Drinking water was the main fight when Mayor Kevin McCann and challenger Jesse Phillips debated, according to an account published Thursday by Oviedo Community News.
The two met Oct. 13 at the Winter Springs Senior Center before dozens of residents, who put questions to them directly. Orlando Sentinel reporter Martin Comas moderated. The mayor's seat is on the Nov. 3 city ballot.
Awards versus 'an October surprise'
McCann leaned on a recent result from the American Water Works Association, whose Florida Region 3 blind taste test covering six Central Florida counties gave Winter Springs an award for water quality and its People's Choice Award for best-tasting water this year.
"We're not pulling Rocky Mountain spring water out of our aquifer; we are living in Florida," McCann said. "But compared to our neighbors, we are significantly better."
Phillips, a frequent critic of how the city has run its water system, called the awards an "October surprise" and said the city "presented a couple trophies to themselves" weeks before the election.
The audience was split as well. One resident who has lived in the city on and off since 1976 told Phillips there was nothing wrong with the water; another, who said they had lived all over the world, called it the worst-tasting water they had come across.
Byproducts and 'forever chemicals'
On trihalomethanes, a byproduct of the chemicals used to disinfect drinking water, McCann said the city has worked since 2017 to bring levels down and that they are now the lowest in city history. The city's 2025 reading was 61.65 parts per billion, under the federal limit of 80, the outlet reported.
