St. Martin News Network

PHILIPSBURG—As part of the international World Water Day celebrations that were held on March 22, 2010, GEBE held a blind water taste test with customers to promote the quality of drinking water and determine whether customers can pick GEBE water out of a line up. Customers visiting the main office were asked to sample five different waters including popular bottled water brands, GEBE water, and GEBE water run through a carbon filter. Participants received a free limited edition GEBE reusable water bottle to promote better health through drinking water.
Many customers started off that they would have no problem identifying the source of the different water samples. However, during the test, they indicated their surprise that the waters tasted very much alike. "This is hard, they all taste alike." One customer exclaimed while testing. When they reached the question where they had to indicate which sample was GEBE water, more than 10% did not even venture a guess. Of those customers who did guess, 20% were able to pick GEBE unfiltered water (sample #4) out of a line up, while only 1 in 10 were able to identify GEBE filtered water (sample #3).
As part of the testing program, GEBE's water lab tested 21 bottled water brands, as well as a cistern water sample and GEBE water sample to give a range of the pH balance (ranging from alkaline to acidic), conductivity (measuring salt content) and microbiological tests. In these tests, GEBE's tap water was average in terms of pH balance and conductivity illustrating that tap water is the same quality as most bottled waters.
Although the cistern water fared well in the pH balance and conductivity tests, the microbiological tests showed expected signs of possible microbial presence that can be expected from spouts and cisterns. It is recommended to run cistern water through a filter or to boil it before drinking.
When rating the water, GEBE customers rated GEBE unfiltered water 2nd above leading bottled brands. "We were pleasantly surprised at the results of the taste test with GEBE water scoring so high. After conducting the same test with GEBE employees at the power plant and the main building, we were able to discern slight differences in taste depending on where the GEBE sample was taken from."
GEBE water has advantages since it is delivered straight to your home, it costs up to 300 times less than bottled water, and does not pollute the environment with thousands of plastics bottles ending up being littered or in the landfill. Empty plastic bottles that are in the end not recycled, can stay in the environment up to 450 years. In the test 60% of customers indicated that they already drink GEBE water at home, 17% of which drink GEBE with a filter. In these difficult economic times, families are looking for new ways to save money. Using tap water more effectively could save upwards of Naf. 500 per year.
Making quality drinking water available to everyone in the community remains a priority for NV GEBE. No matter which water you decide to drink, whether cistern water, filtered water, tap water or bottled water, drinking water remains important for your health. So drink up.