Guess what? Your drinking water is among the tastiest in the nation

By Jacqueline Palfy, for Pigeon605

How would you describe your tap water?

Believe it or not, experts swirl, sip and sniff tap water as closely as sommeliers do a fine wine. But instead of considering how the grapes and region affect the taste, they consider is it groundwater or surface water? What minerals are in it that contribute to the taste? How is it treated? Do you want to drink it?

For the city of Sioux Falls, the tap water has a profile of groundwater from the aquifer with hints of calcium and magnesium – the taste of  iron and manganese that usually would be present are lessened in the filtration and treatment process.

It’s a fine enough taste to have earned third place in the national competition for best tasting water at the American Water Works Association annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. WaterOne in Kansas City, Kansas, took first place, with Sitka, Alaska, came in second. More than 8,000 people attend the conference every year.

“It feels like a really good accomplishment and a great recognition,” said Chris Meyer with the water purification team for the city of Sioux Falls. “People can have some pride and good assurance that the drinking water right out of the tap is not only safe but some of the best in North America.”

Meyer said any conference attendee could blindly taste water samples and vote for the People’s Choice Award. “That was really interesting,” he said, “just seeing the differences in water taste around the nation. We felt like we could tell which one was ours. You have a pride in what you do, so you feel like you can taste that.”

The AWWA provides a drinking water taste and odor wheel to help people interpret what they’re tasting. Everyone can remember a time when they tasted water that smelled like rotten eggs. But this wheel is really specific — it ranges from sweet or salty, earthy or fruity to things like “decaying vegetation,” “shoe polish” and “rancid/sweaty socks.”

“What I looked for was something clean and refreshing without a lingering aftertaste,” said Ted Lewis with the city of Sioux Falls. “If you have ultra-pure water, it doesn’t taste good to humans. It’s not the purity of the water – it’s clean and safe, and then the mineral content is what is refreshing to us.”

Bet you didn’t know that much went into describing how tap water tastes.

But, of course, it does – city residents pay for water as a utility, and not only do they expect it to be safe and meet the standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency and safe drinking water standards, but they want it to taste good too.

“We made 8 billion gallons of water in the city of Sioux Falls, and every bit of that exceeded the water quality standards set before us,” Meyer said. “In addition, we’ve made certain standards within our treatment process to make sure our water also exceeds the palatability, to make the water taste good.”

It’s enough to have earned the first place within South Dakota in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. The city also won the South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems taste test this year.

This is the first time Sioux Falls water has been recognized on a national stage.

Some of it is just based on geology – our water has ground filtration, giving it that mineral content, Meyer said. Some is treatment – Sioux Falls uses lime softening and a granular activated carbon cap, which they describe as “highly influential” in how water tastes. Not all city utilities have access to those methods, they say.

“This is a great honor to be able to compete against other regionally named winners across North America and then to be named third place,” said Amber Wilson with AWWA.

For Meyer and Lewis, they see this as the result of a labor of love – “You choose this career because you want to be in it,” Meyer said. “We are proud of what we do. We have 65 employees who are doing a good job.”

Thanks to them, we can all enjoy the sweet taste of success.