'Really refreshing, really crisp': finding Australia's best tap water

Australia’s best-tasting tap water has had a long journey: from rainforest ponds where “platypuses are playing”, down “cascading waterfalls”, “rocky rivers”, “into the Pioneer River”, through Marion Water Treatment Plant and then into the pipes of Queensland’s Mackay.

Related: How to save water in Australia's drought: reuse, buy a front-loader – and wash less

“To me it’s something that’s really refreshing to the palate … really crisp,” says Craig Mathisen, COO of Water Industry Operators of Australia, and judge in the “Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia” competition, which chose its winner on 19 October.

The award, which is in its fifth year, is held to raise awareness of “how lucky we are” that “we can turn the tap on, and be able to have that glass of water when you actually really need it”, Mathisen explains. Regional and metropolitan water providers from all over Australia competed in heats. Statewide winners were determined, then the national winner was selected by a panel of judges and attendees at 3 Peaks festival in the town of Dunkeld, Victoria. Dunkeld residents are uniquely qualified water judges – their supplier, Hamilton Water Treatment Plant, won Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia last year.

“Often it’s not until you get the lineup samples from different regions and you actually can notice the differences,” Mathisen says of the community judging effort. “A lot of people were having comments about the crispness of the finalists.” Eventually, the winner was determined by just a few votes.

Mackay’s tap water will go on to compete against samples from the United States, Canada, New Zealand and more at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition in February 2020. “In last year’s we [Australia] won the silver medal. We’re hoping Mackay’s will go one better.”

The provenance of water can influence its taste, according to Mathisen. His poetic description of Mackay’s prize-winning sample is “a really good example of the journey of the water.” In Australia, tap water has to meet strict regulatory standards, which mean Mathisen has never tasted a candidate “where I’ve thought ‘I never want to taste that again’.” Though he can’t taste the difference himself, he says when water has come from a desalination plant “some people say they can taste … a bit of the freshness of the coastal environment” while ground-sourced water might “have an earthiness to it … the samples have a little bit of the characteristics of the source, and that varies.”

Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Both those sources were present in the water of one state finalist, Western Australia’s Mundaring Water Treatment Plant. Its water “was a mixture between reservoir or catchment, it also utilises groundwater, as well as part-desalination. They put all those three together, take it through the treatment process, and it makes its way 600 kilometres out to Kalgoorlie.”

As communities across Australia face ongoing drought, “some communities may be having water, similar to the Kalgoorlie sample, that’s pumped from a long way away. If your local source water runs dry, you’ll be looking for a source of water that’s further afield.”

Related: Can recycled water be the 'next frontier' for towns running out of drinking water?

“We have a lot of members who are in drought-stricken communities who are trying to ensure there is water in those communities so they can survive. They’re having conversations regarding recycled water. Water is on the agenda a lot more now.” Mathisen hopes the competition will make Australians think harder about what comes from their taps. “We’re a lucky country, but we’re a dry country. Water scarcity and insuring the communities of the future have available drinking water is important.”