From the Idaho Panhandle

Thankfulness Flourishes in the Panhandle, Despite Its Trace Element Failings

By Cate Huisman, 11-24-10

	All these unraked leaves vanished shortly after this photo was taken.

A recent bit in The River Journal (“A Newsmagazine Worth Wading Through” published in Clark Fork) notes that someone saw something on the Internet indicating that the ubiquitous “they” were going to put lithium in our drinking water to help us happily weather the recession that, as we all know (or at least as we’re all told), is well on its way to being over anyway.

The writer, Trish Gannon, whose title on the journal’s masthead is “Calm Center of Tranquility,” might be expected to find such supplements superfluous. But her source, local geoscientist John Monks, checked out the National Uranium Resource Evaluation database—a handy collection of data from water samples collected and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey—to identify the extent to which panhandle residents are being chemically mollified.

According to Monks as quoted in the Journal, the figures for the Clark Fork-Kootenai watershed are quite encouraging—a total of “2,314 water samples had a mean Li [lithium] concentration of 6.5 ppb and ranged from 0.898 ppb [parts per billion] to 620 ppb.” Monks seems to suggest, therefore, that “they” needn’t bother, because divine providence is already providing us with lithium in our water.

But perhaps Clark Forkians’ happiness isn’t as hopped up as they think. A thoroughly unscientific, not to say completely naïve, review of the data for collection sites nearer the town of Clark Fork is not quite so rosy, with samples rarely showing more than 2 ppb. Residents of the towns around Sandpoint may be expected to be even more sour, benefiting from lithium levels that maxed out in their area at 1.927 ppb and averaged significantly less. Probably the happiest people around here live just north of Cocolalla Lake, where one sampling site showed a lithium level of 4.077 ppb.

Nevertheless, “they” can rest easy, because “we” north Idahoans just don’t seem to be all that crabby. Perhaps it’s because the recent snow has covered up all our unraked leaves and other unfinished garden chores, leaving us with a purifying coat of white. Perhaps it’s because forecast cold temperatures promise skating on the lake, and our ski hill is set to open Friday. Or perhaps it’s just because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and as we look out over our lakes and mountains, we’re acutely aware of all we have to be thankful for, even if we are lithium-deprived.

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