Smelly water. UK

Hi everyone. I thought I'd start a thread on this subject to see if anyone else in the UK has noticed this. I know different areas have different water sources, so I'm talking about the Greater Manchester area specifically, but it might be happening throughout the country.

Every so often, about one day every two months, I notice that the water coming from my taps has a really strong odour to it. Not like a dirty smell - more like a chemical smell. It reminds me of chemistry class when I was at school. The first time I noticed it (about three years ago), I assumed it must be fluoride, but then why would I only have just noticed this strong chemical odour? Fluoride is always in our water, not just for one day every two months.

It's been happening too regularly for it to be an accident, so I'm going to start recording the days that I notice the smell, to see if there is a definite pattern.

Does anybody else notice this, and more importantly, know what it is that's causing the smell? Or does anyone know when I can send samples to to get it tested, and hopefully find out what chemical it is?

Thanks
HexagonSun

reply to post by HexagonSun


I live in Oldham, used to drink gallons of water, however a couple of years ago I working in Denton and when I drank the water at work I used to get really bad headaches and became very lethargic???

I move jobs, (stopped drinking the Denton water) and the symptoms went over night! I also use MMS now all the time in Juice with water added,

All the best

reply to post by HexagonSun


I live in Canada and it happens about every couple months as well. I have lived from coast to coast and it happens in all the cities I have lived.

I am not sure what it is, but it is noticeable and no one ever has a satisfying answer. The smell I experience seems to be different though then what you explained. I would explain it as a strong citrus odor. But it could also be explained as a chemical smell. It sticks to your body as well and your hair. I am glad I do not drink tap water.

It happened a couple days ago now that I think about it. Thank you for getting this out there. Maybe a member will have an answer for us as for what it is.

Yes Hex, as soon as I read Greater Manchester I knew what you were going to say.
Yes, it stinks... it's like chlorine (we all know what that smells like) but it's slightly different. I never smelled fluorine before, but imagine it's similar.
Every time I run a bath, the smell is like a swimming pool, but slightly different, kind of like cabbage & very strong. Every time I pour a glass of water, it smells & tastes pretty rank.

I prefer to drink any water boiled. What do you reckon this is?

EDIT: edit to add that this is all the time for a couple of years.

If the water company is doing work that involves the inside of the water line (break repair, line replacement, ecec…) They will usually boost the chlorine levels to sterilize the lines. It is almost impossible to do line work and not get mud and stuff inside the line you are working on. The chlorine surge will kill anything that got into the line, so it won’t cause problems with people..

Sometimes it will go along with “boil water” orders.

If the water company has ongoing line work or evidence of biological contamination in the system, they may be running scheduled chlorine surges to clear up any problems.

I used to live in Manchester but Moved to Yorkshire. A few days ago my tap water was like bleach. It was a really strong smell. Lasted one day only. I figured that someone in the neighbourhood had their system drained and disinfected - if a plumber is incompetant when they disinfect then they will cause the Chlorene to backflow in to the water main. Those Chemicles are so dangerous at more than a few parts per million that The Water Regulations Introduced a Law so that Any Disinfection needs to be notified in advance - Homeowners don't understand the dangers and tend to go with a cheap plumber who cuts corners and gets the job done that day. However, cutting corners inadvertantly creates a serious health hazzard. I suspect this may be the cause but I can't rule out the possibility of the Local Water Authority adding Chemicles.

If your tap water smells, then don't go near it for 2 hours and then thoroughly run your tap for 10 minutes before drinking any of it.

No Tranny, this isn't an occasional thing, it's continuous. The water here absolutely frikkin STINKS & has done for over 2 years. Gawd knows what it's doing to peoples bodies.

I'm in south-east Scotland and our water has a distinct chlorine smell and taste. It got really bad a couple of years ago, people were complaining about it. It got better after that but now it's starting to get very noticeable again. You could try filtering your water if it's unpleasant to drink.

I think it is only certain regions that get fluoridated. I really hope ours doesn't. I tried checking online but found it hard to find a definitive source of information.

I live in Sarnia Ontario, Canada. I noticed this in my city months ago, i swear they cycle different qualitys of water throughout the city. As a matter of fact we just had our cycle pass in the area i live in. The water at this point taste and smells like lake water, full of everything lake water would contain, except its clear. Its as if Sarnia has a shortage of clean, filtered/proccessed water every month and they just bring in lake water to substitute for the lack. Nobody notices whats so ever, how i have no clue it tates and smells revolting.Heres the City Website ( www.city.sarnia.on.ca... ). Here 3d google maps ( www.maplandia.com... ). Were a border City with the U.S, Michigan to be specific. We are connected by the Bluewater Bridge. Our City is all about the bridges and the water and how amazing it all is. Im so sick of it little do these drones know. If you look into our city youll notice that we have a lot of crude oil refineries, they are all built along the river for shipping and recieving. 90% or more of the people here dont know that these plants litterally used to dump all there waste into the river, luckily i live up river.

