BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — What makes great tasting drinking water?
KARE 11 went to Bloomington's Water Treatment Plant to find out, as the city recently won a statewide competition for its tap water.
There, operator Casey Lewis explained that pebble lime powder is mixed into area groundwater. The facility treats 14 million gallons of water per day.
"This is the start of our treatment process," Lewis said. "That's what makes the hardness go down a lot. That's what softens the water."
Assistant utility superintendent Mike Petersen says that's just one of the "secret" ingredients.
"We're kind of unique with our lime softening," Petersen said. "Most facilities in Minnesota just treat for like iron and manganese."
"Although, I would say that our secret ingredient is our staff. We have an outstanding staff here that is dedicated, hard working."
What they're doing is working. The American Water Works Association's Minnesota chapter held a tap water taste test competition in Duluth at its annual conference, awarding Bloomington a “Best in Glass" trophy.
"I was pretty giddy," Petersen recalled. "It was pretty awesome."
All Minnesota Municipal Utilities have the opportunity to participate, and 17 of them did so this year. Three judges determined the winner by drinking room-temperature tap water samples from each city. Participants were encouraged to hand-deliver their samples, and to store their water in glass rather than plastic.
The final round was down to Bloomington, Moorhead, Owatonna and St. Peter.
Back at the plant, Lewis showed off a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system that monitors, analyses and controls operations across the plant. He says operators test at least 3 cups of water samples per shift by scooping it out of the facility's large basins or pools and walking it over to an on-site lab.
The water is then distributed to an underground network of piping throughout the city.
Next on tap, Bloomington will represent Minnesota in AWWA's national competition in Denver. It will be held June next year.
This isn't Bloomington's first time advancing to nationals. In fact, back in 2016, the city took home the first place trophy for "Best of the Best" water nationwide.
How's the drinking water where you live?