Companies Compete For Recognition As Westchester's Best Tasting Water

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Sip and vote. That is what people in Westchester County were doing Tuesday to help determine who makes the best tap water.

Nine different suppliers were identified only by letters. Testers were not allowed to know whose water they were tasting. They had to rely on their senses to pick a winner.

CBS 2's Elise Finch spoke with one taste tester who said that the water was almost as good as bottled water.

"I think there were about three or four samples that I thought were comparable to my bottled water," said Stacy Abrams of White Plains.

Each water sample offered a different taste, dependent on the way that the water had been treated.

"They add chlorine to kill the bacteria, or some of them do filtration. Some of them add some other chemicals to control the pH. Some do a combination of all of the above," explained Nok Siriphoniai of the Westchester County Department of Health.

Officials told CBS 2 that the results of the taste test are taken seriously.

"We really do take it seriously. I mean this is a public health issue. We put a lot of money into our water filtration plants, making sure we have the highest standards, so we're proud of the water we have here. There's no losers today," Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said.

There were more than 200 people involved in Tuesday's taste test and 45 percent of them chose sample "D" as the winner. That sample belonged to the Cortland Consolidated Water District.

The next step is for the Westchester winner to battle other winners from around New York to find out who has the best tasting water in the state.

Where does your favorite tap water come from? Let us know in our comments section below...