Misleading headline of the week: "Low-mineral water leads city taste test"
Today's Tucson (AZ) Citizen reported the results of a consumer water taste test conducted at a shopping mall as "Low-mineral water leads city taste test." The results were offered as confirmation that the city should spend $380 million "to building a treatment plant to remove minerals - calicum, sodium, magnesium and others - from tap water" at a customer cost of $3-$4 a month. But the headline may have missed the bigger story.
First off, the "low-mineral water" had 450 ppm Total Dissolved Solids. The U.S. EPA secondary drinking water standard is 500 ppm, so the water was barely below the maximum threshold for taste. And second, 51% of the nearly 2,000 people taking the test preferred the "low-mineral water" while 49% could taste no difference (18%) or actually preferred the 650 ppm "high-mineral" alternative. Testing will continue until January; 10,000 are expected to register their opinions.
Perhaps a better headline would be: "Consumer testing confirms U.S. drinking water standard."