Best Water in US at Grand Springs
The Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting competition has been called the “Academy Awards of Water.”
And on Saturday, the 29th Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting was held with entries from five continents making this “truly an international event,” said Robert Smith, owner of Grand Springs Water in Alton, who came home with a silver award for having the second best water in the world and the best in the United States.
The competition consists of entries in five different categories of products from around the world including Best Municipal Water, Best Bottled Water, Best Sparkling Water, Best Purified Water and Best Flavored Essence Sparkling.
The most prestigious award is to receive the Best Bottled Water in the World award.
Grand Springs Water of Alton has received this prestigious award twice in years past winning it back to back in 2008 and 2009, Smith said.
The INDEX is the industry’s most comprehensive rating of rural providers. It provides the data foundation for the annual Rural Relevance Study and its results are the basis for many of rural healthcare’s most prominent awards, advocacy efforts and legislative initiatives. The Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals play a key role in providing a safety net to communities across America – and the INDEX measures them across eight pillars of hospital strength: Inpatient Market Share, Outpatient Market Share, Cost, Charge, Quality, Outcomes, Patient Perspectives, and Financial Stability. 
Grand Springs expanded its bottled water facility in Alton to accommodate the packing requirements of a new customer, and added 20 employees as a result.
James Gordon, the owner of Springfield Distillery, comes by his interest in whiskey naturally. “I grew up with memories of my father moonshining,” says Gordon, who opened his Halifax County distillery in August 2016. “My father is one of the first two private individuals in South Africa to get his license for distilling liquor. I get to tap into 25 years of distillery experience.”
Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), a successful wholesale fiber-optic open-access network transport provider, is celebrating their 15 year anniversary today. Many things have changed over the last fifteen years, but MBC has remained steadfast in working to fulfill its core mission areas of promoting economic development, lessening the burdens of government, bridging the digital divide, and reinvesting in our communities.
