The sommelier Faustino Muñoz examines the contents of his A glass against the light, sniffs it deeply and finally takes a drink. He repeats the ritual with his cup B. He has not tasted two great wines, but water. From the tap and bottled, in the latter case from a spring in the Region of Murcia.
The scene takes place during a citizen ‘listening’ workshop organized by the Aguas de Murcia Municipal Company (Emuasa) in the Cárcel Vieja with the aim of breaking myths about the “most monitored food product in the world”, highlights the company, which seeks “a change of mentality in society” about a “cheap and sustainable” resource.
Around the table, six prescribers summoned to compare the content of two jars, identical at first glance: Jorge Sánchez (ANSE biologist), Laura Mateo (general secretary of the HoyTú hotel and catering association), María José Sánchez (member of the Council of Students from the University of Murcia), Javier Roselló (a resident of Murcia), Daniel Robles (president of the Association of Environmental Companies) and a journalist from LA VERDAD –in the photo, from right to left–.
The members of the tasting panel also analyze the contents of their glasses and reach a similar conclusion: in both cases the transparency is complete, the flavor and the palate – a technicality provided by the expert – are almost identical and there is only a certain difference in the smell A memory of chlorine in domestic water that denotes its sanitary treatment.
“Tap water tastes no worse than bottled, packaged, or filtered water, we only notice a slight clean scent. To get used to the flavor, it is enough to cool it in the fridge or add a drop of lemon”, proposes the prestigious taster, director of the historic Colmado Quílez in Barcelona. “I always drink from the tap, unless I have to mix it with a high-quality whisky,” he adds with a wink.
55% still in the bottle
There are plenty of reasons to consume water from the municipal system: health, environmental, economic, practical, supportive… The simple gesture of putting a glass under the tap gives meaning to a complex process that provides maximum safety and quality to a public good. which, however, only 13% of Murcians use directly to drink. 55% continue to consume it bottled, and 32% filtered.
Coinciding with World Water Day, which is celebrated today, the municipal company shares on its social networks –Twitter and YouTube– the preview of a video that collects the impressions of the tasting, blind tests –with surprising results– and the opinions from other voices, such as Antonio Martínez Pastor (doctor specializing in family and community medicine), Juana Pérez (president of Thader Consumo), Jesús Jiménez (president of Hoytú) and Inmaculada Serrano (general director of Emuasa).
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