In the arid West, water is a precious resource that’s currently strained by rapid population growth and persistent drought. For utilities, water is also a product -- one that’s tested, tweaked, tasted and tested again, all to make sure it’s safe to drink and tastes good, too.
To see who can lay claim to the best-tasting tap water in the Rocky Mountain region, nine Colorado municipalities recently went toe-to-toe… er, glass-to-glass. As it turns out, picking a winner in a blind taste test is no easy task, because, well -- water is water. It’s not really supposed to have a flavor. Unlike with wine or beer, distinctive odors or tastes are not desirable characteristics.
Telling different waters apart is challenging even for industry professionals like Paul Fanning with Pueblo Water, who is also a trustee for the Rocky Mountain section of the American Water Works Association. AWWA officials frequently judge events, like the recent 8th annual Rocky Mountain Water taste test, traveling across the nation as they do so.
"We've had a couple of them say it's extremely difficult in the Rocky Mountain section because all of our source waters here are so good – and so the distinction between the waters is sometimes very difficult to make," Fanning said.
So – could a panel made up mostly of amateurs (myself included) do any better?
With a chance for the winning water to represent the Rocky Mountain region at the AWWA national convention next June, it felt really important to bring my A-game, which meant gleaning a few tasting trade secrets from a fellow judge who had done this before.
Pinar Omur-Ozbek is an assistant professor at Colorado State University’s department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She’s been a judge for the AWWA’s national competition in the past. She basically told me relax and not sweat it…
"Of course you need to have a good sense of smell and taste, however, I think for these tests it is personal opinion," she assured me. "When we’re doing it for utilities to understand what is going wrong with their water, then you have to be a trained professional so as to understand the flavor characteristics, taste characteristics, their intensities, so you pinpoint what’s going on. But for this one I think it’s more personal – which water tastes better to you."
Getting a precise handle on how tap water tastes is much more involved in the professional realm, Omur-Ozbek said. They discuss in terms of the four basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour or bitter, as well as the mouth-feel – which could include water feeling astringent, chalky, or even slimy. (Eww!)
"Then also come the flavors, which also have the odor component," Omur-Ozbek said. "It's a wide array – chlorinous, medicinal, earthy, musty, dirty, or fishy."
Now, I’ve done my share of tastings, and those six flavors aren’t something you’d normally find at wine and beer tastings or food pairings in California and Colorado. Fortunately it’s a best-tasting, not worst-tasting, water competition – and the minute flavor differences make all the difference. Which prompted the question: What is the preferred way to cleanse the palate in between samples of water?
"The palate cleanser between water samples is – surprise – water," said water professional Paul Fanning with a laugh. "It’s actually some of the house water that’s right out of the tap here at the convention center."
It was actually surprising how many subtle differences the judges – past AWWA President John Donahue, David Dani from the state health department, CSU’s Pinar Omur-Ozbek, myself, and Channel 7 meteorologist Cory Reppenhagen – were able to pick out.
"I can actually detect a few different flavors," said Reppenhagen. "I thought it was all going to taste the same. I taste a hint of chlorine, or fluoride, or maybe even sulfur… I almost like the ones that taste like nothing better."
For my part, I tasted a couple of off-flavors: chlorine, a hint of vinyl, and a mustiness that reminded me of my grandparents’ Ohio basement. But most of the samples tasted like nothing – which, of course, is cause for celebration in a water taste test.
In the end, only one could win -- and that was the water from Castle Rock. Representatives from the utility were visibly pleased that they would be representing the Rockies at the national convention in Chicago.
"It’s a pat on the back for these guys, and they’re excited," said John Ferguson, a water operator with the town. "They get to take that award back to the head bosses and show ‘em what we’re doing every day."
