LONG ISLAND JOURNAL; Out of the Spigot and Into the Finals
By MARCELLE S. FISCHLER (NYT) 1658 words
Published: May 15, 2005

GINGERLY holding a plastic cup, Timothy J. Doyle sniffed and dabbed the contents with the tip of his tongue. Then he closed his eyes and took a sip.
''That wasn't too bad,'' said Mr. Doyle, the superintendent of the Carle Place Water District. ''No smell. No chlorine taste in that one.''

This was not a blind taste test of chardonnays or even bottled spring waters. Mr. Doyle was sampling the first of five out-of-the-spigot finalists in the Nassau County half of the Island's Tap Water Taste Contest, held recently at the Source Mall in Westbury.

He let the second candidate swirl in his mouth. Then he swallowed.''A and B are very close,'' he said, hard-pressed to detect a difference.

Not so with C. Mr. Doyle found a metallic aftertaste, which he attributed to mineral content. ''When you're done, it gives you a dry sensation,'' he said. He also wrinkled his nose at the chlorine scent of the last cup of water.

The contest, run by the Long Island Water Conference, an association of public water suppliers, is intended to raise public awareness of a vital commodity that is often taken for granted. This year's taste test was the 17th annual contest.

''I have no idea which one is mine,'' Mr. Doyle said. Then he circled B on the ballot, declaring it wetter and a little crisper than A.

All water may not be exactly alike, but on the Island, all drinking water comes from the same source: three related underground layers of water-bearing sediment known as Upper Glacial, Magothy and Lloyd aquifers. Rain and melting ice and snow filters down naturally through as much as 1,000 feet of closely packed sand to replenish the aquifers, and wells drilled by water suppliers tap the aquifers to bring water to the surface.

Twenty-five of Nassau's 42 public water districts participated in the water conference's competition over a five-day period this year. Four of Suffolk's seven water districts competed in a two-day contest at Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove.

''There is nothing scientific here,'' Mr. Doyle said of the competition. ''It is up to each individual's taste buds.''

Jack Russo, the commissioner of the Roslyn Water District, said that water districts were stringently regulated by federal, state and local government standards. Then the public weighs in.

''Everybody tests our water in the morning, noon and night, with their food, with their shower,'' Mr. Russo said.

In addition, the water districts spend a total of more than $2 million each year having their water tested by independent laboratories, which check for as many as 250 substances.

Long Island consumes about 133 gallons of water per person each day on average. Only 1 percent of that is ingested by humans or pets; about half goes to irrigation and lawn watering, and much of the rest to laundry, washing cars and similar uses.

Like many of the more than 500 shoppers who tested the waters, Mikayla Delury and Deirdre Sullivan, friends from Long Beach who are both 11, said they preferred bottled water. ''Tap water, it's just bad,'' Deirdre said. ''It doesn't taste good.'' She said the sample marked B had a spicy flavor.

Robert Murray, the chairman of the Long Island Water Conference and the director of operations for the Suffolk County Water District's 550 wells, said the taste test was all about perception.

''What tastes good to me may not taste good to you,'' he said.

Rich Passariello, the superintendent of the Roslyn Water District, said chlorination or minerals account for variations in taste among districts. ''What people are used to seems to be what they vote for,'' he said.

Roslyn's water is chlorinated, and it is passed through a carbon treatment plant to remove traces of a fumigant once used on potato fields, Mr. Passariello said.

But with the beverage industry spending millions on advertising to make bottled water fashionable, Mr. Murray said, persuading consumers to turn on the tap for a drink is getting to be an uphill battle for public water suppliers.

Still, the Island's water districts have a broader mission. ''You wash your dog in it, take a bath, you use it for sanitation reasons, and you use it for firefighting,'' Mr. Murray said. ''You can't fight fires with bottled water.''

Carmel Nicolas, 27, a science teacher and a pastor from Baldwin Harbor, grimaced as she tried the taste test. Ms. Nicolas said two of the samples were slightly salty to her, and another smelled and tasted like bleach. She uses a filter or boils her water at home.

''I would like to know the water I am drinking is safe,'' she said.

Water experts said that home filters may actually contaminate water if they are not used and maintained properly. ''A filter on the tap isn't necessary,'' Mr. Murray said.

Bottled water isn't a panacea, either, the heads of public water agencies contend. They argue that it's expensive and needs careful handling. ''Once we open it, we cannot guarantee the contents will remain clean,'' Mr. Russo said.

This year's battle of the taps chose water from Carle Place, which does not chlorinate its supply, as the tastiest in Nassau County. Dix Hills was the Suffolk champion.

Vincent Candurra, the Dix Hills water superintendent, said the outcome was pure luck. ''Like all our colleagues in Suffolk County, we all get our water from basically the same place,'' he said. ''It's plain old H2O.''

The only thing added to Dix Hills's water is caustic soda, which raises the pH level. ''That stops it from being acidic,'' Mr. Candurra said.

The Dix Hills Water District has 17 wells and 11 pumping stations, which bring up 26 million gallons of water a day from depths of 400 to 750 feet underground. The district, which serves 34,000 people, won a state water taste test in 2000.

Mr. Doyle was relieved to learn afterward that he had voted for his own water district. ''You can't fool Mother Nature, from the ground to the tap,'' he said.

Next month, the two county winners will go head to head for the Long Island title, followed by a regional competition this summer and a state showdown in Syracuse in August. Long Island districts have won the state competition four times in the last 10 years.

Will the winners bottle their prized water?

''It is not in the future for us,'' Mr. Doyle said. ''We will stick to distributing it to our consumers through the pipes.''