Mineral springs

 The good news is that there’s a thorough account of the mineral springs of Georgia. The bad news is that it was compiled before World War I.

I’m interested in mineral springs because evidence suggests that naturally occurring lithium in spring water protects the neural circuits of the brain. Scientists interested in Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are investigating.

I wish an agency had timely information on all our mineral springs, which seem like an important natural resource. But the most comprehensive report I found was compiled by S.W. McCallie, the state geologist, in 1913.

It was an era when doctors and geologists were arguing about the therapeutic effects of mineral water. Physicians weren’t required to take much chemistry in those days, and so there were professional arguments. Doctors would talk about therapeutic effects of water from a particular spring, and chemists would report that the mineral content was, in fact, close to nonexistent.

In those days, arsenic, when detected, was considered a good thing in terms of public health.

Obviously, the report is dated. But it still tells us a couple of things.

First, the report shows that lithium occurs naturally in spring water across a region. It’s not limited to one spring or to one property. You don’t need to buy water from a spring owned by any one company.

Second, the report shows that our ancestors were interested in spring water, even if the science of their day was flawed. Some of the photographs in the report show large Victorian buildings at Indian Springs to accommodate the crowds. They’re no longer there. During the Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps built smaller buildings of stone. One is a wellhouse, where the public can fill up jugs. People were in line when we visited in October.

• Sources: S.W. McCallie, A Preliminary Report on the Mineral Springs of Georgia; Atlanta: Chas. P. Byrd, state printer, 1913. This was Bulletin No. 20 in the U.S. Geological Survey. The Digital Library of Georgia has it here:

https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_s-ga-bm500-pg4-bb1-bno-p-b20

For an earlier note on Indian Springs, see “Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge,” Oct. 5, 2024.