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St. Columcille's Well

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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Columcille's Well

I went down to fill a bottle of water at St. Columcille's Well this morning as many people in Moville do, as well as many visitors to the town.

I was going to have a game of tennis and wanted to get some fresh water to drink during the game.

It struck me that in various places in the world there is a big shortage of water and that here there was a source of fresh spring water with most of it just pouring into the Lough.

There's obviously a demand for it in Moville - so, why not further afield?

You often see people queuing up to fill their bottles at the well.

Canny Youngsters

I'm surprised that some enterprising youngster doesn't have a service where they go down to the well to fill up bottles of water for residents who are not able, or are too busy, to get down to the well regularly.

If someone offered to fill up a container of well water for me for a Euro, I'm sure I would accept.

They could have a regular round and take a cart on wheels down to fill up multiple bottles.

But that's more of a side issue.

Good Demand

We already know that there is good demand for well water from the people of Moville who are a bit suspicious of what comes out of their taps (and rightly so as a testing in Derry that was got by Rose Kelly reveals).

It's never brown like the water that comes out of the taps and it never fizzes like alka seltzer either.

It just comes out pure and clear consistently.

Stockists

I bet the shops, restaurants and pubs around here would be just as ready to stock it as Ballygowan or other spring waters - in fact probably more so.

So, why does nobody start bottling it and selling it?

After all, it is free.

You don't have to make it.

It's there already.

Good Brand

It could make a very good brand.

After all, there is a great story behind it.

It would be called St. Colmcille's Well (or Spring) Water.

The story of how St. Colmcille tapped the rock and out the water came could be put on every bottle and used in marketing and advertising.

A picture of St. Colmcille would be on the bottle.

Not That Simple

Of course, it isn't likely to be as simple as that.

One would guess that there would be a whole heap of regulations that would need to be overcome.

Also, someone probably 'owns' it, whether it is the Loughs authorities or Donegal County Council.

However, seeing gallons of it going into the Lough every minute seems a bit of a waste.

Small Operation

Maybe someone has thought of it before and there has been too many complications.

But, it's there, it's free, there's loads of it - and we know lots of people want to drink it.

I wonder if something could be set up on a small scale so that at least it could be sold locally in the shops, restaurants and pubs in the town.