Evidentia

I live on the Plateau in the heart of Montreal, about ten minutes on foot from Mount Royal Park, one of North America’s most beautiful urban parks. As you may realize from my previous post, I love water. I am intrigued by the freshwater springs coming out of the limestone in Mount Royal Park. I wonder whether spring water from what Montrealers call “the mountain” is safe to drink.

Over the last few weeks, I have done basic tests in Quebec and New Hampshire  of tap water, filtered tap water, and spring and river water in different locations. All of this is intended to provide a basis for comparisons. This morning, I did two basic tests of water quality on Mount Royal.

Water from this spring on Mount Royal is probably safer than tap water at home

I chose two locations on Mount Royal where I observed water springing directly from a gap between rocks. One was just north of the bottom of the stairs leading from Peel Street up to the Chalet on Mount Royal; the second was just south of the bottom of the stairs. I considered a third possibility, in a ditch on the road just south of the television antenna at the summit, but given all the orange paint sprayed on vegetation in the ditch, it seemed to me this was more likely a leaking underground pipe than a spring. Also, I avoided testing water right after heavy rainstorms when these springs are far bigger than usual.

I used this water purity test pen, although under another brand name

To do the test, I used a Watt® Water Purity ®  Test Pen, which is a small hand-held device, made by the Yong Sheng  (Foshan) Electronics Products Factory in China, which you can dip into a cup with not more than 3 cm. of water in it. After three seconds, the pen provides a single numeric reading. According to the accompanying literature, “the Water Purity Test Pen is highly sensitive to bacteria and noxious compounds. Using total dissolved solids and hypersensitive electrical conductivity based analysis, it can test the thickness of toxic elements in the water such as pathogenic viruses, mercury, cyanide, lead and arsenic as well as a variety of ions and biochemical toxins. The product can judge the quality of potable water and whether the water is pure enough to safely drink.”

Here are the results I came up with. Anything below 200 is considered good drinking water. Anything over 300 is considered highly toxic.

North of steps on Mount Royal (to the right, facing uphill): 174.4
South of steps on Mount Royal (to the left, facing uphill): 184.7
Tap water at home: 182.4
Tap water at home, using a Brita filter: 179.2
Spring water near Courcelles, Eastern Townships: 181.5
River water in Rivière aux Bleuets Sud (South Blueberry River), near Courcelles, Eastern Townships: 184.6
Spring water in Parapet Brook, which flows into the Peabody River, Great Gulf Wilderness, White Mountains, New Hampshire: 57.7

Of course, the numeric reading has its limits, since it is does not specify levels of any given toxin. Instead, the pen is designed to provide a quick indication whether water is safe to drink or not.

Our winner: Parapet Brook flows off Mount Madison into the Peabody River, in New Hampshire

According to the data, some spring water on Mount Royal is actually safer to drink than my tap water at home, although caution is called for, given the current raccoon rabies alert, which also affects foxes and skunks on Mount Royal – not that rabies affects water quality, but the alert gives an idea what type of wildlife is native to the park. Also, using a Brita filter provides a marginal improvement over unfiltered water (although it improves the taste, so I will continue using it). Spring water near Courcelles is about as clean as my tap water at home. It is not surprising that river water in Rivière aux Bleuets Sud should be somewhat less pure than spring water, since I have seen deer, raccoons, herons and a splendid russet-headed duck (American poachard) there. A friend of mine has seen one of southern Quebec’s elusive cougars by the river, as well as a moose, which is naturally more common.

The surprise for me is how utterly pure spring water is in Parapet Brook, on the south side of Mount Madison. I took the water fairly close to the source, but low enough for deer or bears to have got into it.

Of course, there was a time when the island of Montreal was crisscrossed with rivers and streams. All this water has been redirected into sewers and today is sent directly into the St. Lawrence River.

I am not sure what to think of my water test. This experience has piqued my curiosity, and I may invest in a more sophisticated kit to test water. To be continued…

This 1744 map of Montreal, by the encyclopédiste and geographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, shows the island was crisscrossed by rivers and streams - all have since been redirected into sewers