Macon has the best tasting tap water in Georgia, according to a nonprofit. Do you agree?

Tap water from the Macon Water Authority has been selected by the Georgia Association of Water Professionals as the best tasting in Georgia.

The honor was granted at GAWP’s annual Spring Conference in Columbus last month, along with other awards given to Macon for personnel and facilities at the Frank C. Amerson, Jr. Water Treatment Plant.

Because MWA has won this award for the state, Macon will go on to represent Georgia at the annual ACE 23 Conference of the American Water Works Association (AWWA) in Toronto in June and compete in the “Best of the Best” taste test for a chance to win best tasting drinking water in North America.

Macon will be competing for the “Best of the Best” title against other sectional winners from the United States and Canada. The Best Tasting Drinking Water in North America award has been won by Macon previously, in 2009.

“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,” said MWA Director of Water Treatment Gary McCoy following Macon’s taste test victory.

“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.”

In addition to the best tasting tap water in Georgia, MWA also won various awards for its personnel and facilities.

MWA personnel that were awarded include Chuck Mixon and Daniel Smith, who were recognized as outstanding professionals in the drinking water industry and inducted into the GAWP Golden Hydrant Society.

MWA’s Michael Elliot also won the Top Operator Award for District 5 Wastewater.

Macon’s Amerson Water Treatment Plant was also honored with the Best Operated Water Treatment Plant Certificate of Achievement in the category of Surface Water Facilities producing between 75-100 million gallons per day. This is an honorable mention in the Plant of the Year Award competition, in which Amerson was runner-up.

The Amerson Plant was also given the GAWP Platinum Award for having 100% permit compliance for the last decade.

This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 5:00 AM.