I did some digging and found this: archives.cbc.ca...

Ya that blob is made out of the absolute worst.

It was a dry cleaning chemical that was banned.

Back to the plants, they used underground salt caverns that are very large and everywhere to store large amounts of refined products.

The blob is a side effect of those caverns leaking into the river through cracks that were formed when they origonally filled the caverns. They filled these caverns with their products when they wanted them out they just pumped water in one side and forced the product out the other, real great idea eh, the water ended up getting dumped back in, the plants back in the day litterally had pipes coming out the back of them constantly pumping everything out. Those are long gone now, but the damage has been done.

This is one of the side effects of living down river, check this out.

Just a little ways down river there is a Native Reserve, its called Aamjiwnaang. The female/male ratioi of babies born from the people living in this area are changing, big time. For every boy born two girls are born, this is a world record, not jokin. This area also has high rates of death, miscarrage and disease. It is also beyond the saturation point for allowable pollutants.

www.cbc.ca...

The Blob still lives today.

Originally posted by kushin
reply to post by HexagonSun

 

I live in Oldham, used to drink gallons of water, however a couple of years ago I working in Denton and when I drank the water at work I used to get really bad headaches and became very lethargic???

I move jobs, (stopped drinking the Denton water) and the symptoms went over night! I also use MMS now all the time in Juice with water added,

All the best

I live near Oldham, so it could be the same thing I'm talking about. But in my house it's not a constant thing. Most of the time my water doesn't smell of anything, but then every so often it just stinks for a day or two, depending on how much water we use. I can smell it when I turn the tap on in the morning to make a cup of tea, and when I have a shower later on the smell is still there. And it lasts the whole day. Then it just disappears for a couple of months.

It could be chlorine like someone suggested, but I really want to find out for sure what is in the water. Are there any cheap DIY tests I can do to get to the bottom of this. I know very little of chemistry, so it might be difficult. I don't know.

Thanks a lot for all the replies anyway.

reply to post by HelionPrime


Yea, most of the water I drink is boiled. I usually have about 5 or 6 cups of tea a day, and then maybe one glass of water at night just in case I wake up and need a drink. It really puts me off drinking plain water though, which is a shame because pure water is good for you. I just don't trust the government any more, and anything they say is good for us, usually has another story behind it.

Always best to leave a cup of water sitting there for a while to let the Chlorine out

One of the best tips anyone ever gave me

I get it hear , but its less of a chemically smell and more of a damp clothes smell to it. If I let the tap run for a bit its normally alright, I also have a filter jug too, just so my cups of tea have the best water. Its not good though, but not much im gonna do about it now, been drinking tap water for over 30 years now.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
I get it hear , but its less of a chemically smell and more of a damp clothes smell to it. If I let the tap run for a bit its normally alright, I also have a filter jug too, just so my cups of tea have the best water. Its not good though, but not much im gonna do about it now, been drinking tap water for over 30 years now.

I remember drinking water when I was younger before they started putting fluoride in it, and it was gorgeous. I could drink loads of it all day. It was just really refreshing and felt good. I don't like it now though.
They should leave the water alone and just give out free chemicals to those who want them so they can add it to the water themselves. I doubt many people would do.

Are those filter jugs any good? Do they filter out the fluorine? I might get one.

Originally posted by jameshawkings
Always best to leave a cup of water sitting there for a while to let the Chlorine out

One of the best tips anyone ever gave me

Thanks for the tip. I will do that.

Does anyone know how many ppm the flouride level is in Manchester?

Very informative and eye-opening video on flouride in tap water can be found here: click here to view

my water doesnt smell, but usually tastes like metal and gives me a headache.
hmm

I'm down in Hampshire and my tap water often stinks of chlorine...it's ;ike drinking swimming pool water. I went through a stage of getting bad migraines and i swear it was the water i was drinking. That hasn't happened for a while though.

CX.

Im in Herts NW London,

And yes our water often gets a weird smell to it and lately a cloudy look, I had alerted the water board and was told it was normal and not to worry,

I however am not happy with it and pretty much boil my water these days, I dont really go buy bottled water either as i dont really trust whats in that as-well lol,

So i just boil and bottle it up and put it in the fridge,

reply to post by asala


I understand boiling gets rid of chlorine, but i think you've gotta filter flouride out.

That's why I ONLY drink mineral water/bottled water.

Have done for years actually.

I can't drink tap water.... did up until a point and then noticed the smell and taste change.... back in the 80's/90's? Can't remember when.


But yeah... I LOVE water... It's literally my fav drink but I can only drink mineral water.


I would not drink tap water, not if I was paid.