BANGOR — Maine’s Boothbay region is officially home to the best-tasting water in Maine.
That’s according to a panel of judges at the 2025 Maine Rural Water Association conference at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
Each year, dozens of public water systems from across the state head to the conference to compete for the title.
“We typically see winners from around the state,” said Brad Sawyer, deputy director of the Maine Rural Water Association. “There isn’t one geographic region that’s overrepresented, so we’re proud to say we have pretty good drinking water in Maine.”
Systems with disinfected and non-disinfected water are ranked separately, and then the winner of each category faces off.
“Oftentimes, the water that has disinfectant added to it has more of a disinfectant taste to it, and so we judge those completely separately,” said Amy Lachance, the drinking water program manager for the Maine CDC and a judge in the competition.
Judges say that choosing a winner comes down to three key criteria.
“[We judge] the color and clarity, the odor and the taste,” said Nick Rico, a board member of the MRWA and a judge in the competition. “It’s cool, it’s crisp, it doesn’t leave an aftertaste. That’s the main part.”
But it’s more than a friendly competition; judges said it’s also a time to recognize the work being done by Maine’s water operators to keep the state’s water safe.
“The folks that are doing the operations, bringing you clean water, and then taking it away as wastewater, and then cleaning it before it goes into the environment… they are the unsung heroes,” said Rico.
This year, the Boothbay Region Water District won the best-tasting disinfected water and best-tasting overall, unseating last year’s overall champion, the Maine Mobile Homes Friendly Village in Gorham.
“The winner last year was a good champion, and they’re the first water that we’re aware of that made it to the finals of the national competition, said Sawyer. “We’re hoping Boothbay brings home the prize. We want a Maine winner.”
Meanwhile, the Strong Water District was deemed to have the best-tasting non-disinfected water this year.
“[I feel] elated. It’s very rare that a disinfected water system would beat out a non-disinfected water system,” said John Orne, the chief treatment plant operator for the Boothbay Region Water District. “So, I think that’s quite an honor in itself.”
