A panel of expert judges has determined that Fredericton tops municipalities across North America for the “taste, aroma, and consistency” — not of their wine, or fine cuisine — but drinking water.
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Fredericton → determine → wine
“We’ve always thought we had a good product.
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we → think → product
This just confirms that what we thought was right,” said Trent Brewer, manager of H2O Fredericton, the city’s water and sewer division.
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Brewer → confirm → Fredericton
“It’s years and years of us and city council that are making the right decisions on investing into our water and sewer systems.”
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that → ’ → systems
Fredericton was bestowed the honour by the American Water Works Association at its annual conference in June.
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Fredericton → bestow → June
The non-profit association aims to improve water quality and supply.
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association → aim → quality
The New Brunswick capital was voted the best of 32 regional winners by a team of “professionally trained flavour profilers,” according to the city.
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capital → vote → city
About 20-million litres of water move through the city’s system every day — drawn from 11 production wells tapping an aquifer beneath downtown.
And Brewer says he believes the city has an advantage when it comes to producing excellent tasting water.
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it → move → water
“It’s the quality of water we’re getting.
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we → ’ → water
We’re a groundwater source, so all of our water comes from wells, which are naturally filtered through the downtown aquifer from the St. John River down to our wells,” said Brewer.
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Brewer → ’re → wells
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Kerry MacQuarrie, a civil engineering professor and Canada Research Chair in Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions at UNB, says that groundwater gives the city an edge over the other competitors.
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groundwater → get → competitors
“It’s mainly the mineral content.
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What’s dissolved in the water would give it its taste.
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dissolved → dissolve → taste
So in the case of the Fredericton water, which is sourced from groundwater, it would be mainly mineral content, dissolved mineral content that would give the taste,” she said.
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she → source → taste
The water in Fredericton is treated at one of two treatment plants.
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water → treat → plants
While the water is drinkable coming out of the ground, chlorine is added to remove manganese and disinfect the water.
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chlorine → come → water
Meanwhile, lime is used to adjust the pH and help remove other solids.
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lime → use → solids
“Once it goes through the treatment, it goes into reaction vessels where it sort of mixes around.
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it → go → vessels
It goes through filters.
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It → go → filters
That’s where all the solids are sort of pulled out,” said Bennett Moss, a water treatment plant operator.
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Moss → ’ → ?
“After that, it leaves the plant and heads on out into our distribution system.”
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it → leave → system
From there, it travels through 440 km of water main to about 18,500 customers.
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it → travel → customers
The city says water sampled every week at about 50 locations is sent to an independent lab to make sure it meets Canadian drinking water guidelines.
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it → say → guidelines
MacQuarrie, who calls the award “a real feather in the cap of the City of Fredericton,” says the award shows the municipality is doing something right.
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municipality → call → something
“It does, I think, show that the water treatment is effective, the water source is reliable and safe,” she said.
“
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she → think → ?
So I do think that taste, although it’s a subjective thing — it’s not sort of a scientific measure of the water quality — I think taste does reflect the water quality and safety.”
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taste → think → quality
The city says it spends roughly $30 million a year on operating and capital work and is planning two more production wells as Fredericton grows.
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Fredericton → say → wells
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