The Great MSSC Water Taste Test
How good is your palate?
Different Salinity Levels in Your Water, Can You Really Tell?
During the MSSC 2020 Annual Summit, a taste test of four water samples ranging from 100 ppm to 1500 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS). These samples were prepared from ultrafiltered brackish water from El Paso and blended with distilled water. The goal was to see whether MSSC Summit attendees could detect the difference based on taste. During the Summit, 77 participants tasted four different water samples and 37 of these folks (48%) got all four correct! A total of 36 people chose Sample B (500 ppm) as the best tasting, 25 chose Sample D (100 mg/L), and two said B & D. Interestingly two people chose the most brackish water, Sample C (1500 mg/L) as their favorite (maybe they are used to West Texas water!). Five attendees got all four samples wrong – which might have been because the prize was so attractive. A drawing was held to award a prize to the best and worst tasters. Do you think you can do better?
THE MSSC TASTE TEST WINNER IS:
Benjamin Lee, Managing Member. Water Works Engineers
These attendees have a refined water palate (got all four correct): Kip Allander, Jessica Asbill-Case, Marcie Bainson, Reed Blochberger, Lauren Candreva, Malynda Cappelle, Gilad Cohen, Brad Cross, Luis Cruzado, Chuck Cullom, Guillermo Delgado, Eric Dole, Charles Ester, Steve Finch, Robert Fowlie, Val Frenkel, Mike Hightower, Horacio Juarez, Tamara Kahn, Christine Kimberling, Benjamin Lee, Karl Longley, Robert McCandless, Julie Minton, Kevin O’Toole, Roger Peery, Scott Reinert, Isaac Rodriguez, Phil Rosentrater, Anthony Straub, Warren Teitz, Meghan Thiemann, Andrew Tiffenbach, Sanaan Villalobos, Jennifer West, Pei Xu, Xuesong Xu
Five got all four incorrect: Lesley Dobalian, Philip Richards, Steve Wait, Jack Simes, Hannah Ake
GOLDEN TOILET BOWL WINNER IS:
Philip Richards, Manager, Water Resource Management, APS
Before coming to Las Vegas, test runs were performed at El Paso Water’s headquarters (thanks to the employees for the feedback!). Similar to the tests done at El Paso Water, most people could correctly identify the brackish water (especially Sample C). The correct answers were: Sample A (red)=1000 mg/L TDS, B (green)=500 mg/L, C (yellow)=1500 mg/L TDS, and D (blue)=100 mg/L TDS. It did appear that B & D were more challenging to separate, but a larger sample size and/or repetition is probably necessary to verify the significance of the difference of results.
Brad Cross, Supervising Hydrogeologist WSP, Malynda Cappelle, The University of Texas at El Paso, Roger Peery, CEO/Principal Hydrogeologist John Shomaker Associates, Inc.
Special appreciation goes to:
Malynda Cappelle, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Inland Desalination Systems, The University of Texas at El Paso for your going above and beyond to ensure this taste test was scientifically accurate and fun.