World's deepest hot spring helps to power a brewery
The Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs was designated by Guinness as the world’s deepest hot spring in 2011.
Pagosa Springs, CO
GeoThermal Brewery
The world’s deepest hot spring is helping for not only relaxation purposes but to power more than 30 businesses in a small Colorado town.
The Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs was designated by Guinness as the world’s deepest hot spring in 2011.
Hydrologists came out and ran a 1002-foot plumb line down into the spring, and it never touched the bottom. So while it holds a record of the deepest hot spring, no one knows the true depth.
This bubbling hot spring in Pagosa Springs draws in people from all over the country.
PAGOSA SPRINGS , CO - From right Brian, Leana and Kali Nelson soak in the natural hot springs, in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, on July 30, 2017.
(Amy Brothers/ The Denver Post / Getty Images)
With 13 confirmed minerals, it’s no wonder why people want to take a dip.
The water is warmed geothermally and hovers around 100 degrees.
The natural hot tub draws benefits not only the people who visit but the small Colorado town’s economy too.
Powering a brewery
This Pagosa Springs water not only helps people to relax, but it also gets an awful lot of work done here in this small town.
Pagosa Springs’ economy relies on the geothermal water of the hot springs.
When the Colorado town received grant money in the 1980s, it used it to run the spring water downtown.
Riff Raff Brewing Company tapped into that and designed a system to use the geothermal spring water to heat his brewery.
The spring water runs through the custom system and heats all the water that the brewery uses. Doing so takes a significant load off the brewing system.
"It is really about sustainability and using what we had in front of us," Jason Schnose, co-owner of Riff Raff, said. "In a given year, we spend on average about 35 to 40 dollars a month on running this system and that is basically just the geothermal authority charging us a fee for access to the utility."
Schnose says not to worry because their Earth-powered beer tastes just fine. No sulfur or minerals can be found inside, just the heat.