Ashland and its famous, but foul-smelling, lithia water go hand-in-hand.
"It tastes like rotten eggs," said resident Deirdre Barber, standing next to the eight ceramic bubblers around a stone podium in downtown Ashland on Wednesday.
Lithia water was originally touted as a health tonic near the end of the 19th century. Now it's mostly used to trick unsuspecting tourists. Today, an aging metal sign on the podium reads, 'Natural Lithia Water.' But another sign is duct-taped above reading, 'Out of Order.'
The Oregon Health Authority now says if the lithia drinking fountains are available to the public they need to meet the same standards as other drinking water supplies.
OHA spokesperson Jonathan Modie said the agency met with the city in late October, and learned that the water contains high levels of contaminants, including barium, sodium and boron, well above the state's recommended health advisory levels.
“I think the bottom line is that Drinking Water Services wants to make sure that any drinking water that people consume, in any community, from any source is safe and healthy for them," Modie said.
OHA has previously turned a blind eye to the fountain.
"As recently as 2016, they told us they don't classify it as a public water source," said Michael Morrison with the Ashland Public Works department. "But just recently, they came to us and said that that may change."
Modie was not available to provide a reason why OHA has suddenly decided to change its mind by the time of story publication. However, Morrison suggested it could be new staff at OHA interpreting the regulations differently.
One solution, Morrison said, could be to install a treatment system to filter out the contaminants.
"The moment we start to treat it, it's no longer the historic water that we're all familiar with," he said. "It removes the components that everybody claims have the health properties.”
Morrison added that the cost of installing and running a treatment system would be cost prohibitive. And at that point the city might as well just connect the fountains to the regular water supply.
Other solutions include changing where the water is supplied from or preventing people from drinking out of the fountains at all. The fountains were built in 1927 after a failed attempt by the city to build a health spa using the water. Lithia water is sourced separately from the drinking water in Ashland. It comes from a well past the airport and is pumped all the way downtown.
The lithia name has become synonymous with the city, with many locations named after the water. Some, like Lithia Park and Lithia Motors remain today. The Ashland Springs Hotel was also originally called the Lithia Springs Hotel when it was built in 1925.
OHA couldn’t currently provide a solution that would keep the lithia water flowing as-is, which is what the City of Ashland hopes can happen. Morrison said they might have to conduct studies to find out what it would take to meet the state standards. Discussions between OHA and the city are ongoing about a solution.
"We ideally would like to see the water just back the way that it was," said Morrison. "But things have changed over the years. Water quality is very important."
