on
Maramec Spring in
Missouri Springs have been used for a variety of human needs - including drinking water, domestic water supply, irrigation,
mills, navigation, and
electricity generation. Modern uses include recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and floating;
therapy; water for livestock; fish hatcheries; and supply for bottled
mineral water or bottled spring water. Springs have taken on a kind of mythic quality in that some people falsely believe that springs are always healthy sources of drinking water. They may or may not be. One must take a comprehensive water quality test to know how to use a spring appropriately, whether for a mineral bath or drinking water. Springs that are managed as spas will already have such a test.
Drinking water Springs are often used as sources for bottled water. When purchasing bottled water labeled as spring water one can often find the water test for that spring on the website of the company selling it.
Irrigation Springs have been used as sources of water for gravity-fed irrigation of crops. Indigenous people of the
American Southwest built spring-fed
acequias that directed water to fields through canals. The Spanish missionaries later used this method.
Sacred springs '', in
Spain A sacred spring, or holy well, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered in some religious context:
Christian and/or
pagan and/or other. The lore and mythology of
ancient Greece was replete with sacred and storied springs—notably, the
Corycian,
Pierian and
Castalian springs. In medieval Europe, pagan sacred sites frequently became
Christianized as holy wells. The term "holy well" is commonly employed to refer to any water source of limited size (i.e., not a lake or river, but including pools and natural springs and seeps), which has some significance in local
folklore. This can take the form of a particular name, an associated
legend, the attribution of
healing qualities to the water through the
numinous presence of its guardian spirit or of a
Christian saint, or a ceremony or
ritual centered on the well site.
Christian legends often recount how the action of a saint caused a spring's water to flow - a familiar theme, especially in the
hagiography of
Celtic saints.
Thermal springs The geothermally heated groundwater that flows from thermal springs is greater than human body temperature, usually in the range of , but they can be hotter.
Bathing and balneotherapy Hot springs or geothermal springs have been used for
balneotherapy, bathing, and relaxation for thousands of years. Because of the folklore surrounding hot springs and their claimed medical value, some have become tourist destinations and locations of
physical rehabilitation centers.
Geothermal energy Hot springs have been used as a heat source for thousands of years. In the 20th century, they became a renewable resource of geothermal energy for heating homes and buildings. Hot springs have also been used as a source of sustainable energy for greenhouse cultivation and the growing of crops and flowers. ==Terminology==