Water from Goulburn Valley Water’s Marysville Treatment Plant has recently been awarded second place at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting in the USA. The news comes as WIOA invites NSW participants to enter the latest 2016 NSW IXOM Water Taste Test.
After taking home the top prize for the 2015 Ixom Victorian Water Taste Test and the 2015 Ixom Best Tap Water in Australia competitions last year, Goulburn Valley Water’s Marysville Treatment Plant has come second in the world in the Municipal Water category at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition over the weekend.
The water’s trip to West Virginia, USA, was supported by WIOA.
WIOA Chief Operations Officer Craig Mathisen believes the award will highlight the achievements of all Australian water authorities. Mr Mathisen commented that “no one writes about high-quality drinking water that everyone drinks 365 days a year and no one gets sick from, so WIOA, with support from our taste test sponsor Ixom, are trying to shed some light on what has for too long, been a bit of a hidden industry”.
“We know our members are producing high quality drinking water, but we wanted to test it out by putting our National Champion from Marysville into the international competition” said Mr Mathisen. This was the first time tap water from Australia had entered the international competition.
“We now have worldwide recognition that some of the world’s best water is right here in Australia and it should be seen as a celebration for all of the operators around the country and in particular the Goulburn Valley Water team from the Marysville Water Treatment Plant.”
The new Marysville Treatment Plant, which was commissioned last year, uses an improved micro-filtration treatment process to supply drinking water to the towns of Marysville and Buxton, with raw water for the plant sourced from the Steavenson River.
GVW Manager Operations Steven Nash is thrilled with the result.
“We had some issues with water quality in Marysville after the fires in 2009, so to hear that the new plant is creating water of a quality that is second in the world is a great achievement for GVW and a credit to our engineers and operators.”
Marysville residents and businesses were waiting for the results of the competition all week and are justifiably proud of the water’s international standing.
Chair of Marysville’s Tourism and Business Association (MTBT), Barbara Muir, says the win is “a wonderful accolade for Marysville and Goulburn Valley Water” and “another reason for people to come and visit Marysville”.
GVW have provided a Water Refill Station to Marysville to acknowledge the town’s award winning water and residents and visitors will have free access to the award winning drinking water once this is installed.
Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting results
Best Municipal Water in the World 2016
1st – Clearbrook, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
2nd – Marysville, Victoria, Australia
3rd – Independence, Missouri, USA
Invitation to the next IXOM NSW Water Taste Test
Water providers and councils in NSW are now invited to participate in the IXOM NSW Water Taste Test to be held at the WIOA NSW Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibition to be held in Newcastle on April 6 and 7, 2016.
Eligibility requirements and to enter please visit:
https://www.wioaconferences.org.au/nsw_tastetest.htm
About WIOA
The Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) is a national non-for-profit association with a primary role of facilitating the collection, development and exchange of quality information between people undertaking operational roles in the water industry www.wioa.org.au.
