Macon Water Authority wins Best Tasting Drinking Water in Georgia
The Macon Water Authority (MWA) has been awarded the title of Best Tasting Drinking Water in Georgia by the Georgia Section of the American Water Works Association (GAWWA).
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Macon Water Authority (MWA) has been awarded the title of Best Tasting Drinking Water in Georgia by the Georgia Section of the American Water Works Association (GAWWA).
The recognition comes nearly 14 years after MWA was selected as the Best Tasting Drinking Water in North America by the American Water Works Association (AWWA).
According to a MWA news release, the statewide tap water taste test competition was held last month during the Spring Conference of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals (GAWP) in Columbus. MWA’s tap water won the honor of best tasting tap water in Georgia’s District 5 before besting other regional taste test winners to claim the top title. MWA was required to have no permit violations at its Frank C. Amerson, Jr. Water Treatment Plant for the past year to qualify for the competitions, an achievement it says it has maintained for a decade.
As the GAWWA taste test winner, MWA will compete for the titles of “People’s Choice” and “Best of the Best” Drinking Water in North America during the AWWA’s annual ACE 23 Conference in Toronto in June.
MWA Photo: Chuck Mixon (second from left) and Daniel Smith (third from left) were inducted into the GAWWA Golden Hydrant Society, which is an award society recognizing outstanding water professionals in Georgia.
In addition to the Best Tasting Drinking Water honor, MWA received several other accolades during the GAWP Spring Conference, including the induction of Chuck Mixon and Daniel Smith into the GAWP Golden Hydrant Society, the District 5 Wastewater Top Operator Award for Michael Elliott and the Best Operated Water Treatment Plant Certificate of Achievement for the Amerson Plant in the category of Surface Water Facilities with a production capacity between 75-100 million gallons per day.
MWA Photo: Michael Elliott (center) received the GAWP District 5 Wastewater Top Operator Award, presented by MWA Director of Water Operations Gary McCoy (right).
The Amerson Plant also won the GAWP Platinum Award for 100% permit compliance for 10 consecutive years, while the MWA Lower Poplar Water Reclamation Facility received a GAWP Gold Award for achieving 100% permit compliance the previous year.
“Not only do we have some of the best, most experienced water professionals overseeing the treatment process as operators at the Amerson Plant, but the raw water we withdraw from Javors Lucas Lake, our 5.8-billion-gallon reservoir for drinking water production, is among the highest quality possible,” MWA Director of Water Treatment Gary McCoy said. “We also benefit from having the top-of-the-line filter media in Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) at the Amerson Plant, and we’re permitted to withdraw raw water as needed from the Ocmulgee River into Javors Lucas Lake. Thus, the raw water sediments in the reservoir have time to settle out prior to production, so we’re starting with a much cleaner source water than most other utilities.”
The utility’s tap water first gained national recognition in 2009 when it won the “Best of the Best” taste test at the AWWA annual conference, a competition it will now return to this summer in hopes of repeating as the Best Tasting Drinking Water in North America.
