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Santa Ana recently won the coveted honor of producing some of the “Best Municipal Water in the U.S.,”—second only to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California—at the 31st Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting. The annual competition is the largest and most prestigious in the world, dedicated to preserving and protecting drinking water.   

Judging at the 31st annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting (Photo credit: Van Smith)

Over the past 10 years of participating in this competition, the City of Santa Ana has won six awards including the gold medal in 2018 and 2014 as well as the silver and bronze medals in 2012 and 2011, respectively. 

This long history of awards reflects Santa Ana’s commitment to ensuring a healthy, reliable and safe drinking water supply for residents that exceeds the drinking water health standards requirement by both state and federal agencies. 

“Winning one of the nation’s top awards in our category is phenomenal. Winning the award six times over the past ten years attests to the high standards we set for our tap water and the dedication of our certified specialists who are committed to serving our customers,” says Robert Hernandez, Water Services Quality Supervisor for the City of Santa Ana. 

While some may take the quality of their drinking water for granted, Santa Ana does not. Behind the scenes, the Water Resources Division performs year-round monitoring, where over 16,000 samples are collected at various sampling points throughout the City’s water system to ensure the community enjoys the highest quality tap water possible

Residents can take pride knowing that the nine judges at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting chose Santa Ana’s tap water after spending hours tasting and selecting from waters sourced in 19 states, three Canadian provinces and fourteen foreign countries.

Similar to a wine tasting, they rated the water for each attribute including appearance (should be clear), aroma (should be none), taste (should taste clean), mouth feel (should feel light), and aftertaste (should leave people thirsty for more). 

The next time you think about drinking bottled water, we invite you to turn on the tap, fill your glass and enjoy our award winning water!