Geneva awarded 2nd place for best water in Kane County contest

ST. CHARLES – The bar was full, Rod Stewart’s voice was booming “Maggie May” from speakers the size of Yugos, people were piling up food from a buffet and three judges sat in front of 27 glasses of unmarked municipal water.

1 of 8

Judge Paul Young tastes one of the samples in the annual Kane County Water Association's annual water tasting contest at Global Brew in St. Charles on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Sandy Bressner)

The judges – retired water superintendents Paul Young from North Aurora and Dan Mann from South Elgin and Kane County Board member Clifford Surges, R-Gilberts – were judging the water from nine municipalities at the 2024 Taste Test for Kane County Cities and Villages.

As the competition commenced Dec. 21 at Global Brew Tap House in St. Charles, Young held up a glass to the light behind the bar and gave it a close study.

“One of the categories that we’re checking for is the clarity of the water,” Young said. “So we want to look at the same background for each to see how clear the water is through the cup, as well as determine the taste and the odor.”

“It’s difficult to decide,” Mann said. “It’s just very interesting to notice the little differences in taste and personal preference in water.”

This was Surges’ first time judging the water.

“It’s so much fun to see the pride of craftsmanship between the municipalities competing against each other for whose water tastes the best,” Surges said. “That’s simply outstanding.”

Carpentersville’s water came in first. Geneva was second and Sugar Grove and Aurora tied for third.

Carpentersville Water Superintendent Lucas Smith said the last time the village won best tasting water was in 2004.

“It’s an honor,” Smith said. “It’s been awhile and we are happy to show that our maintenance workers and our employees at Carpentersville are keeping up with the system and providing the best quality water we possibly can. We’re very proud.”

Mike Anderson, water supply and treatment supervisor for Geneva, said they work very hard to make high quality water for the city’s residents and businesses.

“It’s a reverse osmosis treatment plant, which is considered ultra pure water,” Anderson said.

“We do have a number of breweries and micro tap facilities that come to Geneva just because of the high quality water that we produce,” Anderson said. “They use that water because it helps them in their process so they don’t need any further treatment when they make their products. It’s very clean when it leaves the treatment facility. We work very hard to put out very high quality water.”

Alan Pease, Sugar Grove’s water operator, said being tied with Aurora was OK because Aurora has good water.

“I like it,” Pease said. “I drink it every day. It works well.”

Cassandra Armin, president of the Kane County Water Association, which hosted the annual water tasting event, said they will sponsor Carpentersville to go to WATERCON, a conference of the American Water Works Association in April in Peoria.

Other participating municipalities were Batavia, West Dundee, St. Charles, Huntley and Montgomery.