Duluth Wins 2022 ‘Best in Glass’ Award for Best-Tasting Drinking Water in Minnesota

Duluthians are no strangers to hearing how good the drinking is in the area. I hear it from visitors and even breweries like Bent Paddle who say that having such great water makes a big difference in brewing tasty, quality beer.

It can be easy to take for granted how good the water is in Duluth, until you travel somewhere else and suddenly the taste of the water stands out for all the wrong reasons. Therefore, it nice to see the city earn a nice honor recently from the American Water Works Association (AWWA).

The City of Duluth has officially won the 2022 ‘Best In Glass’ Award for best-tasting drinking water in Minnesota. According to the City, the taste test honors were awarded at the Minnesota Section of the AWWA's annual conference, which was held in September at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.  Which makes it an even bigger honor is that all Minnesota municipal utilities have the opportunity to compete in this event.

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So, how exactly was this honor won? Well, the contest involved two rounds of judging. In the first round, the top three samples were selected by popular vote of the participants of the conference. The three finalists along with the People’s Choice Award winner from the Minnesota State Fair then advanced to the final round, at which time a panel of taste-testing experts determined the “Best In Glass” winner and crowned the City of Duluth’s water the state champion.

“Duluthians have always known our tap water tastes better than anything you can buy in a bottle, but it’s really nice to have it made official by the AWWA,” said Public Works and Utilities Director Jim Benning about the honor. “It’s a real testament to the hard work and dedication of all of the City employees who put a ton of pride into the work of maintaining the public water supply.”

This is not the first time Duluth won this award. The Best In Glass honor was bestowed upon the City of Duluth in 2013, as well.  Last year, St. Paul won the award.

Next, Duluth will represent the entire state of Minnesota at the 2022 AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition in the “Best of the Best” competition, which takes place June of 2023 in Toronto, Canada.

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