All Wet on L.A.’s Water

It’s interesting that Charles Perry called upon self-proclaimed “water master” Arthur von Wiesenberger to characterize the taste and quality of Southern California’s drinking water (“California Wet,” Sept. 14). Recently, von Wiesenberger trained the judges for the fifth annual “Toast to the Tap,” the world’s largest water-tasting event. Up against more than 60 waters from the United States and Europe, Beverly Hills water, which is supplied entirely by the Metropolitan Water District, placed sixth on the basis of aroma, appearance and flavor.

Like von Wiesenberger, some water consumers hold the misconception that Southern California tap water doesn’t match up well against other waters when, in reality, our drinking water supplies are among the safest and best-tasting in the world. And remember, most of it is imported!

To verify our results, Metropolitan calls on a panel of flavor profile experts who regularly perform taste tests on the district’s imported water serving about 16 million Southern California consumers. Specially trained by food industry tasters, these water connoisseurs allow Metropolitan to react quickly to variances in the taste and smell of our water.

The results from the Toast to the Tap competition confirm what Metropolitan and our flavor profile panel already know--Southern California water tastes pretty good. And at a cost of about a penny for every 10 gallons delivered, it’s a pretty good buy.

JOHN R. WODRASKA

General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

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Perry replies: To provide drinkable water for 16 million people is a job of mind-boggling immensity. I did not mean to slight the MWD’s heroic achievement in this all-important task, and I appreciate its efforts to improve the flavor of our water. But with all respect, to say what comes out of our taps is among the best-tasting waters in the world is going way too far. Why does one Southland family in three drink bottled water? Because we enjoy the added expense?

For the record, Beverly Hills water ranked sixth among 28 American municipal tap waters in “Toast to the Tap.” It was not tasted against the 47 domestic and imported bottled waters.