The nation's biggest city beat 150 other communities to take first place in yesterday's tap water taste test at the New York State Fair in Syracuse. Second prize went to Pulaski, a village of roughly 2,400 people about 40 miles north of Syracuse. Albany won last year.

New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd says yesterday's victory demonstrates the importance of maintaining the city's celebrated water system.

City residents consume about 1.2 billion gallons of water a day. Most comes from reservoirs more than 75 miles away.

New York is one of the few major U.S. cities that doesn't filter its water, though it's building a $2.8 billion filtration plant in the Bronx.