Water from a school in the tiny village of Kipnuk has been judged the best-flavored in rural America...because it tastes like "nothing."

Kipnuk is 85 miles southwest of Bethel. Four miles inland from the Bering Sea, the 660 residents have no plumbing. Residents haul ice or collect rainwater from roof gutters. Judges concluded the school's water was the best because it tasted, smelled and looked like "nothing." "Water should have no taste to it. It should have no smell. It should be a clean, refreshing taste on the palate," said judge Gregory Bauer, executive chef for the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C., where the contest was held. "This one did," he said. "It was desirable."

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This is a mark of municipal distinction that I hadn't encountered before, but I guess congratulations are in order. I've been to Bethel and a couple of the surrounding villages. As my old friend Tom Okpealuk used to say, "Bethel isn't the edge of the earth, but you can see it from there."