Press Release                                         April 22, 2004
 National Rural Water Association
    2915 S. 13^th Street
           Duncan, OK 73533     580-252-0629   FAX 580-255-4476
           Contact:  Kris R. Cash, nrwakc@nrwa.org   www.nrwa.org  

Town of Wytheville, Virginia
Wins America's Best Tasting Water!    

(Washington, D.C.) – If you’re looking for the best tasting water in the nation, move to Virginia.  The Town of Wytheville, Virginia took top honors today at the 5th Annual Great American Water Taste Test.  The taste test is held each year on Capitol Hill in conjunction with the National Rural Water Association’s Annual Rally in Washington, D.C. 

NRWA represents over 23,500 rural and small utilities so you can see it is a tremendous accomplishment for the Town of Wytheville to win this national competition. They competed against the top water systems from 48 state rural water associations in order to secure this award. 

Robert Huddle, III, Director of Engineering for the Town of Wytheville accepted the award on behalf of the water system.  Wytheville was chartered in 1839 and receives its water from Reed Creek. The creek originates from mountain springs and is a tributary to the New River.  The Town of Wytheville has 3,600 water connections and approximately 3,300 wastewater connections.  Over the years, Rural Development loans have assisted the town in expanding its infrastructure including water and sewer lines along with improved pump stations.  Processing capacity increased during the 1990’s from 2 million gallons a day up to 4 million with the help of Rural Development. 

Huddle indicated that the Town of Wytheville is blessed with great water and a dedicated crew that maintains the system.  A high rate filter system is instrumental in providing the citizens of Wytheville with quality water straight out of their taps.  As with many systems, Huddle said, “The regulatory environment is constantly creating new challenges to maintaining high quality, affordable water.  In an effort to keep pace, we are working with Wythe County and Carol County in setting up the New River Regional Water Authority.  In the year’s ahead, this will help us secure a larger source of water for our town.” 

The judges for the event were, Hilda Legg, Administrator Rural Utilities Service; Fitz Elder, Senate Appropriations Committee; and Bill Simpson, Senate Appropriations Committee.  Each judge evaluated glasses of water from the five finalists measuring them on clarity, bouquet and taste. 

The five finalist were:  Town of Wytheville, Virginia; Western Greene County Regional Water District, Walcott, Arkansas; East Hampton Housing Authority – Bellwood Court, East Hampton, Connecticut; Meridian Hills Water System/Talquin Electric Cooperative, Quincy, Florida; and the City of Cape May, New Jersey. 

State Rural Water Associations conduct preliminary competitions selecting the best water from small and rural systems to represent their state at the national finals. 

Every April, the National Rural Water Association sponsors the Rural Water Rally and Great American Taste Test on Capitol Hill to give utility and state officials an opportunity to visit one-on-one with their Congressional representatives and discuss key water and wastewater issues. 

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