At first glance, this spring placed a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended). The area surrounding the spring was trashy and not very well kept. When walking down to the spring, the run-off for the spring was backed up, so water stagnated beneath. Trash was floating in this stagnant water. I will not likely be visiting this spring again.

Darting from the passenger seat of her mother's sport utility vehicle carefully parked off Wrightsboro Road, 12-year-old Ivy wound down the beat-up stairs to the side of a brick well house.

From a spout built into the side of the structure, the water flowed fast and hard, streaming quickly downhill into wooded brush. Ivy filled up a plastic bottle with the cool water and quickly returned to her mother.

“It's better (than tap water),” Ivy said, shyly. “It's cold.”

Her interest in the natural well has the family, who lives in Evans, stopping occasionally for a cool drink, says Ivy's mother, Julie.

“She's just fascinated by it,” said Mrs. Mann, speaking of the natural spring that lies near Flowing Wells Road.

Augusta residents have their choice of springs to visit. Off Windsor Spring Road lies another natural spring providing fresh, clear water.

David Trotter, 54, of Harlem, recently visited the Wrightsboro Road well house.

Carrying four empty plastic gallon jugs and a fifth giant container, Mr. Trotter and his 5-year-old daughter, Rebecca Chase Trotter, come about once a month to fill up for drinking water.

“Tap water has a lot of chlorine, and who knows what else is in there,” Mr. Trotter said.

The water just tastes better, too, he said.

“It's hard to tell the difference between this and the bottled water you buy,” Mr. Trotter said.

Taste is a personal preference, but how safe is this water to drink?

To answer this question, Michael Hopkins, a lab technician at the Augusta-Richmond County Utilities Department, filled a sterilized 100-milliliter plastic bottle with spring water.

After dropping Colilert, an agent that detects the presence of bacteria, into the water sample, Mr. Hopkins waited to see whether the sample turned bright yellow – a positive response to bacteria.

The sample remained its clear color.

No bacteria here.

Careful analysis revealed that the water sample contained barely traceable – unharmful – amounts of fluoride and manganese.

Tests also showed the well water had a relatively low pH balance and alkalinity level, at 4.5 and 3 on the scales respectively.

Comparatively, tap water has a pH level of about 7 and an alkalinity level of between 17 and 21.

Still, the discrepancy is no problem, Mr. Hopkins said.

Additionally, the sample contained no fecal matter or chlorine, he said.

His final word?

“It would be considered safe to drink,” Mr. Hopkins concluded.

But he already knew that.

His grandparents have been drinking water from the well for years and it hasn't affected them, Mr. Hopkins said.

Testing the waters

The Augusta-Richmond County Utilities Department's testing of a 100-milliliter sample of water from the spring on Wrightsboro Road (above right, with bacteria-contaminated water from the reservoir in the background) revealed the water is safe to drink. Here are the results:

•No bacteria
•Barely traceable amounts of fluoride and manganese
•pH balance of 4.5 and alkalinity level of 3, both relatively low