Utah’s Best Drinking Water Found in Mt. Pleasant – Press Release 2/29/2004

DATE 02/29/2004 12:45 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This is part of an occasional series by the Sanpete Country Travel and Utah Heritage Highway 89 Alliance on the people and places along U.S. Highway 89.

Utah’s Best Drinking Water Found in Mt. Pleasant

Mt. Pleasant City has another feather to add to its cap of accomplishments: it’s home to the best drinking water in the state.The city captured top honors for its quality of drinking water during the Rural Water Association of Utah’s annual meeting in St. George Feb. 24-27 that attracted some 1,400 participants.

The city beat out 40 other entries in a statewide “taste test” of rural Utah’s drinking water. Water was judged for taste, clarity and smell by a panel. Mt. Pleasant will now compete for the title of best drinking water in the country at the National Rural Water Association’s annual meeting in the spring.

The first-place finish was both an unexpected and expected outcome for Richard Brotherson, Mt. Pleasant City’s Public Works Supervisor. “I was surprised to hear that we had won, but not surprised that they thought our water was the best. We have great water,” he says.

Just what makes the city’s water so incredible tasting? “It’s all spring water, all well water,” Brotherson explains. “We don’t chlorinate it. We don’t touch it. It never sees the light of day until it comes out of your tap.”

Mt. Pleasant City Councilor Monte Bona, who attended the annual conference with Brotherson, doesn’t have to be told how good the city’s water is he has been boasting about it for years.

A frequent traveler throughout the Western United States, Bona and his wife, Jackie, make sure they never leave home without their beloved water. “We take gallon jugs of it everywhere we go to California, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon. We even take water with us when we go to Salt Lake,” he says.

Bona, who moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1994, says he became hooked on the local water the first time he tasted it. “Now we’re spoiled, we can’t stand to drink any other city’s water.”

Bona is also extensively involved in the state and national Main Street Program and the U.S. Highway 89 Alliance. He says that Mt. Pleasant’s water is another draw for people who come to Sanpete County and travel along U.S. Highway 89 in search of heritage experiences.

“What could be more authentic than pure, delicious well water? The only difference between the water now and the water that was here 100 years ago is now it comes out of the tap in your home.”

Bona says he plans to help the city look into the feasibility of bottling its water under a “Mt. Pleasant Main Street” label. The city is part the National Main Street Center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which works with cities to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas and to save historic commercial architecture and the fabric of American communities.

Bona plans to take samples of Mt. Pleasant’s water to the annual Main Street meeting in New Mexico in May to see what others think of the award-winning water.

By then, Mt. Pleasant just may have earned another accolade. Brotherson will be attending the National Rural Water Association’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., in April. The city’s water will go up against the “best of the best,” competing against other state winners in a national taste test.

Brotherson, a 26-year veteran of Mt. Pleasant’s Public Works department, isn’t daunted by the thought of a national competition. “I will be hard to beat us. I don’t think there is better tasting water anywhere.”

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For more information Contact:Monte Bona
Sanpete County Travel and Heritage Council
(435) 462-2502
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