Drinking water from Baltimore’s Montebello Filtration Plants won first place in its division in the annual taste test Friday, May 13, conducted by the Chesapeake Section of the American Water Works Association (CSAWWA).

With the win, Baltimore is eligible to compete in the national drinking water taste test, in the surface water division, at the American Water Works Association annual conference in June.

Drinking water provided by Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) has consistently been considered among the best in the region.

“We work hard to assure our customers they are getting the safest, healthiest, best-tasting water we can provide,” said DPW Director Rudy S. Chow, P.E. “I’m honored that the judges at the CSAWWA event judged our water the best tasting in the region, but I’m especially happy for our hundreds of thousands of customers who drink and cook with our water every day.”

The water comes from the Prettyboy, Liberty, and Loch Raven reservoirs, which are protected by forest buffers. These reservoirs supply water for 1.8 million people in the greater Baltimore area.

Three filtration plants owned and operated by DPW – two Montebello facilities, and the Ashburton Filtration Plant – remove any impurities from the water and prepare it for distribution and consumption. DPW’s most recent Water Quality Report confirmed the high quality of the water.

The Montebello plants stand across from each other along Hillen Road. The first Montebello plant turned 100 years old last September; the second opened a few years later.

High quality and safety is also being assured by replacing the open-air reservoirs for finished water with enclosed, underground tanks. Work is under way to build buried water tanks at the Guilford Reservoir location, with plans moving forward for water tanks at the Druid Lake and Lake Ashburton reservoirs.