Greenwood water wins best in world at competition

By Erin Perkins

The City of Greenwood is tops in the world for their tap water.

Greenwood won the presitigious Best in the World title for municipal water at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Competition held in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, held this year from Thursday, Feb. 23 to Sunday, Feb. 26.

"We're pretty stoked,"said Greenwood mayor, Nipper Kettle, of the win.

"It's fantastic news," agrees Gerry Henke, city administrator. "It shows what a good job our crew is doing."

The sample was drawn from well number four, a 110 foot (33.53 meter) well tapped into a pretty good acquifer. The city currently has three active wells from which they draw from. The city water is untreated.

Kettle would love to see some spinoffs as a result of the the win like the development of new businesses, maybe a brewery or water bottling plant.

The competition features more than 100 water samples from around the globe that are judged on things like clarity and taste.

This was the third time the city has entered the annual competition. The first year they took third place (bronze) for municipal drinking water. Last year the water didn't place at all.

Other winning Canadian water sources included a gold in the non-carbonated bottled water category for Jackson Springs Natural Premium Spring Water out of Manitoba and a fourth place in the carbonated bottled water and the people's choice for package design catagories for Source Saint-Elie, Saint-Elie-de-Caxton in Quebec.

Greenwood will be presented with an official award early next month.

For a full list of winners visit www.berkeleysprings.com/water/ .