The food critic at the Tampa Bay Times, Laura Reiley, recounted her time as a recent water taste test judge at one of AWWA's Florida Section regional meetings. Her job? To figure out which utility served up the best tasting water in that region of Florida.

She wrote about the experience: "I’ve judged beer and wines, chili and barbecue, but how was I going to judge something that is supposed to taste like nothing, something we take for granted every day?"

As one of four judges and with 22 regional water utilities competing, Laura wrote of the surprising differences of tastes and smells between all the samples of tap water. As she acknowledges in her article, "While they all met safe drinking standards, the waters’ origins were frequently responsible for scents and flavors in the water."

So who was the winner of that region of Florida? That honor went to Pasco County Utilities, which went on to represent that region at the state level. And then the winner at the state level has the opportunity to compete in the "Best of the Best Taste Test" during AWWA's Annual Conference & Exposition in June in Las Vegas.

To learn more about your local water, visit our "Your Local Water" webpage here on DrinkTap.