Metropolitan wins silver for best tasting tap water in United States

Tap water served by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is among the best-tasting in the nation, a panel of judges has determined as part of the 36th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition, which included more than 100 entries of water sourced from five continents.

Metropolitan garnered second place in the municipal water category - the eighth medal the agency has won in the international competition in recent years.

"Metropolitan water quality and treatment staff work hard to ensure the water we deliver not only meets all water quality standards, but also consistently tastes good. While safety is always our top priority, for consumers good taste can be an important confirmation of water quality," Metropolitan General Manager Shivaji Deshmukh said.

In its earlier entries into the international competition, Metropolitan won first place in 2021, 2008 and 1998; second place in 2022, 2003, and 2000; and third place in 2005.

Metropolitan's 2026 silver-medal water was a blend of water imported from the Colorado River, via Metropolitan's Colorado River Aqueduct, and from the northern Sierra, via the State Water Project, and then treated with a state-of-the-art ozone process at the F.E. Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne. As it leaves the plant, the water receives a small amount of chlorine disinfection to ensure its continued quality and safety throughout the distribution system.

Ozone treatment, used at all five of Metropolitan's water treatment plants as part of the rigorous treatment process, destroys a wide variety of microorganisms and effectively removes unpleasant tastes and odors. To ensure water quality, Metropolitan routinely tests its water to confirm it meets or surpasses stringent federal and state drinking water regulations that protect public health. Every year, the agency tests its water for almost 400 constituents and performs about 250,000 water quality tests.

Water from the Weymouth plant is distributed via gravity-flow to Metropolitan's member agencies in Los Angeles and Orange counties. The facility has a treatment capacity of 520 million gallons a day and is co-located with Metropolitan's world-renowned Water Quality Laboratory.

To help ensure Metropolitan delivers great-tasting water, the Water Quality Lab houses Metropolitan's Flavor Profile Analysis panel, a group of employees specially trained in the quality-control methods of the food and beverage industry. The panel meets several times weekly to evaluate samples from throughout the district's regional treatment and distribution system to maintain quality.