The artesian well north of the city of Lynnwood has been pumping out fresh, clean, untreated water for decades, and over 60 years of rigorous testing have found no failures.
The well is administered by the Alderwood Water and Wastewater utility, which posts the well’s monthly test data online.
Michael Kundu, Communications and Resiliency Planner with Alderwood, tells KIRO7, “It’s important for us to test the water that comes out. It’s tested for coliform and a few other compounds and then also some non-organic compounds as well.”
Kundu said part of the well’s secret to good-tasting water is that it isn’t tainted by naturally occurring minerals such as iron or manganese, which can make other natural water sources distasteful.
The people who wait patiently in line to fill their jugs and bottles agree.
Andrew Kearns drives from Bellingham every ten days to fill his five-gallon water bottles. Andrew says, “I have an interest in food, like I’ve worked on farms, hunting and foraging school, so like I’m very aware of the food I eat and the water I drink, and you can taste the difference in how, like, pure and clean this water is.”
Jessie, of Lynnwood, has been filling up at the well for thirteen years. She tells KIRO7, “I tried all the filtration systems and even the water at Whole Foods. They’ve got a filtered water system there, and then once we discovered this place, we were set for life”.
The well is on 164th ST SW, west of Highway I-5. There is no charge. Kundu says, “It was free when it was first discovered, and Alderwood’s keeping it free.”
The well is open twenty-four hours per day. You can often expect crowded parking and a wait in line. Kundu adds, “We hope that people will line up orderly, that they will respect others, filling up to twenty gallons at the maximum amount.” He adds that if you want more than twenty gallons, you are welcome to get to the back of the line and start over.
Jessie says, “I get my workout in for the morning, because a five-gallon jug is forty pounds”.
Kundu also tells KIRO7, “I don’t think there is any science that basically says that artesian well water is better for you than any other type of water, but I will tell you by taste and the fact that people are using this to make wine, beer, and a lot of other things, the water is incredible”.
Andrew Kearns agrees, saying, “The water here, it’s like from the earth as clean as you can get. I jokingly call it God’s water, but I don’t really know if that’s a joke”.
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