photo by: Nick Krug

In this file photo from Aug. 19, 2010, a utility operator at the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant makes his rounds collecting samples of water from the basins at the plant.

Those filling their glass with water from the tap in Lawrence can now say they are drinking award-winning water.

The City of Lawrence recently won an award for best-tasting tap water. A sample of tap water from the city’s Kaw River Water Treatment Plant competed against about 10 other Kansas communities from across the state in the taste test, according to a memo to the City Commission. The competition was part of the annual joint conference of the Kansas Water Environment Association and the Kansas Section American Water Works Association.

This is the first year the city has won the award, according to the conference website. A panel of judges made up of members of the KWEA and the AWWA sampled the water — presented at room temperature in unmarked glass containers — and assigned each sample a score. The contest only releases the winner and not the other participants or their scores. WaterOne, the public water utility serving the Johnson County area, is a frequent winner of the award but was not eligible to enter this year because it won the competition last year.

Following several episodes of unpleasant tasting water associated with algae and algae by-products in local water sources, the city begun gathering information in 2012 about treatment process changes to address taste and odor issues with its drinking water, as the Journal-World reported at the time.

In March 2013, the city planned to use utility rate increases for years 2014 through 2017 to help fund $19.3 million in improvements to the city’s two water treatment plants designed to help control occasional taste and odor problems. On Monday, the city was unable to immediately confirm how much has been spent on those efforts in recent years.

Major goals and objections for 2017 for the city’s two water treatment plants, which draw water from the Kansas River and Clinton Lake, included ongoing management of taste and odor concerns and improved early warnings of changes in water quality, according to the city’s 2017 adopted budget.

The city will now go on to compete in a national tap water competition at the AWWA conference, according to Municipal Services & Operations spokesperson Josh Carson. Carson said the conference will take place June 14-17 in Orlando, Fla.