Mass. town has nation's best water! (Newton, Leominster: houses, health, business)

[miu]

Southampton wins National Rural Water Association's Great American Water Taste Test.

Tap water from Southampton, Massachusetts, was named the best-tasting Tuesday among samples from the nation's small-town water departments.

Massachusetts town tapped for nation's best water - CNN.com

[smarty]

Miu...

Did you do a taste test? Do you agree?

I wonder how Belmont Spring and Poland Spring thinks.... LD

[Amerie]

Originally Posted by miu

Southampton wins National Rural Water Association's Great American Water Taste Test.



Massachusetts town tapped for nation's best water - CNN.com

I find the water in Masschusetts above average in general. I grew up on tap water and never had a problem with it. It tasted great. I wonder if it's a "well" thing.

I live in NY now and the water is horrible upstate and - NYC water is subpar IMO. I'd probably never drink bottled water if I lived in Mass - especially southeastern mass. I live off the stuff here in NYC.

[miu]

Originally Posted by smarty

Miu...

Did you do a taste test? Do you agree?

I wonder how Belmont Spring and Poland Spring thinks.... LD

I suppose I need to take a trip out to Southampton to confirm. In my house, we love Fiji water best, followed by Poland Springs. And we find the tap water in Newton is very close to the taste of Poland Springs. So what we'll do is splurge on a bottle of Poland Springs, then refill the bottle a few times with tap water before recycling the bottle.

[willdufauve]

I didn't read the article. The concept is just as silly as the "World's Sexiest Man" type of articles. Southampton is the same geology and soil chemistry, etc. as the rest of us here in the Pioneer Valley.

There are nearby towns that have some water issues. In Worthington center at the top of the hill the people's wells were all poisoned from years of dumping unused agricultural chemicals at the potato fields, and they had to bury pipe and run municipal water to all the houses in that area. That's just a couple towns over from Southampton and the next town after the big dam and reservoir in Huntington.

I'm sure Southampton has good water but so do most of the towns here. The taste would vary with the temperature and the age/kind of pipes in your house, etc. I sincerely doubt anyone could tell the difference or apply objective grading standards. And, the "nation's" best water? Come on...how many towns in the nation, and could they really compare them all?

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Amerie

I find the water in Masschusetts above average in general. I grew up on tap water and never had a problem with it. It tasted great. I wonder if it's a "well" thing.

I live in NY now and the water is horrible upstate and - NYC water is subpar IMO. I'd probably never drink bottled water if I lived in Mass - especially southeastern mass. I live off the stuff here in NYC.

Actually, I grew up in NYC, and NYC water has consistently won taste tests and has been known nationally for excellent quality. It's been cited as the reason why bagels, pizza, and other things taste better when made in NYC.

In contrast, MA water has always been less than quality and without flouride in most towns, all of which has led to a healthy bottled water business in the state. I lived in Leominster, and each year we received a warning from the EPD regarding the poor quality of the city drinking water. Maybe the MWRA water quality is better, but not from what I've read.

ABC News: GMA: Water Taste Test

[in_newengland]

I didn't read the article. The concept is just as silly as the "World's Sexiest Man" type of articles. Southampton is the same geology and soil chemistry, etc. as the rest of us here in the Pioneer Valley.

I feel the same way and also I remember during the '90s when Easthampton had good tasting water but it contained high levels of TCE. That was before they built the town water treatment plant. That was really scary.

If I remember correctly, private wells in Southampton had TCE problems too, water probably tasted just fine.

Northampton water tastes like chlorine and chlorine isn't very good for you either.

The best water I've ever had is out in Eastern MA--and it's usually clean too.