How good is Lincoln's water?

It wasn't a national taste test, but the Capital City bested six other municipalities in Nebraska and a brand name of bottled water in a recent contest in Kearney.

Those involved with Nebraska Section of the American Water Works Association wanted to do something different for their annual conference so they came up with the idea, said Jerry Obrist, chief engineer of the Lincoln Water System.

The association asked cities and town to submit water samples and bring them to the conference held last Wednesday and Thursday. Entries came from Aurora, Hastings, Lincoln, Norfolk, Omaha, Scottsbluff and Seward. The judges also threw in a sample of bottled water just for fun.

Obrist said the water samples had to be taken within 48 hours of the contest. Lincoln's water came from its treatment facility near Ashland.

The Capital City gets its drinking water from an aquifer beneath the Platte River. After being treated, it's pumped via pipelines to Lincoln.

The panel of judges included the Mmyor of Kearney; Jack Daniel from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; Kathleen Alexander from HDR Inc. in Omaha; Charles Anderson, a vice president with AWWA , and an unidentified representative from a manufacturing company.

Each judge was given glasses of unidentified water and a score sheet.

Obrist said he was a little surprised that Lincoln won.

"I was hoping we had a good chance. I always thought we had good water, but now we had to prove it," said Obrist, who credited the work of all water system employees to make the city's water a winner.

The Lincoln Water System received a plaque for winning the contest, which may become an annual event.

Lincoln will now compete on the national level when the AWWA holds its meeting June 20-24 in Chicago, Ill.

Obrist joked the city has no plans to enter the bottled water business to offset any future increases in water rates.