Does Wichita have the best-tasting water in the state? Here’s what a panel of judges said

Wichita has the best-tasting tap water in Kansas, according to a blind taste test at an annual drinking water conference held here last week.

Judges were asked to sniff, sip, slurp, swish and swallow the water, rating samples by each metric.

“I just think it’s a fantastic opportunity to pause and thank our public works and utilities staff who do something that we take for granted everyday,” said City Council member Becky Tuttle, who placed a congratulatory item on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. “Especially during the drought, it’s just another opportunity to remind people of the importance of water, but also in Wichita, apparently great-tasting water.”

One in six Kansans get their drinking water from Wichita, which draws from Cheney Reservoir and taps groundwater from the Equus Beds Aquifer. With the reservoir reaching critically low levels amid the ongoing drought, Public Works Director Gary Janzen told the council his team would “limit the use of Cheney water to the maximum extent possible while maintaining safe drinking water requirements.”

Wichita was one of five municipalities that submitted a sample to the taste-testing competition at the Kansas Water Environment Association and Kansas Section of the American Water Works Association joint conference, hosted at Century II and the Hyatt Regency from Aug. 27-29.

This is the first year Wichita has won the honor of best drinking water since 2009. WaterOne, a utility company in Lenexa, won in 2023 and 2021 and Emporia claimed the top spot in 2022.

Hank Corcoran Boyer, who manages the Kansas section of the nonprofit science and education group that coordinated the conference, said samples have to be room temperature because chilling the water can alter its taste.

Judges include one representative from the Water Environmental Federation, two representatives from the American Water Works Association, somebody who works at the water treatment facility that won the taste test the previous year (winners can’t submit samples in back-to-back years) and a local celebrity. This year’s celebrity was KAKE-TV meteorologist Frank Waugh.

Boyer said this year’s conference drew almost 800 attendees and more exhibit booths than any other previous year. One focus of the conference was the research papers selected by program chairs for presentation.

“A lot of the papers are on topics that either water operators or waste water operators — what they need to know to do their job,” Boyer said. “They just don’t go in and pump the water. There’s all kinds of things. You have the testing of the water and all that.”

Other papers addressed sustainability and resilience, how climate impacts the water supply, emergency technology and industry leadership .