Periodically I get the survivalist urge and think about where I would source clean drinking water in the event that anything catastrophic happens and my fluoridated, not-necessarily-that-clean city tap water were to suddenly no longer be available.

Natural Spring
As a local weekend activity I decided to research my area for a source of a clean, free, spring water that I could bottle myself in the event that such a thing should happen. Well, it's nice to know in any event. Ideally I'd like a water-from-air device to operate in my own backyard but as these are out of my price range right now, local spring water is a great alternative. This is also a great family activity to bring the kids into close contact with nature.

Puslinch Spring Located Under a Bridge
Find a Spring is an amazing growing internet resource with locations noted worldwide. They ask people to inform them of springs they find to add to their growing database of natural springs to enable everyone to find clean, free, drinking water.
Torontonians and for North America please see:
Find a Spring NA
For Australians, please check:
Find a Spring Australia
You will also find them on Twitter
Here
Southern Ontario where I live fortunately has a multitude of possibilities. After looking through some of the springs closest to me, I decided on the Puslinch spring as it had some previous very good specs for cleanliness and pH balance (6.7 at last test).
Puslinch Natural Spring The Puslinch spring wells up from within a frame of a piece of piping that is laid with a bottom layer of rocks.
Research the quality of the spring water as much as possible to find water with low or zero coliform, and E. coli levels, and a good pH. It is recommended to collect spring water in glass containers and then store them in a cool place.

Spare Glass Bottle to Collect Spring Water
There is controversy over what pH levels should be for drinking water. The pH scale is 1 – 14 with 7 as neutral. Below 7 is more acid the further down you go, and above 7 is more base, or alkaline, the higher up you go. There is something of a debate over whether drinking more alkaline water (pH 8 or 9) is better for the body than neutral pH as the theory suggests a more alkaline water helps balance all the acidic foods we eat. Dr. Mercola (alternative medicine proponent) suggests doing this on a short term basis only as it may eventually interfere with stomach acids needed for digestion over the long term.

Forest Around Puslinch Spring
Benefits of Drinking Spring Water
No fluoride or other dangerous chemicals.
Spring water is rich in minerals which many of us are lacking in our diets.
De-calcification of the pineal gland and other areas of the body.
There are many anecdotal reports of increased well-being once people start drinking natural spring water and the list of general benefits is very long.
It is useful to know where to get free, clean drinking water for emergencies.
You can buy spring water in bottles but I've read that it's difficult to know exactly where these have been sourced and that 40% of these are actually tap water! I've also read that one of the most lucrative future stocks will be in water as this is trending to become a scarce resource.
I would love to hear your comments about finding spring water in your neighbourhood!