News Release - City Wins Water Tasting Championship at New York State Fair

City of Rochester

News Release

Fairgoers: Rochester’s Water Tastes Best

(Friday, Aug. 30, 2013) —Mayor Thomas S. Richards announced today that the City of Rochester’s tap water has won New York State’s Water Tasting Championship at the New York State Fair. Water was submitted from more than 150 towns and villages from across the state and the winner was chosen from among 10 finalists by fairgoers, who sampled and voted for the water they thought had the best taste.

Rochester took overall honors, beating runners-up New York City in the surface water system category and Fort Plains in the groundwater system category. This is the first time Rochester has won top honors in both categories.

“We are proud to supply our residents with clean, high quality water at a very affordable price,” said Mayor Richards. “This is just the latest among numerous awards we’ve received for our water and that is a testament to our City Water Bureau staff and the excellent stewardship they provide over our drinking water resources.”

“Quality drinking water tastes good,” said City Water Bureau Director Robert Morrison, “Our consistent success results from having Hemlock and Canadice lakes as our source water and from the excellent work of our employees that carefully treat and deliver the water.”

Since 1876, Rochester residents have relied upon Hemlock and Canadice Lakes for their drinking water. 210,000 residents consume an average of 21.1 million gallons of water per day, produced by the City’s Hemlock Filtration Plant.

The 27th annual contest is sponsored by the N.Y. State Dept. of Health under a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cooperative agreement with the Department’s Environmental Health Specialist Water Program.

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News Media: For more information, contact City Water Director Bob Morrison at 428-7500.