The afternoon is sweltering and you are parched and thirsty. But instead of looking for a neon-colored sports drink or fizzy pop, you reach for good old water, which is best for rehydration, the doctors and nutritionists tell us.

        But which water?

TASTE TESTS

Richard Perry rates one of the waters Testing the waters • Water taste test • Meet the Taste Team • Minerals make the water

        Distilled, purified or spring water from a bottle? How about a slug of cool, cool water right out of the tap?

        There are dozens of brands and types of bottled water to choose from at a range of prices. Bottled water is a $5.6 billion dollar business in the United States. Yet, there are those who claim bottled water is a waste of money. It doesn't taste better than tap water, they say.

        This is why, during the thirstiest time of the year, we decided to ask our Taste Team to tell us which water was best.

        Yes, it was difficult. This taste test required perhaps the most sensitive palates and intense concentration of any tests we have conducted over the past six years. For nearly two hours, the Taste Team swirled, sniffed and savored blind water samples.

        The results of the test were as refreshing as, well, a cold glass of water on a hot July day. Out of seven bottled spring water brands, the Taste Team judged the Wild Oats Spring Water tops, giving it an average score of 9 out of possible 10. At 69 cents per 1.5 liter bottle, the Wild Oats water was also the least expensive brand we sampled.

        Even more refreshing (some would say startling): After scoring the tap water produced by the Northern Kentucky Water District (Kenton and Campbell counties) the best of five municipalities tested, the team then rated the Northern Kentucky water ahead of the Wild Oats bottled spring water. One panelist described the winning city water as simply “nice and clean.”

        And at $2.31 per 1,000 gallons, the Kentucky tap water is a bargain hard to beat.