Municipalities: A Sip of Ol' Man River

Officials from New York City took the contest so seriously that they hand-carried their entry to Dallas in refrigerated containers normally used to ship organs for transplants. Chicago carefully drew its sample from a water crib three miles offshore in Lake Michigan. In all, seven U.S. cities and one Canadian city submitted samples of their drinking water to a tasting contest sponsored by the American Water Works Association. To the astonishment of connoisseurs, the three-judge panel turned noses up at New York's crystalline product from the Catskill Mountains and passed over Seattle's melted snow from the Cascade Range....

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