ext_48626 ([identity profile] en-ki.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2010-01-22 12:18 am
Entry tags:

Water

Have other Davis-area folks been noticing a strong bleach / swimming-pool chlorine sort of smell to their tap water this past week?

(I have, strong enough that I wasn't comfortable drinking it, and I called the MWRA about it last night, but their "24-hour" taste & odor line is just a voicemail box. I plan to try to get a human on the phone tomorrow, and it would be helpful to know how far the problem extends.)

[identity profile] thespian.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
en ki is having problems with the purity of water?

huh.

[identity profile] thespian.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
you know, I'm glad someone got it. or, as I said to someone in IM this morning:

this is probably why my family thinks I have no sense of humour, you know.

I make jokes, I just apparently make them in Sumerian.

[identity profile] badseed1980.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't get it when I first saw it this morning, but after I'd had my coffee, the brain cells started firing. :)

[personal profile] ron_newman 2010-01-22 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Sadly, I had to look up "en ki" in Wikipedia before I understood.

[identity profile] badseed1980.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I don't really know all that much about Sumerian mythology, but I will always remember Enki as "that god who spooged the Tigris." :)

[identity profile] badseed1980.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
OK, I really shouldn't have read that while taking a sip of tea!

[identity profile] prunesnprisms.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Not here.

[identity profile] mattdm.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Normally the water here is purified with ozone, which makes it taste way better than that in most cities. When I was in Indianapolis over Christmas, I could barely stand to drink the stuff, which goes to show how spoiled I am.

Sometimes here when there are problems with the ozone system, they fall back to using chlorine. I hadn't noticed (and like I said, I've become generally sensitive to it), but it is quite certainly at safe-to-drink levels (because most of it is eliminated as part of the purification process). However, if you're concerned (or just don't like the taste), let the water sit for a while before drinking it. Or use a Brita filter.

Davis Square water

[identity profile] riamwra.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
mattdm is correct - we use ozone as the primary disinfectant for the drinking water; however, we've never experienced any problems with the system or reverted to free chlorine.

en_ki - your call will be returned this morning. If you ever have a real emergency, the staffed 24-hour numbers are posted on www.mwra.com.

You will also find all our water quality data there

Re: Davis Square water

[personal profile] ron_newman 2010-01-22 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm guessing from what you posted, and your LJ username, that you work for the MWRA? If so, thanks for responding here.
Edited 2010-01-22 14:55 (UTC)

Re: Davis Square water

[identity profile] nvidia99999.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi Davis Sq Water. I was wondering if you had any comments about "unregulated pollutants" in the Somerville water. Recently, there has been all this publicity in the press. Is the Somerville water minimally and "technically" safe or does it go beyond what EPA demands, and how?

http://www.ewg.org/node/27005

Re: Davis Square water

[identity profile] nvidia99999.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm talking about this report: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/MassachusettsDrinkingWaterQualityReport/

Ooops. I was talking to riamwra

[identity profile] nvidia99999.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry, I mixed the username with the thread subject line...

My water does NOT smell at all...

[identity profile] nvidia99999.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
??

[identity profile] cfox.livejournal.com 2010-01-22 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I noticed a light smell on the water a few days ago, and didn't think anything of it; I remembered from when I lived in Cambridge, that they would sometimes switch between chlorine and chloramine additives depending on the weather (chloramine breaks down to release chlorine slowly for a week or so), so I assumed that the cold snap meant there was more of whichever left in the water due to it evaporating more slowly. Come to think of it, though, Somerville water hasn't smelled of chlorine for me before.

I'm in the West corner of Somerville, just North of North St. and Powderhouse Blvd. if it matters.

[identity profile] kylenffxi.livejournal.com 2010-01-28 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)
I've never noticed a chlorine smell in the water in our apartment building on Grove St., but we're in the process of moving down the road to a condo near Highland & Willow Ave. right now and I definitely noticed a chlorine smell and slightly blue-tinted water there the first time I filled up the tub with water. I'm a little bit worried because we keep aquatic turtles as pets and will be using that water to fill up their tanks...