IT IS OFFICIAL, Hamilton can boast Victoria’s best tasting tap water.
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Wannon Water’s sample, taken from sources in the Grampians National Park and funneled into a Hamilton treatment plant, made a splash at the Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water in Victoria competition in Bendigo on Wednesday.
Entries were judged on a range of qualities including colour, clarity, odour and mouthfeel during blind taste tests.
It was a close vote, the Water Industry Operations Association of Australia’s Craig Mathisen’s said, but a well deserved win to Wannon Water and its plant, which treated water from a number of different streams.
“They can have challenges in that sort of environment with tannin and leaves. The water can arrive in a murky state, so the staff do a fantastic job making it drinkable for their community,” he said.
Wannon Water’s Anthony Evans said a series of lagoons and weirs helped settle the water before it reached the treatment plant.
“If we have a big rain event the water quality can change virtually straight away. Our people who look after the water before it reaches the plant will selectively harvest – if they get rain this week they will divert it into one of the bigger lagoons to store and settle,” he said.
Mr Evans said Wannon Water representatives did not know why the judges chose their entry as the winner. They were jumping around so much at the announcement they did not take any information in.
What he did know was that it had come down to slight differences in each entry’s taste and odour.
Mr Mathisen said that was often the case with such a competitive field. Ultimately, the win came down to judges’ discretion on the day.
Wannon Water go on to represent Victoria at the national competition in Toowoomba, Queensland, later this year.
The Bendigo Advertiser yesterday asked online readers whether the water they drank was good.
Of the 43 respondents who answered a question about which part of Victoria had the best tap water, 24 saying it could be found within Bendigo city limits.
Another four said the best drop could be found in the central VIctorian and or Murray region.
Other answers included Ballarat, Echuca, Koondrook, the Mornington Peninsula, Gippsland and North East Victoria.
Readers were divided on which area of Victoria had the worst tasting water. Melbourne was the most common answer, mentioned by six of 42 respondents.
Four respondents said Bendigo had the worst tasting water, followed by Geelong and Maryborough with three votes each.
Generally, though, people rated Bendigo’s water highly and the city scored 3.8 out of five, when responses were averaged out.
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