New Rochelle Wins New York State Drinking Water Taste Contest

Written By: Robert Cox

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (Aug. 30, 2011) – The New York State Environmental Facilities Corp. today announced that New Rochelle today won the 25th New York State Drinking Water Taste Test at the New York State Fair.

After being selected from 10 regional contests, water from 10 municipal water systems (see list below) were tasted and judged by nearly 300 Fairgoers today. Votes were cast for two finalists – the Village of Baldwinsville in Onondaga County (judged the best tasting water among ground-water drinking sources) and the City of New Rochelle in Westchester County (judged the best tasting water among surface-source water systems) with New Rochelle winning the final tally by just three votes.

The Environmental Facilities Corp. sponsored this year’s contest to underscore EFC’s role in improving and protecting Clean Water and Drinking Water systems in New York State. EFC has assets of more than $12 billion for low-interest financing, grants and other financing of drinking water and wastewater systems in New York..

“The annual Drinking Water Taste Test is a fun and lively competition that highlights the great tasting water that can be found throughout New York State,” said EFC President and CEO Matthew Driscoll. “At EFC, we are proud of our role in providing low-interest and no-interest financing to municipalities, as well as to sewer and water authorities, to improve and protect their drinking water and Clean Water systems.”

EFC was recently cited by the Center of American Progress for managing one of the best Drinking Water and Clean State Revolving Funds in the nation. Through EFC’s superior management, New York State is able to provide $3 for every $1 allocated to wastewater management and nearly $2 for every $1 allocated to Drinking Water projects.

The regional finalists in the Ground Water competition were the Village of Pulaski (Oswego County), the Village of Baldwinsville (Onondaga County); the Town of Clifton Park (Saratoga County), the Town of New Berlin (Chenango County), and the City of Schenectady. After Baldwinsville won that competition today, it was pitted against New Rochelle, the winner of the competition for Surface Water systems. Other Surface Water systems were New York City, City of Rochester, Fredonia (Chautauqua County), and Bolton Point (Tompkins County).

Today’s competition drew nearly 300 votes today. In the semi-finals for surface water systems, Rochester, Bolton Point and New York City were tied for second behind New Rochelle.

Last year’s winner was the City of Albany. Pulaski was also a finalist last year.

Baldwinsville pumps a 1.5 million gallons of water a day, all drawn from wells in Lysander and in the center of the village.

New Rochelle’s drinking water is provided by United Water, a private company that serves municipalities throughout Westchester County.