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Monday, May. 6, 2024

Does Colorado have the best tap water in the country?

Justin George, The Colorado Sun
no

Utility customer surveys do not rank Colorado tap water highly when it comes to quality despite the often-repeated and true claim that much of the state’s water comes from snowmelt flowing down mountain streams.

In June, J.D. Power, which analyzes consumer data, released rankings of water quality based on customer feedback from water utilities. Kentucky and Washington tied for first. Colorado did not rank in the top 10. 

It wasn’t atop U.S. News and World Report’s water quality rankings, either. Colorado ranked 33rd in the ratings, which are based on Environmental Protection Agency violations. 

Eldorado Springs did place fifth in the Best Municipal Water category of the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition in 2023. The taste test has been held for more than 35 years. No Colorado locale made the list in 2024.

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The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

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