South Farmingdale Water District Superintendent William Bier and Business Manager Leonard Constantinopoli were recently on hand to pour water samples for the public and answer questions about Long Island's drinking water during the 16th Annual Best Tasting Tap Water Contest. The South Farmingdale Water District was one of many public water suppliers competing in the five-day event, held recently at Simon's The Mall at The Source in Westbury and Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington Station.

In addition to acting as judges in the contest, mall patrons were provided with information about the good quality of Long lsland's plentiful supply of drinking water. Some 500 shoppers participated in a blind taste test to determine which tap water was most delicious in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The competition is sponsored each year by the Long Island Water conference in recognition of National Drinking Water Week.

"Long Islanders have tap water that is consistently cited as being among the best in the nation," said LIWC Chairperson Leonard Constantinopoli. "Regardless of who takes the trophy, we are all winners in this contest - consumer and supplier alike."

Established in 1951, the Long Island Water Conference is a professional association of more than 45 Nassau-Suffolk public water suppliers dedicated to providing and maintaining a safe and plentiful supply of public drinking water for some 2.5 million people.

Long Island's drinking water is drawn from underground aquifers, located far below the earth's surface, by more than 1,000 deep wells and delivered by water utilities through a total of 10,800 miles of water mains. LIWC members provide their customers with water storage capacity for daily usage and fire protection and collectively maintain nearly 79,000 fire hydrants. Altogether, they spend in excess of $2 million each year to test public tap water quality, as required by county, state and federal regulations.

LIWC members also include consulting engineers, attorneys, water contractors and officials from government regulatory agencies.