Water

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

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.)

Comments

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

OK, looking at the FAQ question on chlorine odors (http://www.mwra.com/04water/html/qual4concerns.htm#chlorine), it sounds like the MWRA considers this normal and safe and recommends using a pitcher in the fridge to reduce the smell. I can live with that, but the sudden change is a surprise, especially after living in the area for years without a change.

From your comment and from the FAQ, it doesn't seem like this change is expected: normally it comes with higher water usage in the summer, and there haven't been any problems that you know of. Is that correct?

My water does NOT smell at all...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

??

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm a little worried, given that nobody else seems to have the problem, that this is actually a problem with the plumbing in my house or on my street or something; but I would figure that if it were, say, backflow from a laundry machine or something, that there would be other things wrong with the water, and there don't seem to be.

[cfox.livejournal.com]

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.