the water company yesterday about a recall. Is our water not safe to drink or something?
- Archie Meedes Little Rock
Dear Archie,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you.
And, yes, our water is perfectly safe to drink. In fact the water we receive from Central Arkansas Water has been consistently rated as some of the highest-quality potable water in the entire country.
CAW has consistently been an award-winner in the annual Environmental Protection Agency’s Source Water Assessment Competition (EPASWAC) by meeting or exceeding all federal and state primary standards for health and safety.
Not just last year or the year before that, but for 37 straight years.
CAW is a six-time winner of the Arkansas Department of Health’s “Golden Dipper” award as having the “best sippin’ water” in the state.
Last year’s slip to No. 2 behind Bentonville is blamed by insiders on politics andmyopic referees.
CAW’s premium bottled “Aqua Putus” with its delicate bouquet and sparkling aftertaste, has placed in the Top 5 of the Southern Water Tasters Association annual sip-off for seven of the past nine years.
Indeed, Central Arkansas Water quality topped the report from 1974’s federal Safe Drinking Water Act as an example of what can be accomplished when man works well with nature.
CAW’s primary water source is Lake Maumelle, a stunning 8,900-acre reservoir covering 14 square miles and boasting a pristine 70-mile shoreline. The lake furnishes approximately 60 percent of system needs.
The other 40 percent comes from the much smaller, but deeper Lake Winona in Saline County. Winona water is known for its smoky Ouachita Mountainflavor that’s a surprise to the palate, but too “woodsy” for some tastes.
It’s the artistic and patented mixture of Maumelle and Winona water that wins CAW its awards.
Lake Maumelle is kept so clean because human beings are not allowed to swim in it. As we well know, people are filthy and carry nasty germs. It’s best this way.
Unfortunately, as with all of Arkansas’ lakes and streams, Lake Maumelle is subject to the vagaries ofMother Nature.
One year the lake might be merrily overflowing its spillway and another it might be down so low that 100 feet of shoreline is exposed. That was the case this year with Arkansas’ nearly sixweek summer drought.
Lake Maumelle is so low, in fact, that the foundations of the lost town of Lundsford Corner are exposed near the ghost marina on the north shore. The community of 78 was inundated when thelake was formed in 1958.
Dr. Felix Unda, Arkansas state aquaologist, notes that when Lake Maumelle is low, oxygen evaporates from the lake’s upper surfaces at a more rapid rate, causing the hydrogen molecules to settle to the bottom where the lake’s pumps are located.
This results in what in scientific circles is known as “heavy water” which is “super wet.”
“To put it in simple laymen’s terms,” Unda said, “heavy water contains ahigher than normal proportion of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, usually deuterium protium oxide.
“This isotopic substitution with deuterium alters the bond energy of the water’s hydrogen-oxygen bond, making it 11 percent denser than water. Or, in other words, wetter.”
Ninety-six million gallons of wetter water slipped through the system between Oct. 15 and 18 and CAW has issued a recall for those not satisfied with the quality.
Customers are asked to bring their super wet water (in containers free from bisphenol A) to any point on the Lake Maumelle shoreline west of Jolly Roger’s Marina and pour it back in for recycling. Your approved polyethylene terephthalate water containers may then be refilled from your tap at any time since the problemhas been corrected.
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you to stay properly hydrated.
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Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat’s award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. E-mail:
HomeStyle, Pages 42 on 10/30/2010