My mother spent the last couple of months of my pregnancy in the Glendale Cabins, presumably drinking unfiltered lake water. I've been drinking unfiltered lake water on Welch Island, both sides, since 1950. No ill effects. About 15 years ago I had my island tap water (south side) tested. Nothing remarkable. A small level of bacteria. Consultation with Dr. Moody, a White House hydrologist and Water Resources Director for OAS summed up that all lake water will have bacteria. All safe unless it causes some unexpected stomach upset. I recall one of the GIA guest speakers, noted that many bacteria are below the filtration threshold for most filter systems including R/O.
As many of you know, Merrimack, Litchfield and surroundings had PFAS contamination from St. Gobain Performance Plastics. At that time (2016) there were only a handful of labs in the country that could test for PFAS, and the test was hundreds of $$ and took time due to wait lists. That has improved, but your average lab still can't do PFAS due to expense of test equipment and they send it out. Our home well tested at low levels of PFAS (been drinking unfiltered 1977 - 2020. Reimbursed by a state settlement fund we (Second Wind) installed a Granulated Activated Carbon point of entry (whole house) filtration system ($5500). Replacing filters quarterly costs about $120/year. It is my understanding that PFAS contamination comes from identifiable industrial sources and those have been identified in NH, as well as countrywide. Thus the likelihood of PFAS in the lake is very small now. There are still some "small chain" related forever chemicals lurking, so there could be new findings in the future. Remember it was not that long ago that we could not detect PFAS, so it was not known to be a hazard.
LAKE:
Some, not all, members of our family don't want to drink lake water and they lug. They (through Second Wind) also installed an R/O under sink filter. Last summer they (family) never got around to changing the filter and went back to lugging. Labor is still involved but I believe there is municipal water available at the Glendale PD office to refill your jugs, no charge. Municipal systems have to test and publish results on an annual schedule, called a Consumer Confidence Report.
https://www.gilfordnh.gov/file/4267/...eport_2025.pdf
Bottled water: may contain up to 10 ppb arsenic, less, depending on the brand, but NH, especially the SE, has a naturally high level of arsenic. Also, if you like the idea, there are also brands that contain fluoride, but harder to find. (Source: personal experience and served on the NH House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee 2000-2018)