Reading that Emporia, Kan., was judged recently to have the nation’s best tap water reminded us of a local urban legend our newspaper has never been able to track down.
As long ago as the late 1960s, those who are old-timers here began hearing that Cumberland was judged to have the best municipal water supply in the country.
It may be that someone out there in Newspaperland knows the source of this information. If so, we would welcome them to pass it on; it has eluded us.
Emporia won the prize at the Berkeley Springs (W.Va.) International Water Tasting. The rumor about Cumberland has been around for longer than the 23 years the water-testing has been held.
Berkeley Springs is an appropriate place for such a contest. Long known as a popular resort, it has drawn visitors that included George Washington and soldiers wounded in the Revolutionary War who came in the hope that water from the town’s springs would heal them.
One’s preference for water — or any other beverage or food item — is a matter of ... well, taste.
Pure water has no taste; that is conferred by the type and quantity of minerals it contains. When the combination is right, the product is considered good enough to bottle and sell.
A Cumberlander once reported after a visit to a famous bottled-water producer that he asked the source of the water and was told, “New York City.” (New York City? Shades of the salsa commercial.)
Much of New York’s water comes from springs in the Catskill Mountains, and that’s what makes it so good. As the people who once brewed Old Export Beer in Cumberland liked to say, “Mountain Water Makes the Difference.”
New York’s water has such a following that some of the city’s expatriates who operate bakeries and restaurants in places as far away as California actually have water shipped clear across the country from The Big Apple to use in their bread, pizza crusts and bagels. They say that water from local sources contributes to an inferior product.
There’s one other thing about water that puzzles us: Why do we often pay more for a bottle of water that contains only cost-free natural ingredients than we do for the same size bottle of soft drink, which contains ingredients that cost money to introduce?
Editorials
Related Photos
-
Water, water
Water, water
But whose is the best to drink? It depends.
- Editorials
-
-
Walk Smart
Many local residents will be visiting Ocean City this summer, so it is worth noting that the resort has launched a campaign that it hopes will keep pedestrians out of harm’s way.
-
Frostburg’s Bridge Program was important
After hearing rumors of possible changes being made, I just wanted to take a few minutes to put into words what the Frostburg Bridge Program meant to me as a child. Growing up in Frostburg, my parents were small business owners, my mother a teacher, and my father worked for the postal service.
-
Trailer case bound to increase scrutiny on town of Piedmont
This letter is in response to the recent story concerning the guilty plea entered in federal court by Piedmont’s town foreman (“Piedmont town foreman Shingler enters guilty plea,” May 21 Times-News, Page 1A).
-
Fixing community’s problems starts with your young people
I am writing this letter to the editor because I think our community really needs to work on plenty of issues. Some of them are:
-
High priority
Maryland school officials on Tuesday put an exclamation point on the need to take student-athlete concussions more seriously.
-
Cashing in
As anyone who lives in the area knows, economic gains have been hard to come by in recent years. The opening of the Rocky Gap Casino Resort is one of the biggest boosts the region has seen in some time.
-
Why have the media been silent all this time?
When I read the Cumberland Times-News Editorial this morning, Friday, May 17, entitled, “Outrageous,” I laughed like a kid at a birthday party!
-
What are chances this much money will be spent on road?
I was intrigued by cost data summarized in reporter Kathy Mellott’s recent article, “Completing southern link of U.S. Route 219 said to be best use of highway funds,” which appeared in the Cumberland Times-News on Tuesday May 14 (Page 1A).
-
School board should be doing better job with less money
The Allegany County Teachers Association (ACTA) board of directors recently submitted a letter to the editor asking the Allegany County commissioners to fully fund the Board of Education’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year (“Commissioners should fund school board request,” April 29 Times-News).
-
Better ‘Click It’
If you notice more police on the highway this week, it’s for a couple of reasons.
- More Editorials Headlines
-
