Hope springs eternal

Photo: Mike Crane

When it comes to the best tasting water in B.C., Hope reigns supreme.

Battling against 13 other communities in the province for the best tasting water in B.C., Hope just squeaked out a win again runners-up Squamish and Port Alberni at the Whistler event.

“All of the judges commented on how difficult it was for them to pick an overall winner because all of the water was exceptionally good,” says Tanja McQueen, CEO of the B.C. Water and Waste Association. “In particular, our guest judges from out of country, who do a lot of these taste tests, said this is the first region where they have actually had a really difficult time making a distinction between the different water they tasted.”

This is the third time the organization has held the tap water taste test, after taking a page from the American Water Works Association, which stages a continent-wide challenge every year.

A panel of "aqualiers" judged tap water from the different communities based on appearance, aroma, taste, mouth feel, aftertaste and overall impression to declare the winning water.

“Every year we have this contest where we basically structure it like a wine tasting. Where the judges look at five different characteristics. They score them on a range of one to five and then we declare a winner. We have four judges this year, including Samantha Rahn, wine director at Araxi Restaurant in Whistler, as well as three guests from our partner associations,” says McQueen.

The first year saw City of Kelowna water getting top nod from the elite judges, while last year Chilliwack took the title and now nearby Hope has grabbed the best water in B.C. honour.

McQueen says the annual competition aims to celebrate the resource and raise awareness about the value of our water system.

“This is held to raise awareness about the importance of our water and wastewater systems to our health and to our environment," says McQueen.

“How many of us turn on our taps and we give it no thought? It just magically appears, and we flush our toilet and it magically goes away. We do our laundry, we have a shower. We don’t really give any thought at all to the complex infrastructure and the people who make that magic happen for us every day of the year, very reliably.”

Competing against the District of Hope, District of Squamish and City of Port Alberni, the other competitors were: the City of Kelowna Water Utility, City of Merritt, City of Nanaimo, City of Penticton, City of Salmon Arm, City of Whitehorse, Cherry Creek Water District, Clearbrook Waterworks District, Columbia Shuswap Regional District and the Resort Municipality of Whistler.