Chester Water Authority took the top slot in the 2000 Greater Philadelphia Drinking Water Taste Challenge sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Competing against eight other water suppliers from the Delaware Valley, Chester won not hands down but "glasses up."
"We have always felt that we have great tasting water," said Theodore Pawlik, CWA Director, Human Resources/Public Information, speaking on behalf of the public water utility's 150 employees and Board of Directors. "But winning kudos in the contest makes us all very proud."
"Safety and the highest water quality always come first," he noted, "But when the water tastes great as well ... that's what our customers want."
CWA can be found online at www.chesterwater.com
The judges included Striped Bass Sommelier (wine expert) Marnie Old, Le Bec-Fin Sommelier Marc Steiman, and Four Seasons Sommelier Stephane Castera. They evaluated each entry for taste, color, clarity and odor, using a scale of 0-5 (with 5 being the highest) or 0-10 (with 10 being the highest). Only one winner was selected, based on the highest overall score.
CWA also was recently commended by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for again meeting all the monitoring, reporting and treatment requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Program, one of only 1500 local community water systems so honored statewide.
CWA serves a population of approximately 200,000 in southwestern Delaware County, Pennsylvania; southern Chester County, Pennsylvania; and northern Delaware. All of the water CWA supplies to customers is treated at the Octoraro Treatment Plant located in Little Britain Township in Lancaster County. This facility is a complete, conventional water filtration plant. All of the water treated at the plant comes from two sources: the Octoraro Reservoir and the Conowingo Pool of the Susquehanna River. Both of these sources are in the Susquehanna River Basin.
