Water of Origin – a win for NSW
15 Jun 2018
Water of Origin – a win for NSW
For the first time in many years, New South Wales tasted victory at the 2018 Ixom Water of Origin Taste Test held during the 43rd WIOA Queensland Water Industry Operators Conference and Exhibition.
The judges found that water from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council tasted better than Queensland opponent Livingstone Shire Council’s water.
GM of Kyogle Council Graham Kennett was on the tasting panel and represented the NSW Water Directorate at the event. He tells the story:
“It was clear that pride was on the line at my first Water of Origin competition at the WIOA conference at Logan last week.
“It had been a while since the trophy had come down south, and as I walked through the conference wearing my blues shirt loud and proud, it was clear that there was a similar sense of superiority amongst the Queenslanders that we see with the real State of Origin.
“The groans from the audience when the winner was announced showed that we were greatly outnumbered on the day, and added a bit of extra satisfaction to the victory.
“It was great to see NSW get up this year, and a big congratulations to the team at Port Macquarie-Hastings, and good luck to them for the national level of the competition.”
Caption: The Taste Test judges including Graham Kennett, second from left.
Caption: Clayton Miechel of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council holds the winner’s trophy. Clayton won the joint Ozwater Conference Attendance Award in 2006. On the right is Graham Kennett, GM of Kyogle Council and proud representative of the NSW Water Directorate Executive Committee. On the far left is Peter “Spida” Everitt former Sydney Swans AFL player. Second from the left is sponsor Chris Howard, representing Taste Test sponsor Ixom.