Fredericton’s tap water named best in North America in taste test

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.

“We’ve always thought we had a good product. This just confirms that what we thought was right,” said Trent Brewer, manager of H2O Fredericton, the city’s water and sewer division.

“It’s years and years of us and city council that are making the right decisions on investing into our water and sewer systems.”

Fredericton was bestowed the honour by the American Water Works Association at its annual conference in June. The non-profit association aims to improve water quality and supply.

The New Brunswick capital was voted the best of 32 regional winners by a team of “professionally trained flavour profilers,” according to the 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.

“It’s the quality of water we’re getting. 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.

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.

“It’s mainly the mineral content. What’s dissolved in the water would give it its 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.

The water in Fredericton is treated at one of two treatment plants. While the water is drinkable coming out of the ground, chlorine is added to remove manganese and disinfect the water. Meanwhile, lime is used to adjust the pH and help remove other solids.

“Once it goes through the treatment, it goes into reaction vessels where it sort of mixes around. It goes through filters. That’s where all the solids are sort of pulled out,” said Bennett Moss, a water treatment plant operator.

“After that, it leaves the plant and heads on out into our distribution system.”

From there, it travels through 440 km of water main to about 18,500 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.

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.

“It does, I think, show that the water treatment is effective, the water source is reliable and safe,” she said.

“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.”

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.