The Many Tastes and Smells of Icky Tap Water
You can’t always taste or smell water contaminants, but if you do, they might taste a little something like this:
- Moldy
- Earthy
- Swampy
- Fishy
- Like a swimming pool
- Like rotten eggs
- Salty or “hard”
- Medicinal
- Metallic
- Bitter
Our sense of taste and smell evolved to protect us.
In fact, the mouth and nose can often detect flavors at much lower levels than any scientific method.
Nasty flavors can come from bacteria, minerals, decaying plant material, algae and more.
And as you’re about to find out, some homes are more prone to stinky contaminants than others…
How Where You Live Affects the Taste of Your Drinking Water
Do you live in the city or the country?
When it comes to the taste of your water, it’s an important question to ask.
If you live in the city, you get your water from the municipal treatment plant.
That means your water is filtered and disinfected before flowing through miles of distribution pipes to your door.
Water treatment centers love to add stinky chlorine as a disinfectant.
City residents also have to worry about heavy metals, like lead and copper, leaking from pipes.
Yep, you heard that right…
Many old distribution pipes in cities across the country are still lined with toxic lead.
And when they corrode, the lead can enter the drinking water supply.
Rural residents, on the other hand, have issues of their own…
If you live in the countryside, you probably get your water from a private well.
Depending on the area, this could expose you to higher levels of heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizers, sewage, and bacteria.
Next, let’s take a closer look at the main contaminants that can cause bad tasting tap water.
6 Things That Cause Bad Tasting Tap Water
In a perfect world, water would taste, well… like water!
Pure, crisp, refreshing H20 of Mother Earth…
But if you’re unlucky and your water tastes nasty, it’s probably because of one of these six contaminants:
Minerals, like sodium, magnesium and potassium, occur naturally in water all around the globe.
That’s because as water flows through soil, rivers and bedrock, it picks up dissolved minerals along the way.
In the right amounts, minerals can make water delicious and healthy.
After all, the body needs minerals to survive.
However, too many minerals can taste bad and be bad for your health.
A higher-than-normal level of TDS can make water taste either salty, sweet, medicinal or bitter depending on the type of mineral.
According to a recent study, the following minerals affect taste the most:
- Sodium
- Sulfate
- Magnesium
- Calcium
A salty taste means there’s too much sodium, magnesium or potassium.
If you live near the ocean, salty water could be a sign that seawater is leaking into your pipes.
If your water tastes medicinal, it could be a sign that your water is high in sulfates, usually from Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) or Glauber’s salt (sodium sulfate).
DRINKERS BEWARE: High-sulfate water can cause a laxative effect if you aren’t used to drinking it.
Elevated zinc levels can cause a medicinal taste too, but it’s less common.
Water with a sweet taste could be a sign of high calcium in your water – it could also be a sign of a pH or alkaline imbalance.
Solution: Water softener or reverse osmosis system
2. Chlorine and Chloramines
Does your water taste like a gulp of pool water?
It can only mean one thing: chlorine and chloramines!
Yep, chlorine isn’t just for swimming pools and hot tubs…
City treatment plants use chlorine to disinfect the water and prevent disease outbreaks.
When chlorine mixes with organic matter in water, it creates byproducts called chloramines.
The problem is, chlorine and chloramines taste gross when there’s too much of them.
Some people are more sensitive to the taste and smell than others.
To keep your city water safe, most treatment centers add 0.5-1 mg/L of chlorine.
Most people taste chlorine at 0.2 mg/L, so if you can taste it, it means there’s too much.
Solution: Activated carbon filter, reverse osmosis system
Does somebody smell rotten eggs?
Oh, guess that’s just your bacteria-infested water…
Tap water that smells like rotten eggs is usually due to hydrogen sulfide from bacteria.
Bacteria living in wells, drains and water heaters release hydrogen sulfide.
Plus, many water heaters have an inner lining to prevent corrosion.
When this starts to deteriorate, it can promote bacterial growth as well.
Solution: Ultraviolet filter, reverse osmosis system, temporary chlorine treatment (if bacteria is in a private well)
No fancy schmancy science explanations needed here…
If you’re water tastes like petroleum or gasoline, that’s because it contains gasoline (or something similar).
The smell can also be from compounds like paint stripper, paint, detergent, or ink seeping into the water supply.
More often than not, the contaminants enter the water supply as runoff from nearby driveways, roadsides or parking lots.
This problem is more common in the countryside where residents get their water from groundwater in private wells.
However, this problem isn’t just for country folk…
If only one faucet smells, the source of contamination is probably in the home.
If all the faucets smell, the problem is in the source water and you should contact your water supplier asap.
Solution: Reverse osmosis system
Moldy, earthy or fishy tastes and smells are usually the result of decaying organic matter.
When plant material gets stuck in pipes, it can rot and smell awful.
However, it’s not always the pipes that are the problem…
Sometimes it’s the source water itself.
During certain times of years, algae blooms in local lakes and reservoirs can make water smell foul.
Even if the city treats the water properly, there can still be a lingering taste of earthy plant matter.
Chances are it’s still safe to drink, just a tad on the stinky side.
Solution: Reverse osmosis system
Heavy metal is great for rock music, but bad for drinking water.
A metallic taste means the water could contain heavy metals like manganese, iron or copper.
Iron and manganese aren't too dangerous, but copper toxicity is…
Although your body does need trace amounts of copper to survive, it’s easy to overdose.
Copper toxicity can cause symptoms like headaches, diarrhea, nausea and jaundice (yellowing skin).
The risk of copper contamination is higher because it’s a common compound in industry and manufacturing.
Just Because Your Water Doesn’t Stink, Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe
Your taste buds are designed to protect you from stuff that could make you sick.
However, they can’t detect everything…
The most dangerous contaminants, like arsenic, lead and nitrates, are totally tasteless and odorless.
Next up, let’s talk about how to protect your tap from whatever contaminants may be lurking inside...
How to Protect Your Tap and Keep Your Family Safe
You never know what you’re up against until you test your water!
The best first step to protecting your tap is to have it professionally tested.
Certified agencies can test for the full range of pollutants, including everything from bacteria to arsenic.
Once you know what you’re up against, you can decide which home filtration system is right for you.
While you wait for the results, drink bottled water instead.
You can also reduce the bad smells by doing the following:
- Run your tap for a couple minutes
- Poor into bowl and let sit (helps chlorine evaporate)
- Boil your water (kills germs and boils off chlorine)
Now, it’s time to decide which type of filter is best for you and your family…
The Ultimate Home Filtration System for Safe, Delicious Tap Water
There’s lots of different filters out there, but not all of them are created equal…
Activated carbon filters are great for removing large chemical contaminants, like chlorine, but are not designed to remove inorganic compounds like sulfates or heavy metals.
Ceramic filters are great for getting rid of that earthy, fishy taste by removing dirt and bacteria, but they’re not so great at removing viruses.
Ultraviolet filters kill bacteria and viruses, but don’t do much else.
When it comes down to it, the best all-in-one solution is reverse osmosis (RO).
High-quality RO systems can remove up to 99.9% of dangerous contaminants and leave your water tasting delicious.
They combine several stages of filtration, including:
- Sediment filters to remove organic matter and debris
- Carbon filters to remove chlorine and VOCs
- Water softener to remove hard minerals
- RO membranes to remove lead and arsenic
Cloud Water Filters even include a final remineralization stage to add the perfect amount of healthy minerals back into the water.
The result is nothing but pristine drinking water for you and your family.
