Finding uncontaminated places to use as they stand would be difficult. Upcountry: mine tailings chemical residue, left over from a hundred years or more: arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc. In farming country: chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides. From down-country water sources, every chemical and combination known.

About the only kinds of places I can think might be less contaminated are old, worn-out farms that haven't been in use for a long time, lightly-grazed and minimally medicated herbivore pastures, and natural rock cisterns that collect rainwater. And the places that fit even those criteria won't be easy to find.

I'm living on one acre of high ground that doesn't flood with contaminated water, has never been used for mining and isn't below one, and was only used as cattle pasture for many years. Unfortunately, one of the three previous owners tended to use at least part of it as a dump. If I had a well, a complete test of the water would probably be very interesting, as I'm mostly surrounded by farming country.

And the further east one goes, the longer the population has been there, contaminating the area one way or another. Something as 'simple' as the previous half-century site of a livery stable will still be contaminating the water supply with nitrates for maybe another century or two.

It was a nice country for a while.

Sue