In Portland, Maine, it is nearly impossible to expunge the smell of the ocean from your nostrils. The north Atlantic infuses into the air. It’s the kind of place where seagulls feast on downtown dumpsters. Downtown Portland is surrounded on three sides by salt water, so a nice sip of fresh tap water is a simple respite from the sea.

I pour a glass of water from a stainless steel sink with a swan-neck spigot. There is some aeration in the stream, but the water pours clear. The sip has a good viscosity between my teeth and tongue where it cools the hidden pockets of my saliva glands. 

There is something vegetal about the flavor. A faint infusion of celery. After several sips, I can feel the water leeching my tongue of other flavors with a certain basic quality to it. It is as if the water had been set in an old pot that had cooked a vegan stock that was left to evaporate on its surface. 

The Portland Water District serves over 200,000 Mainers world class drinking water. They pump the fresh water to the coast from nearby Sebago Lake. In fact, the water of Sebago Lake is of such pristine quality that the federal government waived the filtering requirement for the water in 1993. Sebago’s waters are treated, but not filtered, before arriving in the cups of Portlanders. It is only one of about fifty surface water supplies in America to be considered worthy of this exemption from part of the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

Interestingly, Sebago Lake is a popular spot for summertime recreation. People from all over flock to the Vacation State to bathe in its waters, catch its fish, and skim across its surface in motor boats. There is apparently little concern for potential contamination of the water. Studies have shown that recreational use does not damage the purity of the water. This is due, perhaps, to the depth of the lake, or the complex system of lakes and streams that help to filter water in the area. 

The city has relied on Sebago Lake since 1869. This was on the heels of the Great 1866 Conflagration of Portland which burned a large part of the city to the ground. In order to ensure an ample supply of water for fire-fighting in the future, the city established the Portland Water Company. They laid a pipe from the lake in 1869 and began chlorinating the water in 1914.