Water tasting contest in West Virginia names winners

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. – This year's Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition produced some familiar winners.

All but one of the six best tasting municipal waters had won at Berkeley Springs before, event organizers said late Saturday in a written statement.

Once again, Canadian tap water from Clearbrook, British Columbia, was deemed the best in the world. The top tap water in the U.S. came from Santa Ana, Calif.

Greenwood, British Columbia, came in third. Tied in fourth place were Dickinson, N.D., and Montpelier, Ohio. The 2013 winner, Emporia, Kansas, came in fifth.

In the bottled water competition, Castle Rock Water from Dunsmuir, Calif., beat 32 other entries for the title of world's best. Eldorado Natural Spring Water of Eldorado, Colo., and first time entrant, Samaria Natural Springs Water from Crete, Greece, tied for second place.

Third place went to Mountain Drop from Linthicum, Md., which bottles local Berkeley Springs water. Tied for fourth were Element, of Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, and Avita Premium Artesian Alkaline Water from Roscommon, Mich.

The competition took place just hours away from Charleston, where a Jan. 9 chemical spill tainted the tap water supply in nine counties.

The chemical spill fouled the air and tainted the faucets for 300,000 West Virginians last month with licorice-smelling water.

There was no entry from Charleston. A panel discussion Friday brought attention to protecting municipal water supplies.

Ten judges tasted and selected from among dozens of waters from 18 states, three Canadian provinces and 12 foreign nations. For the first time, an African water was entered.

In a written statement, event founder Jeanne Mozier said, "Adding Tanzania gave us all five continents."