Drinking Water Supplier Wins Bronze Medal

While congratulating Metropolitan's - SouthLand Water Supplier for the achievment..

However, there is still far more room to improve & achieve 1st if possible.

The Drinking Water Standard cannot be lower or Maintence, it have to be upkeep forever.


Southland's Major Drinking Water Supplier Wins Bronze Medal at International Water Tasting Competition

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2005--The drinking water that's coming soon to all Southern Californians received the third-place bronze medal Saturday at the International Water Tasting competition.

Metropolitan's prize-winning water was drawn at its Henry J. Mills Treatment Plant at Riverside, the first of MWD's five treatment plants that has been retrofitted with the ozonation method of water disinfection that produces better-tasting water.

"We're delighted to be recognized again for the outstanding quality of our water," said Metropolitan board Chairman Wes Bannister, "and also to have our first ozone treatment process receive this kind of validation."

Not that the water that 18 million Southland residents currently receive from Metropolitan's other plants is less-delectable. Samples taken at other locations in recent years have won first- and second-place medals at the annual tasting competition held in the historic spa town of Berkeley Springs, W. Va.

However, the characteristics of other local and imported waters, and the effects of local and household water pipes, may affect the taste and scent of homeowners' tapwater.

Metropolitan's water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River comprises about half the drinking water used in a 5,200-square-mile area covering portions of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Metropolitan's 26 member public water agencies use the imported water to supplement, or in place of, local water supplies -- mostly ground (well) water.

"The ozone disinfection process that we are using at the Mills plant will be on-line at our Jensen plant in Granada Hills this summer, and at our plants in La Verne, Yorba Linda and Murietta by December 2009," said Metropolitan interim CEO Gilbert Ivey. "Metropolitan's board has made a $750 million commitment to ozone retrofits at all of our plants in order to maintain the high quality of our drinking water."

A safe, colorless gas with a pleasant, fresh scent, ozone is a form of oxygen. It is bubbled through drinking water to destroy potentially harmful organisms and also to reduce unpleasant tastes and odors. Ozone, which has been used for disinfecting drinking water since the 1800s, is also noteworthy because it causes fewer potentially harmful byproducts than chlorine.

The water-tasting competition at Berkeley Springs is held annually on the weekend closest to the birthday of George Washington, who was one of Berkeley Springs' early real estate speculators and surveyors. The hot sulphur springs that Washington and his friends hoped would become a tourist attraction are still flowing.

Twenty-nine cities from the United States and several other countries sent entries to the contest, where water samples are judged in the same manner as wine tasting. Metropolitan's water competed against entries from Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Wisconsin and New York and other states, as well as entries from Canada and New Zealand.

Carbonated and sparkling bottled waters, and water bottle packaging and design also have their own categories in the event.

In the Municipal Water category, Metropolitan took third place, tying with Rice Lake, Wis. Water from Town of Gibsons, BC, Canada, was judged best in the world; Daytona Beach, Fla., won best in the United States, and Putaruru, New Zealand, placed second.

Metropolitan's entry was selected by its Flavor Profile Panel, a group of employees at MWD's Water Quality Laboratory who are trained in wine-and-beverage-tasting methods. The FPP meets several times weekly -- sometimes daily -- to test water samples from throughout Metropolitan's aqueduct, treatment plants and pipelines.

Their objective is water lacking in noticeable tastes or scents -- the same characteristics that impressed the judges at Berkeley Springs.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other water-management programs.
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