St. Charles water makes splash with 1st place for taste

About 150 brawny men, most of them bewhiskered and some sporting reflective safety vests, packed into Global Brew Tap House in St. Charles Thursday for Kane County’s who-has-the-best-tasting-water contest.

Three judges sat at the bar, scoresheets at the ready, each grimly facing nine glasses of water from nine municipalities brave enough to put up their product for what is the Academy Awards of water: the 2025 Taste Test for Kane County Cities and Villages.

Dan Young, retired Batavia wastewater treatment plant operator, sipped from the first glass like a master sommelier and quipped, “So this water tastes a little different than that water.”

Cue the groans.

“Not much, but a little bit different,” Young said and laughed.

It took about a half hour for Young, Chris Olson, retired from the Aurora Water Department, and Carpentersville Village Manager John O’Sullivan to decide that St. Charles had the top-tasting water in the competition.

Aurora took second place, Sugar Grove and Carpentersville tied for third, besting Montgomery, Geneva, Batavia, West Dundee and Huntley.

St. Charles Public Works Division Manager Matt Wilson said the first place win “is really exciting.”

“I’m very proud of my staff and all the work that ... everybody puts in,” Wilson said.

Wastewater Division Manager Garett Guthrie said he manages St. Charles' two wastewater facilities and all 19 lift stations.

A lift station moves wastewater to a higher elevation from a lower elevation.

“This award is pretty prestigious for Kane County and the Fox Valley,” Guthrie said. “We’ve been doing this for many years and all these municipalities go head-to-head every year at this little event. It’s fun, you know, bragging rights for a year. St. Charles has won in the past. Everyone works hard to produce great drinking water.”

Laboratory supervisor Christina Smith said St. Charles' win is a real boost.

“I can’t wait to get back to the operators post a No. 1 all over their boards and give them a pat on the back,” Smith said.

Smith tests the city’s drinking water, river water and wastewater and industrial water every month to see that it is all within IEPA compliance.

Smith said during COVID, water operators did not get recognition as essential workers, even though they were on duty seven days a week all through the pandemic to make sure water flowed and sewers worked.

So she took this opportunity to give them a shout out.

“I love their dedication,” Smith said. “The water operators never stopped working...You’re going to shut your city down with no water, so these people were needed.”

Alan Pease, a Sugar Grove water operator, said they were happy to place, even for third.

“We were third last year,” Pease said. “It’s hard to beat the lime plants – that’s just how they treat their water. We are ion exchange. We get bragging rights.”

As the winner, St. Charles will attend WATERCON, a conference of the American Water Works Association held in Peoria in April.