City of Merdian Wins Best Tasting Drinking Water
On October 15, 2013 during the 66th Annual Conference of the Alabama/Mississippi Section of the American Water Works Association (AL/MS Section of AWWA) in Robinsonville, Mississippi, the City of Meridian was awarded the title of “Best Tasting Drinking Water” from the Section. Meridian competed against 19 other public water supply systems from the two states of Alabama and Mississippi.
During the acceptance of the award, 2013 AWWA Section Chair Hugh Smith, Jr. was humbled and dedicated the award to the many operator’s that operate the treatment facilities for the City of Meridian’s drinking water.
The competition was sponsored by the Section’s Young Professionals Committee and took place the prior day during the Strolling Lunch. Water samples were scored on a scale of 1 to 10 by a panel of three judges in four categories (Taste, Odor, Color, and Clarity). The judges for the competition were National AWWA President Elect John Donahue, Alabama Department of Environmental Management Representative George Cox, and Past AL/MS Section Chairman Hunter Arnold (2011 Chair).
The City of Meridian’s water is eligible to advance to the “Best of the Best” Taste Test at the 2014 AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE’14) in Boston, Massachusetts in June. There, Meridian will compete against water providers from the 43 other Sections of AWWA from across the Country.
