Water from Baltimore’s Ashburton Water Filtration Plant won first place in its division in the annual taste test on Thursday, May 11. The taste test competition is held each year during National Drinking Water Week by the Chesapeake Section of the American Water Works Association. This year’s event was held at Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum.

This is the second year in a row that customers of the City’s water system have had their drinking water judged the best in the Chesapeake region. In 2016, water from Baltimore’s Montebello plants took the top prize in the surface water division.  The taste test competition is held each year during National Drinking Water Week by the Chesapeake Section of the American Water Works Association.

“Good public health begins with the basics, including clean, healthy water,” said Mayor Catherine E. Pugh. “For more than 100 years Baltimore City has been a leader in providing this priceless resource to its citizens and to customers in surrounding counties.”

Earlier this week the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) released its annual Water Quality Report. Once again the City’s water exceeded federal health and safety standards.

DPW provides drinking water to 1.8 million customers in the metropolitan area. The water is held in three reservoirs – Liberty, Prettyboy, and Loch Raven – located in Baltimore and Carroll counties.

DPW is investing hundreds of millions each year to upgrade its water system. In addition to replacing or rehabilitating at least 15 miles of water mains each year, Baltimore is continuing the process of building massive, underground tanks to more safely store its finished drinking water. Work began last year to install buried tanks at the site of the Guilford Reservoir, and construction will soon begin on a project to build tanks in what is now the western end of Druid Lake.