Put your taste buds to the test at South East Field Days

Can you taste the difference between water that flows out of your tap and bottled water from your local supermarket?

Sounds simple enough, but of the 4000 plus people who have completed SA Water’s Take the Tap Test, only 26 per cent correctly identified the bottled water.

To find out if you know your water, visit SA Water at South East Field Days in Lucindale as they reveal the science behind water, and put your taste buds to the test.

The SA Water team will have you taste five different water samples - four from different drinking water systems around South Australia and one bottled water from a supermarket - asking you to rate them and try to pick which one is the bottled water.

Water Quality Specialist and Scientist at SA Water, Dr Kelly Newton, said more than 60 per cent of people who have taken the tap test picked an SA Water tap water sample as the bottled water.

“Most people are shocked when they find out they’ve chosen the tap water, but they’re in good company because they often select the award-winning water produced at our Morgan Water Treatment Plant,” Kelly said.

“Morgan’s great tasting tap water has been judged Best Tasting Water in South Australia by a panel of Australian water experts at the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia's Best Tasting Tap Water Awards for the past three years running.

“The blind taste test challenge is a fun activity for participants, but it has a serious side too.

“Take the Tap Test helps us understand what our customers like and don’t like about their water, so we can continue to improve our services and plan for the future."

As well as the surprise results on water taste, many people are stunned to learn how tap water measures up on cost when compared to bottled water.

According to educational not-for-profit organisation Cool Australia, the average cost of Australia’s most popular bottled water is $2.75 per litre. This means one litre of the bottled water is almost 700 times* more expensive than a litre of safe, clean drinking water from the tap.

Take the Tap Test will also run in Rundle Mall for World Water Day on 22 March and at other upcoming Field Day events across South Australia later this year.

Details of Take the Tap Test events are available on the SA Water’s community pages at www.sawater.com.au.

*The average residential SA Water customer uses 184 kilolitres of water a year and will have an annual water bill of $782 this year.

Contact:

Phone:

Email: