I have lived in many Southeast Alaska communities, each one smaller than all the others, and the availability and quality of the water has been a mixed bag. We lived in Coffman Cove for four years in the early nineties, and the “better not drink the water” notice was up more often that it was down. My husband made regular trips to Craig, and he would fill up some large cylindrical containers which we would use for drinking and cooking. On our kitchen counter we placed a jug with a spigot for the drinking water, and I would always spill a little bit when filling it up. I didn’t mind because it made me feel rich.

I taught school in Thorne Bay for eleven years, and for six of those years we lived in teacher housing in the main part of town. At the time we moved there (mid-nineties) the “drinking” water came from a muskeg pond somewhere, and while healthy enough to drink, it was not pretty to look at. Ice cubes had a brown center, and a filled bathtub looked to be full of hot tea. I heard stories about globs of mud and even tiny fish coming out of people’s faucets, and I did not disbelieve.

On the other side of the bay, there was and still is a huge subdivision (I’ve heard it is the largest in the state), and although it has since gained electrical service, it has yet to get a water system. Each home collects water from the ample rainfall, through a system of gutters and tanks. People rarely run out, but sometimes it gets dry in August and people have to ration.

Now head up to the north end of the island, where the topography of the island changes radically. I’m pretty sure Port Protection has the best water in the state if not the nation or the world. When we moved there in 1989, there was a project underway to put in a system of insulated pipes connecting all the houses to the purest, clearest limestone spring I have ever encountered, before or since. We struggled with a generator, honey bucket, and bushwhacking to school at high tide, but the water was beyond compare.

Now, here in the big city of Craig, Alaska (pop. 1,100 or so), water is just water. It comes right on out of the tap without argument. There are no brown centers in the ice cubes, you can always see straight to the bottom of the bathtub, and it tastes a good bit better than a sharp stick in the eye.