17736_Authority_August

10 The Authority | August 2024 T rust Y our “N eighbors ” to M anage Y our C ommunity O utside I nterests Nestled in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania just outside of Mount Gretna is a local treasure, Spring Meadows Spring Water. Spring Meadows is a small, private artesian spring water vending station open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the public to purchase state-licensed, quality-tested, local spring water for about $0.25 per gallon. The maintenance, regulatory, and safety expenses for the system are managed by the owner and long-time resident, Diana Lynn Orley. The property is Diana’s family farm – formerly known as Spring Meadows, owned by Walter and Dorothy Heistand, well known for their champion beef cattle. In the early 1980’s, Orley watched when a prize- winning cow sold years prior was bought back. When the cow stepped off the trailer, returning to her birthplace, she went to the trough, filled with water from the spring and drank heartily. The cow walked away, but quickly came back to the trough to thoroughly enjoy more water. Orley and her family remarked at how good the water is, and how the cow must have missed it during her years at other farms and this interaction spurred the idea of opening a water vending station on the farm so that others in the community could enjoy the great-tasting spring water. What felt like a mountain of legal work, dead ends, licensing, and fees finally ended in Orley and her mother being able to open the self-serve vending station and provide clean and safe drinking water to the community. It truly was and has been a labor of love – love for her family farm and a love for conservation and protecting clean land and water for the benefit of her neighborhood. Wearing many hats, including being a farmer and a resident of the historic and cultural Mount Gretna area, Orley can describe herself as a bit of a preservationist. She has served in her community to help conserve natural resources and historical treasures for current and future generations. Orley stresses the significance of water as a fundamental human right. Despite minimal advertising, Spring Meadows has an ever-expanding community of patrons. Orley believes it is due to several factors. One is that people like the taste, and they are choosing to purchase water not stored in plastic containers. Secondly, people are focused on reducing waste and do not like to purchase bottled water because of the impact plastic bottles have on the environment. Thirdly – cost plays a role. Bottled water is expensive, and filtration systems and their maintenance are expensive when using tap water. Spring Meadows provides only vended drinking water. As for the rest of their customers’ household water needs, some are serviced by municipal authorities, some by home wells, and others by private corporations which are for-profit investor-owned corporations. By Stacy Andersen, Spring Meadows Spring Water