X
GO

Water School

Occasionally, my water has an offensive odor and taste? Why?

The woody, musty, earthy taste that shows up from time to time in our drinking water is normally due to natural causes. The main culprit: algae. When blue-green algae end their lifecycle they emit an oily substance called geosmin, which has a distinctive earthy taste that humans can detect in even small concentrations. While this added flavor in drinking water can be annoying, it poses no health hazard.

While water utilities have long worked to reduce the prevalence of the offensive taste and odor, customers can also have some success by filtering their water. Keeping the water cool also decreases the taste’s intensity.

But the most effective way to improve water’s taste and odor is at the source by reducing the food supply to the algae that creates geosmin. The algae feed on nutrients that wash in from the surrounding watershed. One source of those nutrients is fertilizer that washes into lakes from the lawns of lakeside property owners and others in the watershed. Limiting such fertilizer will reduce the amount of excess that washes into our streams and lakes during heavy rains.

Related

Share

Search
Categories

The information provided on this site is intended as background on water within the Brazos River basin. There should be no expectation that this information is all encompassing, complete or in any way examines every aspect of this very complex natural resource.

If you have questions about a post or would like additional information, please contact us or call 888-922-6272.

Tags
storage water planning subsidence district groundwater lake levels smell appropriation biosolids mitigation water treatment granbury fork gulf calcium soil effluent costs volume riparian golden algae salt hydrology wetlands farming electric companies filter oxygen infection direct re-use environment limestone acre-foot conservation impound reservoirs dam recreation channel streamflow gate gas flood pool watershed corps flood control lake hydropower mission subsidence jobs river bay E coli Board ground water employment climate aerobic solids wetland algae subwatershed pollutants rain water cycle aquifer PAM anaerobic treatment sludge water clarity boating habitat surface water water cfs lake level insurance potable planning consumption wildlife reservoir chlorides authority basin parasite streamflow evaporation dissolved solids releases water supply drilling governance environmental E. coli salinity bed and banks septic canoeing riverine speaker meta tag maps monitor USGS wastewater pharmaceuticals main stem use minerals golden algea camping inland emergency use depth tributary hunting industry legislation water rights agriculture taste chlorine septic system water quality classification sewage bottled water industrial kayak lake gage fishing corps of engineers xeriscape supply organic contaminants hydrilla stream water code canoe electricity landscaping clarity measure spillway marsh agricultural inundated runoff beneficial use allens creek reservoir permit estuary drought municipal watercourse fertilizer sanitation contract indirect re-use precipitation fish kill hydrologic cycle TCEQ invasive plants lakes flood mainstem medicine lawn quality acre-feet rights spring brackish turbidity water use system sediment water plants map mgd dock drinking water possum kingdom well