By Jesse Graham
VISITORS to Marysville will be able to taste the second-best tap water in the world when they bring a re-fillable water bottle to town, after the town received a silver award on Wednesday, 19 October.
The award for Ixom’s Best Tap Water in Victoria and Australia from 2015 and a silver medal from the 2016 Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting was handed to Murrindindi Shire Council representatives on Wednesday, at the town’s Water Week Festival.
The festival was held by Goulburn Valley Water, Ixom and the Water Industry Operators Association Australia (WIOA) to celebrate National Water Week.
Primary school students from Marysville and Buxton and visitors were able to taste five samples of water from five states as part of Ixom’s Best Tap Water in Australia competition, and cast their vote for the best.
WIOA Chief Operations Officer Craig Mathisen said the event came about because of Marysville’s Australia-wide win in the 2015 competition.
The taste testing was accompanied by information stalls and flyers about the importance of drinking water, giveaways of re-fillable water bottles and the official unveiling of Goulburn Valley Water’s water refill station.
Mr Mathisen said he hoped visitors and students would get a better understanding of tap water from the festival.
“It’s nice for them to be involved in getting an understanding about water and the source of water – you turn on the tap and it doesn’t just appear, there is a whole range of things that go into it, to make that water safe and secure for their communities.”
A sample of water from Marysville’s Treatment Plant was selected as the winner of last year’s state-wide and national competitions, and came second at the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition in February.
The plant itself was commissioned in 2015 and uses micro-filtration to process raw water from the Steavenson River for supply in Marysville and Buxton.
Marysville Visitor Information Centre ambassador Chris Muir told the Mail that the water refill station was part of a plan to get bottled water out of the town, and to encourage people to choose tap water.
“We’ve had a bit of a discussion with some of the restaurants and cafes and said ‘How would you feel about moving over to not selling bottled water anymore, but selling refillable bottles that people then would come and refill themselves?’,” he said.
“We’ve had bubblers around town for some time, but we can really concentrate on saying ‘Don’t buy water, fill up your bottle’, and not only are you doing your best for the environment, but you’re also drinking the second-best tasting water in the world – the best in Australia.”
