The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has announced that Macon Water Authority won its annual “Best of the Best” Water Taste Test. The event, comprised of North American winners of regional water-tasting competitions, was held at the AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE09) in San Diego.
Macon Water Authority provides municipal water for the city of Macon and Bibb County areas in Georgia. Their water distribution system is supplied by the Ocmulgee River, and has approximately 1,425 miles of water mains and service lines serving approximately 54,000 metered customers.
Second place in the competition was awarded to Silverdale Water District of Washington. The Lakeway Municipal Utility of Texas earned third place.
Other “Best of the Best” participants in the competition included: City of Allegan, Mich.; City of Aurora, Ill., Water Production Division; City of Bloomington, Minn.; Centerville City, Utah; Denver Water; City of Enderlin, N.D.; Louisville, Ky., Water Company; Marshalltown, Iowa, Water Works; New York City Department of Environmental Protection; City of Olathe, Kan., Water Production; Orangeburg, S.C., Dept. of Public Utilities; Village of Palm Springs, Fla.; Matuyas Filter Plant, Maunabo, Puerto Rico;. Charles, La., Water District No. 1; Toronto Water; Valdez, Alaska, Main; and Waupun, Wis., Utilities.
An esteemed judging panel rated each water system on their flavor characteristics. Judges included Dr. Stephen Booth, of Kennedy/Jenks and chair of the AWWA’s Taste and Odor Committee; Monique Durand, engineer at Hazen and Sawyer, P.C and member of the Taste and Odor Committee; and Dr. Mel Suffet, professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA and former chair of the Taste and Odor Committee.
This is the fifth year the national competition has been held. The previous winners are the Louisville, Ky., Water Company (2008), Oklahoma City Water and Wastewater Utility (2007) and Illinois American Water, Champaign District (2006 and 2005).
