{"id":1576,"date":"2019-11-24T20:34:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-24T20:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=1576"},"modified":"2023-04-11T20:50:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T20:50:59","slug":"despite-local-critics-experts-love-how-durham-water-tastes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/11\/24\/despite-local-critics-experts-love-how-durham-water-tastes\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite local critics, experts love how Durham water\u00a0tastes"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Cameron Oglesby<\/span> Ask random people to compare tap water from Durham and Chapel Hill and expect results as clear as mud.<\/span><\/p>\n 9th Street Journal reporters learned that last week after setting up a blind taste test outside the Durham Co-op Market.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tony Krawzzyk said Chapel Hill tap water tasted like something you never want to eat: plastic. His companion, Heather Izzo, found Durham water to be metallic.<\/span><\/p>\n The North Carolina American Water Works Association and Water Environment Association does not agree. At its annual conference this month, judges there deemed tap water from the city of Durham more delicious than 10 other competing water systems — including Chapel Hill\u2019s <\/span>drinking water provider<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span> \u201cWe\u2019re very lucky,\u201d Westbrook said. \u201cThe areas around them are relatively undeveloped and they\u2019re the headwaters so they don\u2019t get as much runoff compared to downstream reservoirs like Falls Lake,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The overall quality and taste of the water in these reservoirs varies from year to year, a fact that may explain Durham\u2019s 12-year drought winning the best-tasting title between 2006 and 2018, she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The actual treatment process at Durham\u2019s Daniel M. Williams and Brown Treatment Centers is \u201cfairly consistent\u201d with other public water system techniques, Westbrook said. \u201cWe may add some things here or there like other cities, but generally, the process is the same.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The fact the water department used chemicals to suppress algal growth in the lakes for the past two springs may have helped. \u201c<\/span>There are a large variety of algae that will grow in lakes, generally because the water is not moving as it would in a river or stream. Algae in the blue-green algae family tend to create taste and odor issues,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>and Kathleen Hobson<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Why is Durham water, a top winner in 2018 too, tasty? Vicki Westbrook, assistant director for the Durham Water Management Department, credits the source. Durham draws water from Lake Michie and Little River Reservoir, \u201chigh quality\u201d human-made lakes in northern Durham County.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n