ABINGDON, Va. — Where can you find the best-tasting drinking water in the Commonwealth? In Southwest Virginia, according to the Virginia Rural Water Association (VRWA), which named the Washington County Service Authority (WCSA) among the top three providers in the state.
Winners of the VRWA’s 20th annual Best Tasting Water Competition were announced Oct. 20th at the organization’s headquarters in Buena Vista, Virginia. WCSA was awarded third place. Rockingham County Public Works took first-place honors, followed by Lee County Water Authority, which is also located in Southwest Virginia.
“We are honored to be named a winner in this year’s competition for Virginia’s best-tasting water,” says Robbie Cornett, general manager of WCSA. “This award demonstrates the longstanding care and commitment we have to providing the highest-quality drinking water for our customers.”
VRWA provides professional development, assistance and training for its membership, which consists of 180 rural water systems throughout Virginia. The Best Tasting Water Competition is held to emphasize the high standards and quality of rural water. This year, a three-judge panel blind-tested straight-from-the-tap samples for turbidity, smell and taste.
“This year’s competition was a tight race, as the scores were all fairly close,” says Mike Ritchie, VRWA executive director. “It’s really good to know that there’s great-tasting water in rural areas throughout Virginia.”
The VRWA honor is the second water quality award received by WCSA in 2020. Earlier this year, the water authority received a gold award from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the highest possible ranking in operations and performance excellence for water utilities. This year marked the 10th consecutive year WCSA has received this award.
More About WCSA
The WCSA serves approximately 22,000 water connections and 2,300 wastewater connections in Washington County, Virginia, and surrounding areas. The water system consists of an estimated 900 miles of water line, a 12-million-gallon-per-day surface water treatment plant, a 3.1-million-gallon-per-day membrane filtration plant, two springs, one well, 29 pump stations and 22 water storage tanks. The wastewater system consists of approximately 70 miles of wastewater collection lines, 29 lift stations and two wastewater treatment plants. For more information about WCSA, visit www.wcsawater.com.
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For additional information, contact Robbie Cornett,
general manager, at 276-628-7151, ext. 224.