Where is the most tasty tap water?

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Feb 25th 2008 @ 12:00PM

When you think about moving to a new city, you might take into account the school districts, the job market, the home prices and the property taxes. But do you spend time thinking about how the tap water tastes? Probably not. However, thanks to the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting, you can now factor in the taste of a municipality's tap water in your move decisions.

This last Saturday, the panel of independent judges tasted water samples from 120 sources and determined that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves Los Angeles, and the town of Clearbrook, British Columbia tied for first place in the tap water category.

For those of you in Los Angeles, do you think your tap water is award worthy? For the rest of you, how does your tap water stack up?

[via CNN.com]

Source

Filed Under: Drink Recipes
Tags: Berkeley Springs, International Water tasting, los angeles, quality, tap water, TapWater, taste, water

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-25-2008 @12:42PM Corey said... Maybe my apartment's pipes are to blame, but I'm afraid of my straight-out-of-the-tap water in Los Angeles. Thank goodness for water filters...
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2-25-2008 @12:47PM Alex said... I think the water up near Pine Crest CA taste the best. To be fair this is in the Sierra Mtns and prob comes from the ground, but up there I even give up my morning coffee just to drink it.
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2-25-2008 @1:01PM beanspants said... that's one crappy CNN article. it doesn't even tell second place, and doesn't give a link to the list to see how others rated to compare for ourselves. or give any judging criteria or methods, so i'm to assume that a group from Berkely basically likes their own water the best. wow.

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2-25-2008 @1:08PM cybele said... It took me a long time and a 5 stage water filter to like Los Angeles tap water. The unfiltered stuff has a rather calcium/salt taste to it. The filtered water though is really great.

I have to say that I preferred my south Central Penn water, it was much harder, but had real solid feel to it on the tongue.

Worst tap water was the stuff up Arcata via a well, it was full of sulfur and if I wanted to drink it (and couldn't afford a filter) I would put it in a glass bottle, shake it up and let it sit out for a day or so to aid the sulfur evaporating.
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2-25-2008 @1:37PM Annie said... The Water in American Fork, UT is so delicious!
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2-25-2008 @2:19PM Jamie said... I remember when Baltimore received a prize like that. I forget the specifics, I think the source was not exactly straight from the tap, but some other sort of source. The general idea was that it was water from Baltimore, but not true tap.
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2-25-2008 @2:22PM atomica said... I don't think beanspants read this article closely. The article was not written nor the water judged by anyone from Berkeley, CA, and they voted *Los Angeles* water the best. This was judged by people in Berkeley Springs, WV. I would like to add that Berkeley, CA tap water isn't half bad though. :)
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2-25-2008 @4:38PM Kasey said... Hawaii tap water is better. :-)
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2-25-2008 @4:16PM Red Icculus said... I think that the well water in the middle of the country in the Midwest tastes best. Although it will turn your clothes orange when you wash them, for water, it actually has character.
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2-25-2008 @4:30PM Ariel said... in numerous studies (can't find them now, i'm supposed to being writing two papers, oh well) nyc tap water is supposed to be the best in the country, with LA usually dead last.
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2-25-2008 @5:09PM beanspants said... atomica, you are right about that. i didn't read the byline for W Va, and assumed that Berkley meant CA. But that was only one small complaint of many, the main being i don't see a link to the other 118 waters they tested.

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2-25-2008 @11:31PM frausilly said... this Los Angeles business really surprises me... I'll add my name to the list of people who think Berkeley should have at least got honorable mention. I lived in Los Angeles for 9 years before moving to Berkeley, and the tap water here tastes a great deal better than anything I ever had from an LA faucet.
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2-26-2008 @12:46AM david said... LA gets water from both northern California AND the colorado river and I can assure you that colorado river water is better than the water from the Sierra mountains in California. It's not a shock that LA got top honors. It's got a good source. But I think water really depends on the pipes in your neighborhood. It varies considerably. Not shocking to me, as I consider LA tap to be among the best, but it may shock bottled water drinkers than LA has won numerous water competitions, consistently making top five at this particular competition.
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2-26-2008 @3:11AM lundi smith said... The BEST WATER in the world is in Vienna, Austria, Europe. Honestly!!!!
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3-05-2008 @2:24PM sparklybubbly said... The fat pipe that runs out into Lake Michigan from Milwaukee, WI brought some of the best, cold, fresh H2O to our house when I was a kid. Can't say what it is like these days after the invasion of zebra mussels and the zootic outbreak of a few years back.
Now the best cool drink by far is the water we get in Portland, OR. Fresh from the mountains from an open reservoir called the Bull Run. Can't be beat.
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