Good timing. It happens I'm going to Ashland, OR next week. The town is famous for the Shakespeare Festival (world-class performances) and Lithia Park. The latter is a natural lithium containing mineral water source. It's easy to sample, just a short stroll from the Elizabethan theater, a drinking fountain bubbles up the spring water.

ATM I'm not sure of the exact concentration of the minerals, but from prior years, saying it tastes really bad isn't nearly a strong enough description. Other water supplies containing Li may be quite acceptable, but except for Ashland palatability isn't the main issue.

In the article, the cited concentration of Li at 0.170 mg/L, if referring to Li+ ion alone, the water supply would actually contain ~1/100 of the lowest therapeutic dose of Li. Medicinally Li is provided as the carbonate salt. A minimal dose is 300 mg/day, which contains ~ 30 mg elemental Li. Consuming Li-fortified water 2 L/d -> 0.34 mg Li or >1/100 of low medicinal Li dose .

Of course in nature Li is always in ionic or combined form, but the article didn't give details about Li concentrations, so it muddies the water trying to parse Li effects in any number of ways.

Here in Portland OR, city water is sourced high up near Mt. Hood from condensation of atmospheric water (mist or rain) and piped the short distance to the city. It's basically like distilled water, very low in mineral content. So low in fact, the federal government insists that alkaline minerals are added to the supply since distilled water is acidic and leaches lead from old plumbing.

However, Portland has among the lowest suicide attempt rates in the US. Our neighbor to the north, Seattle WA is among the highest, along with Salt Lake City UT and Dallas TX. http://socialcapitalreview.org/seattle-region-ranks-2nd-of-3...

Other data would show something different re: suicidal behavior but contradictory data sets are kind of the point.

Li could be a factor but I'm skeptical. We must remain alert to the hazards of drawing conclusions from population-based observational data. In this domain, experimental studies are difficult to design and conduct, but further study to narrow down confounding factors would be useful.

What I do know is water purity is sacred here. The last fluoridation campaign failed by about a 3:1 lopsided vote.

What chance would there be of adding lithium to our water supply? I think it would not be voted in.