Editor:

Like most residents of the Kemmerer/Diamondville area, | was stunned and then horrified by the letter I got from the Joint Powers Board regarding the local water quality.

I immediately asked Google if my PUR water pitcher was filtering any of the poison out of my drinking water for the past year.

Answer: Not enough to matter.

What popped up next to my answer on Google was an ad for a nonprofit affiliated with the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. I believe the local officials did the same thing here as they did in Flint — namely, dumped so much chlorine in the water that it caused the pipes to start breaking down, making the water more toxic than it was to begin with.

And yes, I realize that when there is an algae bloom in the city reservoir, something has to be done to make the water drinkable, but holy cow! Don’t they have Googie?! One simple question to Google could have informed them that massive amounts of chlorine were going to be problematic.

A friend had recently asked me about Willow Springs, so I texted the number on the business card, and he (Todd Moores, owner/operator of Willow Springs Water) called me back almost immediately. He said he would be back at his bottling plant in about 30 minutes.

My friend and I took a ride out there and we came back with three of the 3-gallon bottles, plus a bag of ice each. And this water is DELIGHTFUL!

Initially, there is the cost of the bottles ($20 each), but they can be refilled with that lovely, delicious water for $3 each or $5 for 5-gallon bottles. The machines are self-service, so you can refill them anytime, 24/7. The machines take cash or cards, which is handy, and the smaller, 3-gallon bottles are much easier to handle than the 5-gallon ones.

Todd also explained about all the filtration that takes place. They use UV filters, even though the water is bacteria-free when it comes out of the ground. All of this info is available at willowspringswater.com.

More importantly to me, the water is available 6 short miles north of Kemmerer, and there are NO trihalomethanes or haloacetic acids in it. None! Zero percent!

Fran Murphy

Diamondville